ZAGREB, September 10, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Thursday that the American offer for multi-purpose fighter jets should be given priority in principle, although price and expert judgement would ultimately be the decisive factors.

"American aircraft should be the first choice. I say that completely openly. There are many reasons for that -- they have donated a lot of equipment to us, they are still donating. I can say this publicly because I am not participating in the procurement," said Milanovic, asked about the best offer for fighter jets after four countries submitted their bids, and the United States are offering new F-16 Block 70 aircraft.

He underscored that both the price and what is obtained for it will be the decisive factors, and the decision would be made by experts and the government.

"If we have decided to get 12 fighter jets, let us get them. But we need 12 new jets or minimally used, not jets used in war, or in Syria," said Milanovic.

He also commented on the commission on the purchase of fighter aircraft, saying that some "characters" first decide on procurement and then, in the second phase, give their opinion on what they had previously decided.

"There is a functional dilemma here," said Milanovic. He especially pointed out the fact that the head of the Security-Intelligence Agency (SOA), Daniel Markic, and Croatian Army Chief of Staff Robert Hranj, who is, he said, a naval admiral, not an expert on aircraft, were members of the commission.

Milanovic said that, for the sake of peace, he would support the work of the commission on the procurement of the jets but that he and his associates would not partake in the decision-making "so they do not give an opinion on something they participated in."

"That would be a conflict of interest," Milanovic said.

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ZAGREB, September 10, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Thursday that he was against the administrative division of Croatia into regions, as he believed that five political regions would mean uneven standards in various parts of the country.

If everybody takes care of themselves and collects taxes for themselves, which is the motive for that kind of decentralisation, that would force Lika, Zagora (the Dalmatian hinterland) and Slavonia to depend on some external sources, since they do not have the same assets as, for instance, Varazdin and Istria, he said.

This would be the dissipation of the Croatian state, he said underscoring that "children in Lika, Prelog, Varazdin  and Umag should have the same standards."

He went on to say that the reduction of the number of local office-holders, as proposed by the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), does not amount to any reform.

"A reform would be cutting the number of municipalities by half, or restoring their number to the situation that existed in 1991," he added, claiming that neither HDZ nor any political party would dare make any far-reaching moves that would affect the distribution of local political power.

Asked by the press about today's performance of Croatian member of the European Parliament Ivan Vilibor Sincic, who unloaded a load of watermelons from a van in front of Government House, the president described it as an act of violation of sanitation rules. The president disagreed with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's assessment that Sincic's performance was a security incident.

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ZAGREB, Aug 5, 2020 - The President of Croatia and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, Zoran Milanovic, at a ceremony in Knin on Tuesday evening, presented medals to Croatian Army (HV) generals and Bosnian Croat HVO guards brigades for their contribution to the liberation of Croatia 25 years ago.

"There is time for everything. Twenty-five years after a great victory in the Homeland War, it is time for us to get together and repeat that a small group of good people did a great thing for a large group of people, putting themselves, their lives and safety, in jeopardy," Milanovic said in an address to a reception held on the Knin Fortress on the occasion of Victory Day, Homeland Thanksgiving Day, Croatian Veterans Day and the 25th anniversary of Operation Storm.

He said that the war that was imposed on Croatia was just and inevitable, and that "never, despite certain lapses, did we fall into an abyss of moral catastrophe." He also said that there had been attempts to portray the Croatian war of liberation as a criminal enterprise, but "luckily they failed".

Milanovic said he was honoured to decorate the Bosnian Croat units. "It is our debt of honour," he said.

"Today, 25 years on, we are here. We are looking back, but most of all we are looking forward, aware of all the challenges, traps, and unknowns. What I can say with a deep conviction is that the wars are over and that Croatia won them. Long live Croatia!" the President said.

Gotovina: It's never too late to do good

Retired General Ante Gotovina said that a lot of time had passed since the war, "but it is never too late to do good, to do right."

"Dear friends, with your courage and your selfless dedication to the country at that fateful time for our people, through the unity of us all, we built a Croatian army capable of defending itself, ending an imposed war and creating conditions for lasting peace," Gotovina said.

ZAGREB, July 17, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Friday that it was his duty to point to problems, and described as "utterly uncivilised" some media interpretations of his tete-a-tete talks with PM Andrej Plenkovic as his attempt "to pontificate and lecture" Plenkovic on how to solve the problems.

Milanovic said that attempts by some to retell what he and Plenkovic discussed during their tete-a-tete talks on Thursday were uncivilised and criticised media articles that claimed that during the ceremony of entrusting Plenkovic with the task to form the next government he "pontificated and lectured" Plenkovic on the role of the national COVID-19 crisis management team.

"I did not pontificate on anything," Milanovic said during his visit to an exhibition in Zagreb on Friday.

My behaviour was transparent and concerned a very important topic, the president insisted.

He also said that after yesterday's talks with the prime minister he had not divulged the contents of their talks.

However, there are some people spreading their version and there are media ready to publish all that. Can that be called journalism?" wondered the Croatian president, adding that it was actually bad practice.

As for the topic of the role of the COVID-19 crisis response team, Milanovic reiterated his position that in Croatia there was no place for principles that were valid in the Soviet Union when it came to human rights.

"We a western European country. I must point to that," Milanovic said in the context of his comments on the legislative solutions for the crisis management team.

I believe that the Croatian parliament should definitely set a time frame for how long the government can be authorised to make decisions from the parliament's remit (on the COVID-related problems), Milanovic said adding that he had a very constructive approach towards the government.

He also praised the example of Spain in this context.

On Thursday, addressing the reporters after he nominated Plenkovic as the PM-designate, Milanovic said that he expects a clearer and more precise legal framework from the perspective of the Constitution related to the national COVID-19 response team, such as defining powers for adopting measures and their duration, adding that the current legislation does not define that.

"That can be resolved so that the government or parliamentary majority, pursuant to Article 17 of the Constitution, decides to suspend human rights to a certain degree for a certain period of time in cases like this. That way we would have a clearer legal situation. We are a law-based state. We know what can be done and for how long. Such a decision would make the legal regime we live in a lot clearer and make it easier for the government to do that. I call on all lawmakers to support such a motion if it is put forward," said Milanovic then.

Milanovic hopes that there will be way out of the crisis

In connection with the closing of the Meggle factory in Osijek and announced lay-offs in some companies, Milanovic said that it was on the government to deal with the economic issues.

Possible layoffs loom in whole Europe, including Croatia, and went on to say that the government in Croatia could not be held responsible for the corona crisis.

He said he hoped that the country would be dragged out of the crisis.

"The solace is all are faced with similar problems more or less. I hope that the next year will be a year of recovery and growth," he added

"The European Union is dealing well with the current situation," he said underscoring that this conduct of the EU in the current situation is by rules.

ZAGREB, July 8, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic on Wednesday called on Austrians to spend their summer vacation in Croatia, noting that Croatia's coast, where numerous Austrians traditionally spend their holidays, "is as safe as can be."

"I would like to use this opportunity to, first of all, invite Austrian citizens to visit Croatia," Milanovic said in Vienna after a meeting with his Austrian and Slovenian counterparts.

Milanovic noted that Croatia was safe with regard to the coronavirus and that incidents, which are occurring in all countries, "are relatively or absolutely rare" in Croatia.

"The coast is long, sparsely populated and there are few people. I don't want to sound overly pathetic but we are waiting for you. It is as safe as can be," Milanovic said, adding that he was speaking rationally and could substantiate what he was saying.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen stressed that it was in the interest of the three countries to keep their borders open and that as a native of Tirol, he had a lot of understanding for people wishing to spend their vacation on the coast.

An Austrian reporter wanted to know how accurate claims were that Croatia was a safe country considering that it tested four times fewer people than Austria.

Milanovic said that Croatia did the test too little but that hospitals were not overcrowded and that a very small number of people were on ventilators, far fewer than during last year's flu season.

He added that the mortality rate in Croatia was lower than during last year's flu season.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor stressed that his country, Austria and Croatia had shown that it was possible to live relatively normally with the coronavirus, with open borders and continued economic activity.

"People comply with (epidemiological) measures if they are proven to be of vital importance," Pahor said after the seventh meeting of the three countries' presidents held in a trilateral format, with the first being held in 2014 in Vienna.

Van der Bellen said that the three countries did not want their tourism sectors to collapse and that the Austrian economy depended on neighbouring economies.

A lot of people in Austria are not aware just how intertwined we are with other countries like Croatia, Slovenia or Slovakia in terms of the economy. It is in our interest for those countries, too, to overcome the economic crisis as soon as possible, said the Austrian president.

He stressed the issue of the climate crisis, noting that a vaccine against COVID-19 would be found but that there was no vaccine against the climate crisis.

In the coming years, we will have to deal with both problems. But that also brings opportunities for Europe's sustainable recovery, said Van der Bellen, elected as president on the Greens slate.

Milanovic, too, called for greater action regarding green policies, saying that the coronavirus would pass but that problems the world was faced with due to climate change were of such magnitude "that we must not stop thinking about them for a single moment."

ZAGREB, June 22, 2020 - Croatian President Zoran Milanovic has cancelled his visit to Russia due to a fault on the government plane and will not be able to attend the Victory Day parade in Moscow on June 24, his office said on Monday.

"President Milanovic has cancelled his trip to Moscow because of a fault on the government plane which cannot be repaired by the planned date, and there are still no commercial flights to Russia," presidential spokesman Nikola Jelic told Hina.

Milanovic is currently on an official visit to Montenegro, after which he was due to travel to Moscow for the Victory Day parade. The parade was to have taken place on May 9, but was cancelled over the coronavirus pandemic and rescheduled for June 24.

On the margins of his visit to Moscow, Milanovic was due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

ZAGREB, May 30, 2020 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Saturday that he was sorry the President was calling Statehood Day an election rally of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), underscoring that it was bad he spoke in such a way about positive legislation passed by the parliament.

"I think it is bad that the President of the Republic speaks in such a way about positive legal regulations passed by the parliament," Plenkovic told reporters commenting on a statement by President Zoran Milanovic that May 30 was not Statehood Day and that it was a result of one political party's (HDZ) private affairs.

"We know very well that (former SDP leader Ivica) Racan's government in 2001 decided that Statehood Day should be marked on June 25, which is also an important day. This (May 30) was the beginning and that's why I regret that he speaks in such a way about a key date for modern Croatia," he added.

He expressed confidence that Milanovic would change his opinion during his term of office.

The prime minister said that he did not hear Milanovic's accusations that the Statehood Day commemoration was an HDZ election rally or HDZ official Vladimir Seks's statement that conditions had been created to remove the president from office.

"Today is a key date for Croatia and I am proud... that we again mark Statehood Day on this date," he underscored.

Plenkovic also did not want to comment on the fact that Milanovic had not come to lay a wreath at the grave of Croatia's first president Franjo Tudjman, saying that he personally should be asked about this.

"I am the head of the government, of the HDZ, the person on whose initiative the date of Statehood Day has changed. He is a different institution, ask him about his behavior. I have said enough about the matter and that is not the subject of my interest," Plenkovic underscored.

He also said that yesterday's arrests in a case involving the Croatian Forests company, especially that of HDZ official Josipa Rimac, were not difficult for the HDZ and added that the rule of law must apply at all moments.

"The DORH (State Attorney's Office), the police are independent. If someone has committed a crime or there is reasonable suspicion that they have committed it, the police, the DORH, and everyone else must do their job regardless of the time, the person concerned or their party affiliation," he underscored.

Plenkovic also said that this example of the independence of state institutions was further proof that they were fighting against corruption.

He called the prompt dismissal of Public Administration Ministry state secretary Josipa Rimac and Assistant Economy Minister Ana Mandac a clear message, adding that relevant party bodies would decide whether to launch intraparty proceedings against them.

Asked if it had been a bad decision to appoint Rimac state secretary at the Public Administration Ministry after an earlier affair involving her house, Plenkovic said that what was happening now had nothing to do with the Public Administration Ministry.

He reiterated that May 30 was the day when the first democratically elected multi-party Croatian parliament was constituted. "This is a key date in the 1990-1992 period when important decisions were made for our independence and freedom. I am especially glad that the current parliament has changed Statehood Day's date back to May 30 at the government's proposal," the PM underscored.

ZAGREB, May 30, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Saturday, after a wreath-laying ceremony at Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery on the occasion of Statehood Day, that he was not boycotting the commemoration of that day, but that it was an election rally and a promise by a political administration that was now being fulfilled.

"This is an election rally. I am not boycotting anything. This is a promise by a political administration that is now fulfilling it. I consider that legislative decision a boycott of common sense and of the will of the majority of people in this country," the president said.

He added that on 30 May 1990 a multi-party parliament was elected in democratic elections in which the absolute majority was held by a political party that had been supported by a relative minority of Croatian voters.

"That cannot be everyone's holiday. There were other parties as well. To single it out as a holiday of Croatian statehood is very pretentious. To start with, you should find something that does not bother anyone. And by that I mean a vast majority," Milanovic said, adding that Victory Day (August 5) was much more important than May 30 as well as that in the independence referendum of May 19, 1991, practically all Croatians had voted.

Asked why he was then commemorating May 30, he said that he was doing it out of respect for the dead.

"That is the minimum of conciliatoriness and respect I will always show because after all, this decision was adopted by the parliament, however, as we know, the parliament can pass any decision with a majority based on defectors. That is what I said half a year ago, that is my position and I am now showing it this way," he said.

Milanovic did not join today PM Andrej Plenkovic and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic in laying a wreath at the grave of first Croatian President Franjo Tudjman at Mirogoj.

He also confirmed that he would not attend any of the commemorative events to be held later in the day.

Milanovic on impeachment: Go ahead and do it

Asked about senior HDZ official Vladimir Seks' statement that a procedure should be launched to remove Milanovic from office over his position on Statehood Day, Milanovic said "He should go ahead and do it."

"Nobody has ever voted for Mr Seks, code name "Sova" (Owl). He has been one of the very negative figures in Croatia in the last 30 years, leaving behind a negative institutional trace that is difficult to remove. Let him do it. Who knows, maybe someone will launch an investigation into responsibility for war crimes committed in Osijek," said Milanovic.

He also said that the current parliament had made the decision on Statehood Day solely for the purpose of elections.

"You do it because you can. You have bought defectors' votes. Someone else will come and I hope they will be sensible enough not to insist on imposing their own will and choosing something that bothers half the Croatian people. That's not the way to do it," said Milanovic.

Asked about Friday's arrests, including those of state-owned Hrvatske Sume forest management company CEO Krunoslav Jakupcic and Public Administration State Secretary Josipa Rimac, and if he believed they, too, were part of the election campaign, Milanovic said that many people were arrested.

"They are all actually members of the ruling party. This is now assuming the proportions of an epidemic. What I have seen is not entirely clear to me because it seems an investigation was compromised. I would like to believe that the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor (DORH) has arguments (to support the case) because if it does not, it will be ridiculed," he said.

Milanovic recalled that during his term as Prime Minister, one government member had been dismissed but that there had been no such cases as the current ones, and that DORH officials had not been appointed on the last day of the parliament's term but well into it.

"I want that difference to be noted," he said.

ZAGREB, May 17, 2020 - No one in Croatia should feel like a second-class citizen because of their gender or sexual orientation, President Zoran Milanovic said on Sunday.

On the occasion of International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Milanovic said in a Facebook post that he had on many occasions expressed a wish for Croatia to be a solidary community of citizens who may be different but are all equal.

"Today, when democratic and civilised societies around the world mark International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, let me reiterate my firm belief that no one should feel like a second-class citizen in Croatia because of their gender or sexual orientation," Milanovic said.

He called for commitment to promoting equality, building an open and safe society, including the right to choice, non-discrimination and protection of all minorities, as well as zero tolerance to violence.

"That is the only way for Croatia to really be a country of equal people," he said.

Zagreb Pride: Around 64% of LGBTIQ persons experience violence

Around 64% of LGBTIQ persons in Croatia experience violence and one in three attempt to commit suicide or hurt themselves, the Zagreb Pride association said on the occasion of International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

The LGBTIQ community says that the joint message of the global LGBTIQ movement - Break the Silence - is a message and appeal to the authorities and society to make violence against the LGBTIQ community impermissible and punishable.

Zagreb Pride recalls that the Council of Europe on Sunday called on European countries to do more to help young LGBTIQ persons deal with the challenges they encounter, notably in the current times of crisis.

Zagreb Pride says that discrimination and hate crimes against LGBTIQ persons in Croatia "are not only due to active work by the right-clerical organisations and their campaign of spreading prejudices and hate against LGBTIQ persons but also due to the government's discriminatory policy, non-implementation of existing laws and court inefficiency."

The NGO called on President Milanovic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic to think about their own responsibility for the social status of LGBTIQ persons and what they can do to improve it.