ZAGREB, Aug 1, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic has interceded with the United States to remove retired Croatian army general Ljubo Cesic Rojs from its blacklist, Vecernji List daily said on Saturday.

Cesic Rojs brought his case to the President's attention during a recent meeting with 11 retired army generals. His case dates from the time of investigations by the Hague war crimes tribunal when his name was included on a blacklist of the US State Department, which implied a freeze on all of the general's assets and bank accounts and a ban from travelling to the United States, Canada, and Australia, the newspaper wrote.

His case falls within the authority of the Office for Foreign Assets Control, a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the US Treasury Department. Cesic Rojs was included on the blacklist together with generals Ante Gotovina and Rahim Ademi, who were removed from the list after the Hague tribunal acquitted them of war crimes charges. Cesic Rojs, however, has remained on the list and has been knocking on the doors of many Croatian and US institutions, but to no avail, Vecernji List said.

Cesic Rojs was truly surprised when he was recently notified by the US Embassy in Zagreb that his case was finally being dealt with after, as a source at the President's Office has also confirmed, President Milanovic personally interceded on his behalf.

ZAGREB, July 29, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has never tweeted something against President Zoran Milanovic, the government said on Wednesday, adding that after checking Plenkovic's twitter account they concluded that Milanovic was either lying or hallucinating.

"Given the numerous media queries about which late-night tweet the president meant, we checked the prime minister's tweets in the past period to check if anything was tweeted late at night that was aimed against the president. The only thing we can conclude is that the president is either lying or hallucinating," the government said.

He is certainly very bored so he is making things up, it added.

Milanovic today dismissed Plenkovic's claims that he was bored, saying this was said on Plenkovic's Twitter account.

Milanovic said he did not think that Plenkovic wrote that himself but someone in his office late at night. "I can't believe that Plenkovic would write such nonsense," he said, without specifying which tweet he meant.

Plenkovic told reporters today it seemed to him the president "is a little bored." He was commenting on Milanovic's repeated claims that the national COVID response team was unconstitutional, that parliament was above it and that the "team is actually nothing."

ZAGREB, July 27, 2020 - Homeland Movement MP Milan Vrkljan said on Monday the current COVID-19 response team should be dissolved.

"We agree with the president of the republic that it's a para-body, a body outside the constitution and the law and that it was established in the interest of a very small, narrow group of people covered by party affiliation," he told press.

As for the establishment of a new team, Vrkljan said the parliamentary health committee should discuss the issue and propose to the government how a new team should be established.

He said the team should be relieved of any politics as soon as possible and be left up to experts, and that everyone in Croatia who could and should say something should be involved in its work. "That's definitely not just doctors who are members of the HDZ."

Grmoja: Parliament should examine COVID-19 response team's activity

MP Nikola Grmoja of the Bridge party said parliament should "definitely" examine the activity of the team which had lost all credibility.

He said the case of HSLS MP Dario Hrebak showed that "if you are close enough to those in power, you don't have to self-isolate if you are needed for the parliamentary majority."

Grmoja said the team was compromised by the fact that its key members were candidates in the recent parliamentary election, and that Bridge agreed with President Zoran Milanovic's assessment of the team.

"Bridge was the first not to give the team those powers," he said, adding that the current team might be dissolved.

"It's possible, but that would require the goodwill and the political will of the prime minister to include in the team's work people who will be proposed by all parliamentary parties," Grmoja said.

He added, however, that those in power would refuse "because the team was their key lever in the election campaign and the election victory and they will keep it that way, but they will also bear the consequences."

President Zoran Milanovic said on Sunday that the national COVID-19 response team was not legally established and that it needed authority for the decisions it was making, and that parliament should play a key part in that.

"I warned the prime minister that people will sue the state because the decisions aren't legally founded. That team is a para-body. The Constitutional Court will have to decide on that."

ZAGREB, July 26, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Sunday he would like to see Boris Milosevic, the deputy prime minister from the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), and its president Milorad Pupovac at the 25th anniversary of Operation Storm in Knin, which he said should be joy and not gloating over someone's defeat.

"It would be good, I'd like to see him there," the president said on N1 television when asked if it would be good for Milosevic to attend the military operation anniversary on August 5.

"I think that would be a gesture... Whether he will be capable of it, whether the colleagues from the SDSS have the stomach for it... They have a problem with it. In smaller portions of the Serb people that is seen as a disaster, as persecution and as genocide, yet the story is a little complicated and I think Croatia can be proud of how that was planned, how it was done. After that there were mistakes which we are aware of and for which a price was paid," the president said.

If he is booed at the anniversary as he was when he was prime minister, Milanovic said he did not know how he would react. He said Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic had started doing something about that and that one could no longer see in his vicinity "merry guys who come to provoke and act out."

Knin shouldn't be given the mythical significance

The president said that Knin, which became a local centre of the Serb rebellion in the 1990s by a combination of coincidences, should not be given mythical significance. "It's a small town with Zvonimir's Fortress and there is symbolism in that, but it's not a mythical place in the modern Croatian history," he said, adding that Operation Storm should be celebrated in Zagreb.

Milanovic welcomed the fact that Milosevic was part of the new government, but said it would be better if members of ethnic minorities who were in the government had some executive powers.

Asked why he did not attend the inauguration of the new parliament, he said one could likewise ask why he did not attend the new cabinet's first session given that it was a body he would cooperate with much more than with parliament.

"We don't have a tradition, we are creating it. In these changes, I won't be anyone's epigone."

EU money can't be used to solve budget problems

The president also spoke of the €22 billion the EU has earmarked for Croatia to recover from the COVID-19 crisis and financing over the next seven years. He said this money could not be used to solve budget problems when it was certain that the deficit would be huge.

"We are getting the money for development, for projects, and that should then generate new value, returning the money into the budget through taxes. The next year and a half will be very difficult because we will lack money. It needs to be taken somewhere," he said, adding that next year there would be no money to buy new fighter jets.

Speaking of the situation in the country caused by the coronavirus epidemic, the president reiterated that it had become a state of emergency but had not been aligned with the constitution.

"If that were done, I don't see the president playing a part, but the government and parliament. I can't say more or I'll become violent."

He reiterated that the national COVID-19 response team was not legally established and that it needed authority for the decisions it was making, and that parliament should play a key part in that.

"I warned the prime minister that people will sue the state because the decisions aren't legally founded. That team is a para-body. The Constitutional Court will have to decide on that."

If you don't go to the dentist, caries can spread to the heart

The president also spoke of his comparison of COVID-19 with caries. "The disease is dangerous, it's no joke, but I didn't compare it with caries without reason. Caries seems harmless, but if you don't take care of teeth hygiene every day, if you get caries and don't go to the dentist, it can spread to the heart. But generally, everything will be fine."

The coronavirus infection should be treated responsibly, daily, with concentration, by protecting seniors as nearly all who have died have been seniors, the president added.

ZAGREB, July 20, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Monday that the reason why he would not attend the inaugural session of Parliament lay solely in his understanding of the role and status of the Croatian Parliament.

"The reason why I am not coming to the session lies solely in my understanding of the role and status of the Croatian Parliament - its independence of the President. That's all. This is at the same time both affirmative and well-intended towards the Sabor," Milanovic wrote in a Facebook post.

He said he had read comments saying that all his predecessors had attended such sessions and that this was the first time the President would not come.

"Tudjman attended and firmly controlled the work of the Sabor, often outside his (otherwise great) constitutional powers. Presidents Mesic, Josipovic, and Grabar-Kitarovic attended for their own reasons, I'm not going into them here, but I believe they meant well. My view is different," the President said.

"I have been elected by the will of the citizens to the office of the President, which is largely (but not exclusively) ceremonial. I am not going to automatically repeat everything that someone before me did or did not do," Milanovic said and added: "This is just the beginning. There will be more changes."

"Finally, a big kiss to all haters. The biggest kiss to false analysts who all have their petty business arrangements with the government. They have been faithfully following me for a decade and a half," he concluded.

ZAGREB, July 20, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic described on Monday as very unusual President Zoran Milanovic's decision not to attend the inauguration of the new parliament on Wednesday.

Milanovic's office said on Sunday he would not attend the session.

Speaking to the press, Plenkovic said, "I know what is certain, parliament will be inaugurated. It's very unusual from what I've seen in the media. We haven't talked about it. It was news to me."

He recalled that everyone who had been invited attended Milanovic's inauguration. "We received an invitation and attended because we respect the Croatian institutions, state symbols. That was our logic. I can't see why he doesn't want to do it, you should ask him."

Plenkovic would not say if this was a case of disrespect and derogation of the office of the president. "Very unusual. It's no reason for us to bicker via the media," he added.

ZAGREB, July 17, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic on Friday received a delegation of the Independent Union in Science and Higher Education who had requested the meeting in order to inform the president of the latest developments at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, the President's Office said in a press release.

The Independent Union in Science and Higher Education considers, the delegation said, that it was inappropriate to suspend the faculty's dean.

According to the delegation, the situation at the faculty is the result of the abuse of the university's autonomy. The union has become involved because it wishes to defend the system and management procedures at the university, the delegation said. For the system to function overall, it is necessary to regulate the university's management structures by amending legislation, the press release said. 

ZAGREB, June 26, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Friday that due to an increase in the number of new coronavirus infections, postponement of parliamentary elections set for July 5 was theoretically possible but that he doubted that the election would be postponed.

Milanovic noted that postponement of the elections in the current situation would be constitutionally possible but that it would require his holding talks with the prime minister as well as understanding on the part of the Opposition.

"Such a situation is not exactly envisaged by the Constitution, but some sort of solution would be found. I believe it would be theoretically possible, but in practice that is not going to happen," Milanovic said after attending a graduation ceremony at the Dr Franjo Tudjman Military Academy.

Milanovic added that he would not initiate talks on the postponement of the elections because he had not been the one to dissolve the parliament.

"I said that elections should be held at some other time, but after that I stopped commenting. (PM) Plenkovic contacted me and I asked him about his priorities, and holding elections on June 21 was definitely not among them," Milanovic said in reference to Plenkovic's statement that "by dissolving Parliament in May we wanted the election to be held when the intensity of the coronavirus was lowest, and it was the President who decided that the election would be held on the second to last date possible under the constitution."

Milanovic went on to say that June 28 and July 5 had been discussed as possible dates.

"I said, 'They will be held on July 5'. Hindsight is a good thing, but one leaves traces. I cannot do anything with regard to elections now without the prime minister's initiative, but that, too, is questionable. That option has not been specified," he said when asked about the possibility of delaying the elections set for July 5.

Asked what would happen if the situation with the coronavirus escalated, Milanovic said that he did not know and that one should have thought about it sooner.

Asked about the politicisation of the national team managing the coronavirus crisis, Milanovic said that he, himself, was asking himself such questions but that he did not know the answer.

"I have been wondering about some things, but I have called the elections, they should be held on July 5, and that's it," he said.

Milanovic was also asked to comment on the Adria Tour tennis tournament in Zadar, at which several players have contracted COVID-19, including the world's No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic.

"We were breaking news on CNN yesterday morning, but not for positive things. CNN is watched by guests on whom we may have counted to visit, and now that's not going to happen. I understand the need to promote a destination, but maybe that was a mistake. If (Bulgarian tennis player Grigori) Dimitrov had told about his contracting the coronavirus a few hours later, maybe all this negative publicity would not have happened. I understand the motives, if this had not happened, we would have said that the tournament was a great show," Milanovic said.

He also commented on whether PM Plenkovic should go into self-isolation due to contact with Djokovic.

"You don't want to hear my opinion on self-isolation and how it is conducted. Plenkovic's problem is that both (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel and the Canadian prime minister went into self-isolation after exactly the same situation, and now he is being criticised."

A complete lockdown, such as the one that happened in March and April, is not possible again, he said.

"Whoever on the crisis management team said that there would be no lockdown again was right," Milanovic said, adding that one could not do more than wearing face masks and protecting the elderly and ill.

"There is no reason for panic. Elections will be held in a week's time and we'll see what happens," he said.

As for post-election consultations on the formation of the new parliamentary majority, Milanovic said that there was no set deadline by which he had to appoint the Prime Minister-designate but that consultations would first be held with those who bring him the 76 signatures of support required to form a majority.

"Consultations will really be consultations, not a parade. They will be very transparent, not the way they were in some other situations, which has undermined trust in democracy. I don't have a favourite in these elections," Milanovic said.

ZAGREB, June 26, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that the July 5 parliamentary election was very important for the future of the country and that the date was decided by the President.

By dissolving Parliament in May we wanted the election to be held when the intensity of the coronavirus was lowest, and it was the President who decided that the election would be held on the second to last date possible under the constitution, Plenkovic said in the eastern town of Vukovar.

Earlier in the day, during his visit to Vinkovci, he said that the election could also have been set for June 21.

Plenkovic reiterated that he did not think that the ongoing election campaign should be suspended because the Croatian healthcare system was capable of coping with the coronavirus outbreak. 

ZAGREB, June 22, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said during a visit to Montenegro on Monday he did not see any reason to postpone the July 5 election for the Croatian Parliament.

After meeting with his Montenegrin counterpart, Milo Djukanovic, Milanovic addressed reporters who were interested in the possibility of postponing the election due to the spike in coronavirus cases in Croatia.

"The election in Croatia is set for July 5. I called the election for that date and I do not know how that can be changed in a democratic country," said Milanovic.

"Now that Parliament has been dissolved, we have to go to the polls," he added.

Speaking in a TV interview on May 21, Milanovic said that he did not think this was the best time for the election, but that the decision was made and he respected it.

Speaking in Cetinje, Milanovic said he was prepared to listen to anyone who considered that there were material and health reasons to postpone the election, but that that won't change anything.

"The election is set for July 5 and without any cynicism, you got what you asked for. I do not see any reason not to continue with the election," he added.

Earlier on Monday, the head of the national coronavirus crisis management team, Davor Bozinovic, told a special press conference convened due to the emergence of the coronavirus among tennis players at the Adria Tour tournament in Zadar over the weekend, that there were no indications for the issue of postponing the election to be considered.

In the past 24 hours 19 new cases of the novel coronavirus have been identified in Croatia, the crisis management team said on Monday.