ZAGREB, 26 April 2022 - President Zoran Milanović on Tuesday once again accused the PM of using methods of Yugoslav-era secret service UDBA in calling out generals for supporting a request that he pardon two former intelligence officers, and called on HDZ members to react or they would be his accomplices.

Speaking to the press, Milanović reiterated that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was "a protege of the communist regime" and that he had labelled the Homeland War generals supporting the pardon of former senior Yugoslav and Croatian intelligence officers Josip Perković and Zdravko Mustač as "UDBA poodles", and said that he was a "perfidious, evil guy."

Milanović conceded that Plenković did not say literally "UDBA poodles", but remarked that by implying that the generals "were brought in by their ears to sign something" begged the question if they were "people with autonomy of will or just garbage."

Milanović said "UDBA fed (Plenković) when he was a child" because his mother worked in a military hospital and his father worked in the office of the director of Television Zagreb and taught communication studies during communism. A person with such parents "knew he was protected by UDBA," he added.

Milanović said "only people who passed UDBA's school" could accuse Homeland War generals "of being the promoters and protectors of UDBA officers."

He called on members of the ruling HDZ to oppose this and to realise that they were led by people using UDBA-style methods "who stop at nothing... to stay in power."

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 23 April 2022 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović said on Saturday Bosnia and Herzegovina was a security, emotional and state issue for Croatia and that no other state wanted it to join the EU as much, adding that he will see personally that Croats in BiH are not totally politically defeated in the next election.

"There is no state which wants BiH to enter the European Union as much and which is working on that as much as Croatia. For sentimental, but often purely selfish reasons. That's in the interest of the community I represent," Milanović said in Livno, BiH.

He was speaking at a ceremony marking 30 years of a military operation in which Croatian units stopped the Yugoslav People's Army and Serb forces from conquering Livno and cutting Croatia in two.

Milanović laid a wreath and lit candles at a monument to fallen Croatian defenders in the town.

He said questions would be raised about the motives of his messages in Livno, adding that Zagreb is pushing for BiH's perspective much more strongly "than a larger part of Sarajevo."

"This is important for us. For us, this is a security, emotional and state issue of a neighbouring state."

Milanović criticised international officials' treatment of BiH, notably attempts to "organise elections by force" and to defeat Croats in them.

"Agreements await you, not battles. Not all is lost. I will do everything so that not all is lost, so that you are represented by the people you elect."

He said the fundamental principles of the Dayton peace agreement were undermined in preparing general elections for October.

"That's not the path to Europe. A European state doesn't function like that," Milanović said, adding that he is not a nationalist, of which some Bosniak politicians and part of the public accuse him.

Speaking of the Croatian military victory in the Livno field, he said Croatia would never forget that. "Thirty years ago, BiH, the European BiH, was defended here with rare courage, as well as the Croatian coast. Croatia can't forget that."

He said that if Croatia and BiH had not had an armament embargo but had available arms as Ukraine did today, the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar "would not have fallen, the tanks would not have crossed the Danube."

Croatian National Assembly of BiH president Dragan Čović said the attempts to divide Croats in BiH would not succeed and that the principles from the country's Constitution for which the defenders had fought would be preserved.

"We neither did nor will allow constituency, equality and sovereignty to disappear from the Constitution," he said, adding that BiH will be the homeland of the Croatian people.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 23 April 2022 - President Zoran Milanović on Saturday extended his best wishes to the Christian Orthodox faithful for Easter, saying that this holiday always gave hope of a better tomorrow and a victory of the good despite challenges and difficulties faced by people. 

"We live in a time when mutual understanding, nobility and tolerance are needed even more for a victory of the good to create a society in which the difference and dignity of every person will be respected. May this atmosphere of Easter be an additional encouragement to the faithful, and to us all, to build such a society," the president said.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - The initiative to pardon Yugoslav and then Croatian intelligence agents Josip Perković and Zdravko Mustač did not come from Homeland War generals but President Zoran Milanović, the ruling HDZ party said on Tuesday.

A source close to the HDZ leadership said "Milanović's initiative unnecessarily divides society and brings unrest among generals and war veterans" as well as "double criteria" towards participants in the Homeland War and the veterans.

The source said a pardon had not been requested for even one veteran for his contribution to Croatia's defence, yet was now being requested for persons proven to have ordered crimes committed by the former Yugoslav secret police.

The source said the argument that Perković and Mustač should be released from prison because of their contribution to the creation of the Croatian state was not convincing because they were sentenced for crimes which had nothing to do with that.

On the contrary, the source said, those crimes were committed in the name of the services of the former Yugoslavia, "which negated Croatia's freedom and of which Croatia became independent in 1991."

The source said they agreed with Justice Minister Ivan Malenica's statement that Milanović would have a lot to explain if he decided that Perković and Mustač should be the only persons pardoned in his term.

That would be a precedent, the source said, adding that the two "are in the very early stage" of serving their sentences, that they were "sentenced for the gravest crimes" and that the verdict, which found them responsible for the murder of a Croatian dissident in Germany in 1983, was not disputed by anyone, even the generals in a letter requesting that they be pardoned.

HDZ official Mario Kapulica said the argument that without Perković there would have been neither Croatia nor its first president Franjo Tuđman was not new.

He said the initiative to have Perković and Mustač pardoned was "legally questionable and, at least for now, politically totally unclear," and that it was "probably" encouraged by Milanović.

Perković and Mustač, former Yugoslav and Croatian intelligence officials, were sentenced by a German court in August 2016 to life for assisting in the murder of Croatian dissident Stjepan Đureković in Germany in July 1983. Last week, their attorney Anto Nobilo announced pardon motions.

ZAGREB, 16 April 2022 - Justice Minister Ivan Malenica said on Saturday that President Zoran Milanović would set a precedent if he pardoned Josip Perković and Zdravko Mustač because, since taking office, he had not responded to the 274 pardon applications sent him by the ministry.

Speaking to Hina, Malenica said that in a little over two years the ministry had sent 274 pardon applications to the President's Office, enclosing reports prepared by the ministry based on the Pardons Act.

Until now, the president has not exercised his constitutional power to pardon someone and if this happens now, it would be a precedent in Milanović's term, he added.

Malenica said that during his presidential campaign, Milanović said the pardon institute was a relict of the past which he would not use. "If this has happened now, it's up to President Milanović to explain his political decision to pardon someone."

Malenica went on to say that in taking over the sentences against Mustač and Perković, Croatian courts had acted in line with the law "because the proceedings were upheld at all levels of the judicial authority and the decisions are final."

"This is the very early stage of serving a prison sentence for the gravest crimes," he added.

Perković and Mustač, former Yugoslav and Croatian intelligence officials, were sentenced by a German court in August 2016 to life for assisting in the murder of Croatian dissident Stjepan Đureković in Germany in July 1983. On Tuesday, their attorney Anto Nobilo announced pardon motions.

Explaining the procedure, Malenica said the motion was submitted to the Justice Ministry, which requested from the prison and the relevant judge all relevant information for writing a report on the motion.

According to the media, Nobilo's motion is to be signed by retired generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Čermak, Ljubo Ćesić Rojs, Pavao Miljavac, Davor Domazet Lošo, and Marinko Krešić, who has said he is considering withdrawing his signature, which general Krešimir Ćosić has already done.

The media have reported that the generals feel that Perković and Mustač deserve to be pardoned because of their contribution to the creation of the Croatian state and its defence.

Germany requested their extradition from Croatia as Croatia was entering the EU, which took place in July 2013, whereby Croatia assumed the obligation to execute the European Arrest Warrant.

After the warrant for them was issued, the Croatian parliament passed a law on judicial cooperation in criminal matters with EU member states, under which the EAW would not apply to crimes committed prior to 7 August 2002. This prevented the extradition of Perković, so the law was dubbed Lex Perković.

Despite that, Croatian courts extradited Perković and Mustač to Germany. Due to Lex Perković, as the then prime minister, Milanović suffered major political damage.

Under the Pardons Act, the president pardons persons convicted by Croatian courts or serving sentences in Croatia. The presidential pardon is not conditioned by the length of the sentence served.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 16 April 2022 - President Zoran Milanović stated on Saturday in his Easter message that "in these difficult times when there is a serious threat to peace, Easter must remind us that good, solidarity and love for our neighbour is the most important not just religious, but also universal secular principle."

Wishing a blessed and holy Easter, the president says that this greatest Christian holiday "has always given people faith in the victory of light and good, as well as a new beginning."

"This year we are celebrating Easter with wounds that have yet to be healed as a result of the earthquakes and the pandemic in our Homeland, but also exposed to challenges and threats to peace, threats we believed were in the past."

"Confronted once again with war losses and the suffering of people in Europe, our common home, all of us in Croatia are quite aware of the meaning and the value of peace among people and nations," says the Croatian head of state.

He also underscores that  "for the faithful, Easter is a time to contemplate one’s personal choices and reflect on one’s actions."

"Let us accept the principles of good and love as a path towards strengthening mutual solidarity and understanding in the hope that all people will celebrate Easter, the greatest Christian feast, in peace and joy, surrounded by family and friends," says Milanović who at the end of his message wished a happy and blessed Easter to all who are celebrating this holiday in Croatia and abroad, "and to all our fellow Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina."

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 9 April 2022 - Croatia's President and Armed Forces Supreme Commander Zoran Milanović on Saturday attended the military exercise "Shield 22", taking place on the "Croatian Army 119th Brigade" training ground at Cape Kamenjak in Premantura near Pula, the Office of the President said in a statement.

Participating in the combat shooting exercise were members of Croatian and US armed forces.

The purpose of the exercise was the demonstrate the capabilities of air defence units in detecting, tracking and shooting down targets in airspace.

The exercise is taking place from 4 to 13 April. It has been held regularly for 27 years and this year US army members joined in for the first time.

The exercise was also attended by Croatian Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Admiral Robert Hranj, the Croatian Army Commander, General Boris Šerić, and other military officials, President Milanović's advisor on defence and national security, Dragan Lozančić, as well as representatives of the US army.

For more, check out our politics section.

4 April 2022 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović on Monday congratulated the election winners in Serbia and Hungary "despite deformations of democracy."

"That's the choice of their voters," he said.

Milanović said that in relations with other countries one should not "lecture" anyone on internal matters such as "what kind of school classes there will be in Warsaw and Budapest, or what they will teach their children."

"That's their business, that's right. We will break the EU up if we start acting like cosmopolitan moralists," he said.

Milanović said that the current situation was an opportunity for Serbia to finally take a side and decide if it belongs in the West.

"Serbia must decide where its place is. Serbia is a member of Partnership for Peace, not of the Warsaw Pact," he said, adding that Serbia held military exercises with the West and obtained military assistance from it while claims about its big friendship with Russia are "a collective delusion."

Ukraine is not quite democratic either

In his opening address at the Croatia-US Forum, taking place in Zagreb on Monday and Tuesday on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic relations, Milanović said that liberal democracies never go to war against one another.

The experience shows that truly liberal-democratic countries never go to war against one another, because they have predictable, boring and limiting decision-making systems, Milanović said.

Asked later about that statement in the context of the Ukraine war, Milanović said that "neither country (Ukraine and Russia) is quite democratic."

"Ukraine isn't quite democratic either. It did not start negotiations with the European Union to have some kind of status," Milanović said, adding that Ukraine could not be compared with Croatia and other EU countries.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday that the weakest and poorest are paying the price of the war in Ukraine while at the same he recalled that there was no support from the world when Croatia experienced its "Calvary."

The president and supreme commander of the armed forces participated in a ceremony in the eastern town of Vinkovci marking the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Croatian Army Guards Armoured Mechanised Brigade.

Addressing the troops, President Milanović spoke about the war in Ukraine and then recalled the 1991-1995 Homeland War.

"The war is raging in Ukraine. One large country has attacked another, smaller one. And often as it occurs in history, we have learned little and the weakest and poorest are paying the price," Milanović said, underscoring the absence of support from the world when Croatia was attacked.

"When Croatia experienced its Calvary and horror, there was no support from the world except international recognition which came too late, much less any weapons. Everything your predecessors achieved, they did completely on their own without anyone's help and amid obstruction," said Milanović.

He said that Croatia has for years been proving that "our path was difficult, with errors, bloody but above all fair, just, justified and with the aim that was supported by a vast majority of the Croatian people."

The army and a military career are above all a vocation, a way of life like few other professions. Many professions, he continued, mean earning a living and paying the bills while the army is something else.

 "Our homeland, the Republic of Croatia, is above all of that. We are here to defend it together if need be. (...) You should always be aware that your first and main duty is to defend the Croatian homeland," Milanović told the ceremony.

21 March 2022 - On the occasion of International Day of Gifted Pupils, President Zoran Milanović on Monday met with representatives of the Rijeka-based Centre  for Gifted Children.

This year the centre from Rijeka is organising "Gifted Awareness Week" during which it will hold workshops for children and youth, lectures for teachers, expert associates and parents, it was said during the meeting.

The centre's representatives mentioned the problems related to the system of education for gifted children in Croatia.

"Croatia does not have a system to identify gifted children in kindergartens and schools nor a comprehensive system to care for gifted children at the state level," the centre's president, Jasna Arrigoni said. 

Parents spoke about experiences and problems they are faced with in the education system, adding that they hoped the new Education Act, which is currently being prepared, will clearly regulate working with gifted children.

The Centre is an association comprising teachers, school counsellors, psychologists, university professors, early childhood and preschool education student volunteers, teacher education and psychology student volunteers. It was established in 1997 to promote giftedness and raise awareness about gifted children who are exceptionally important for society's development.