ZAGREB, 10 Sept 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Friday received Croatian athletes who won medals at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, and a delegation of the Croatian Olympic (HOO) and Paralympic Committees, presenting the HOO with the Charter of the Republic of Croatia for its 30th anniversary.

Congratulating the athletes on their medals, Milanović said that they had done a great thing for Croatia.

"You have made us very happy, we followed what you did," he said, expressing regret that other Croatian competitors at the Olympic and Paralympic Games who did not win any medals were not at the reception as well.

"They, too, deserve our respect... Croatia owes you, you have done a beautiful thing for the country," Milanović said.

For more news, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 30 Aug 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Monday that the post-earthquake reconstruction process was too slow, warning that if it continued at the current pace, Croatia would lose Petrinja.

"Nothing is happening, unfortunately the process is too slow and if it continues at the current pace, we will lose Petrinja," Milanović said in reference to the town in Sisak-Moslavina County, hit hardest by the 29 December 2020 earthquake.

Asked about the pace of reconstruction, he said: "It is never easy and cannot be easy due to property-rights relations, but if you want something, you remove some barriers, possibly making some minor mistake or damage in the process that you later rectify."

"Croatia today would not have highways that were built, designed and financed in two years if we had dealt with every single private property separately, it would have taken us 300 years had we done so," he added.

He added that Petrinja and Glina, another town that suffered extensive damage in the earthquake, should not be "a tall order" and that adopting a new reconstruction law should be easy.

One or several key persons should be entrusted with the reconstruction process and be given financial powers, Milanović said, drawing a parallel with the process of reconstruction following the 2014 floods in the area of Gunja, which he said had been rebuilt in a few months and was of a similar size as Glina.

"As regards the region of Banija, some things require prompt solutions, there is no need for legal nitpicking over very single piece of property... one should take excavators and make order in Petrinja, there will be people who will file lawsuits but that will be dealt with in the process, otherwise we will lose the city," said Milanović.

For more on politics, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 30 Aug 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Sunday attended a special session of the Municipal Council of Vir, near the coastal city of Zadar, expressing satisfaction with the progress of that island community, which, he said, had often been mocked in the past.

"Vir today has a high revenue which it manages well, it has profited from (property) legalisation and it does with the money what its residents expect it to do. I can see that local authorities work in the interest of citizens and that citizens trust them," he said in an address at the session, advising local authorities to apply for EU funds.

He noted that during its membership of the EU so far Croatia had absorbed around HRK 40 billion, which, he said, sounded a lot but was actually little.

"We must, and I believe that we know how to and will, absorb much more money, that possibility is opening up now with the next financial period in which significant funds will be made available to Croatia, plus funds under the NextGenerationEU project, a major EU instrument for recovery from the crisis," he said.

"Your agglomeration project is excellent. One billion kuna for Vir alone... I fully support the government, ministries and all who work on it because it is not simple. One has to know how to use that money... It takes persistence, competence, tactic and taking care of one's own interests. The EU is a good thing but we are primarily a national state... that is where everything began and what people fought and died for," Milanović said in his address, among other things.

For more on politics, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 26 Aug 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Thursday that the current anti-epidemic rules had no sense any more, and that Croatia should follow the example of Sweden rather than France and Germany considering measures taken to combat the COVID pandemic.

Milanović said this did not mean that Croatia should not copy others, however, he admitted that the country was also a part of a wider community and "it cannot always be the way we believe is the smartest."

"I think now that it would be more prudent to do something different than France and Germany or some other countries are doing," Milanović told the press in the Dalmatian town of Kijevo near Knin where he attended ceremonies commemorating civilian victims of the war who died 30 years ago. "I would follow the suit of Sweden. Sweden can afford it for itself, however it pays a political price, we obviously cannot do that," the president said.

The president explained that many people had got vaccinated against coronavirus which now made the anti-epidemic rules unnecessary unless the healthcare system and intensive care wards were exposed to strain.

 He again called on the Croatians to get vaccinated.

 "Get vaccinated. Trust science, be pragmatic, take care of yourselves," Milanović said.

Commenting on the forthcoming population census, Milanović said that the findings of the census would probably show that the population in Croatia alone was downsized by 10% compared to the situation 10 years ago, and he ascribed that to the emigration of Croatians to Ireland, Great Britain, and other western countries.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centers across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

ZAGREB, 28 June 2021 - A special event was held at the Croatian National Theatre in Osijek on Monday to mark the 30 anniversary of the founding of the Croatian National Guard 106th Brigade and Day of Osijek Defenders, with President Zoran Milanović saying that there is no danger that Croatia will forget those events.

Addressing those present, President Milanović underscored that a few people had the courage to defend the country with arms, and without them Croatia would not have been victorious.

He said that there was no danger that those events would be forgotten, not because 30 years had passed but because those events were constantly being talked about, debated and evaluated.

Milanović underscored that the truth may hurt, but that no one should be ashamed of the truth." "Ours hurts, because it was painful and deadly. It killed many people and traumatised many... but we need not be ashamed but should be proud of it," he said.

"The mistakes on that path happened due to negligence or human traits which we will never get rid of, because of greed, envy or hate towards one's neighbour. That has been penalised, debts have been paid and I think that it is high time to stop questioning those things. That in particular refers to the fantasies, illusions, delusions, crimes and other faults of our grandfathers and great grandfathers of 80 or 100 years ago," underscored Milanović.

Anyone who spent the war in an office is not a defender

He sent a message to Croatian defenders to preserve their status, noting that they risked their lives and there were not many of them.

"Mind your status because not everyone can be a defender. Someone who spent the war in an office is not a defender. He can be and is a Croatian patriot, a loyal and well-meaning citizen of this country but your worth lies in the fact that there are not many of you," underscored Milanović.

For more news from Croatia, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 19 June 2021 - The Croatian Heritage Foundation marked its 70th anniversary at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb on Friday, with President Zoran Milanović calling for unity on the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In his address, the president called for unity on key matters, saying that today one of them, to a certain extent, was the status of Croats in BiH.

"Their homeland is BiH as it was designed 26 years ago by an international agreement which was signed by Croatia and which it will honor in good faith."

Milanović said there was a big chance to position Croatia among the most advanced states in Europe, "there where it never was but where it belongs."

He said the Croatian nation had been a dream whose realization depended on "a few goods, right people" who gathered around that idea at a certain moment in history.

The Croatian Heritage Foundation is an institution representing a "firm and safe bridge to the homeland" for about 3.5 million Croats and their descendants around the world, it was said at the event.

The deputy speaker of the BiH Parliament's House of Peoples, Dragan Čović, thanked Milanović for "speaking very loudly these days about the role of the Croat people in BiH."

"We are proud to have Croatia as our homeland, but we won't renounce BiH as our homeland either. There's 15% of us in BiH, but as the least numerous, we are the most industrious. We are the leaders of all positive integration processes in BiH," Čović said.

He thanked Croatia's officials for encouraging Croats in BiH to preserve their equality as a constituent people and ensure legitimate representation at all government levels.

The Croatian prime minister's envoy, Zvonko Milas, underlined the importance of focusing on the young as a guarantee of the survival of the relationship between Croats in Croatia and abroad.

The Croatian parliament speaker's envoy, Zdravka Bušić, said the communist authorities had declared the Croatian Heritage Foundation a hotbed of nationalism for connecting Croats in Croatia and abroad and eliminated its leaders from the Croatian people's political and public spheres in Croatia and abroad.

"Today the Foundation realizes about 60 programs and events, connecting 45 countries on all continents where Croats and citizens of Croatian descent live in larger numbers," its director Mijo Marić said, calling on young people of Croatian descent from around the world to attend the Foundation's Croatian language, history, culture and folklore seminars this summer.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

June 14th, 2021 - After Croatia kept insisting for six days that a final statement of the NATO summit meeting should mention the Dayton peace accords, the final text of the document incorporated the reference to that agreement Zoran Milanović said in Brussels on Monday.

On Sunday, the Croatian head of state made his approval of the final document conditional on making mention of the Dayton accords that define Bosnia and Herzegovina as the three constituent peoples: the Bosniaks, the Serbs, and the Croats and other citizens.

Milanović today explained that after Croatia's request that the final communique should refer to the Dayton agreement as to the basis for the functioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina had been ignored for six days, the Croatian side was forced to say on Sunday that "we would oppose the consensus."

Milanović told the press today while coming to the summit meeting that on Sunday, NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had called him, and the things were settled in half a minute.

However, it took six days until we made sure that the communique's Bosnia and Herzegovina segment would mention the Dayton peace accords. This is a small thing for this summit, just a footnote, and a great thing for us, Milanović said.

 All other things in the whole text of the 50-page final declaration have been acceptable for me as the head of the Croatian delegation, he added.

Milanović does not believe that he will manage to hold a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.

"I think he has more important things to do," the Croatian president said.

Croatia had insisted on the three points in the declaration: the Dayton peace agreement, the constituent peoples, and the election reform of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Eventually, there will be no mention of the constituent peoples; however, it is covered by referring to the Dayton agreement that defines Bosnia and Herzegovina as the Bosniaks, the Serbs, and the Serbs Croats, and other citizens.

It remained unclear why the first draft failed to mention the Dayton peace accords.

NATO's declaration in 2004 ceased making mention of the Dayton agreement, and since then, the Dayton accords have not been mentioned by inertia. However, the Croatian side has raised the issue since the Bosniak representatives started trying to eliminate the concept of the constituent peoples. 

For more on politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 3 June 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Thursday called Prime Minister Andrej Plenković a promoter of the right to lie who had now classified himself "under authentic interpreters of battles from the Homeland War" and declared himself "almost a war commander".

The president wrote this on Facebook, reacting to Plenković's comment on his proposal that the anniversary of the Croatian military and police Operation Storm be commemorated in other cities besides Knin.

Milanović accused Plenković of "denigrating the proposal to commemorate Operation Storm in other cities in which heroic battles were fought in the Homeland War, and not only in Knin, declaring himself - with the words 'many of us look at Knin differently' - almost a war commander," Milanović wrote.

The president added that the initiative to commemorate Operation Storm "also where hundreds of Croatian defenders were killed, near Petrinja and Glina, for instance, was proposed to him by war generals and commanders who fought liberation battles".

Asked by the RTL commercial broadcaster to comment on President Zoran Milanović's proposal to commemorate anniversaries of the Croatian military and police Operation Storm in Knin every five years and to commemorate the anniversary in Glina this year, Plenković said on Wednesday he didn't know about it, but he found "the repeated use of double criteria particularly indicative".

"He constantly talks about Knin as some kind of train station, a barracks. Many of us look at Knin differently, at its role, at Zvonimir's City, at the Knin Fortress, at the symbolism of the flag at the Knin Fortress. Those are different views," Plenković said, referring to the turbulent history of that Dalmatian region.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 31 May 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Monday, commenting on the results of yesterday's local elections, that the biggest change had occurred in Zagreb.

"There is a change in Split, too, but a little different. The biggest change is in Zagreb. 65% of people voted for one group which is very liberal (...). Some of their ideas are experimental even for Copenhagen. That's a whole spectrum of green-left ideas which have found an audience and communicators in someone else, and once that was solely the SDP," he told the press.

Asked about the Zagreb mayoral campaign of the Homeland Movement, the president commented on the party's name and its president Miroslav Škoro.

"There is no homeland movement. A homeland movement can't be led by someone who fled from Osijek to America, drifting among various ex-pat clubs, but not Croatian ones (...) That's not a homeland movement, I don't recognize that. It's usurpation. That (term) should be protected, like the Croatian name."

Enforcing public holidays isn't good

Milanović also commented on the marking of Statehood Day on 30 May, saying that such "enforcing of public holidays" and of collective consciousness and emotions was not good.

He said that the date was imposed in 1991 as a holiday of the HDZ party and was later changed by politician Vlado Gotovac.

"Then comes Plenković, who has the need to prove that he has always been in the HDZ, despite hitching a ride at the last minute, and enforces, with a simple majority, a public holiday which is really a party holiday."

Milanović said he could accept 30 May as Croatian Parliament memorial day, which it had been for 20 years, but not as Statehood Day. In Croatia, one can only talk about Independence Day, which all European states have, he added.

"What kind of statehood are we talking about if it was created one Sunday in 1990 because one party won, by one election law, the majority in the parliament of a socialist republic within one multinational federation?"

Milanović said young people should be told the truth which, he added, was not bad for Croatia at all.

"Our path was just, fair, and eventually successful. As long as Croatian boys, based on decisions of Croatian bodies in Croatian people's defense secretariats, were conscripted by the JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) for their military service, it's pointless to talk about independence or statehood as the HDZ sees it."

Only when that stopped, which it did after the lining up of the Croatian National Guard (in Zagreb in 1990), not one more young Croatian boy served in the JNA, Milanović said. "That's the divide."

For more on politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 20 May 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Thursday that the procedure for the purchase of fighter jets was very strict, but he would not reveal details of today's Defence Council meeting or the type of aircraft Croatia would go for.

"The process has been good so far. It hasn't been compromised, there have been no information leaks. Eventually, the cost will have to be presented to the Croatian public," Milanović told the press.

He said it was important that Croatia had the fighter jets by no later than 2024. "They have to be here by then," Milanović said, adding that Croatia should not be without its own resources even for a day. 

Milanović said that this was a major project and that he hoped the government would take a decision on it before Armed Forces Day, which is observed on 28 May.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.