ZAGREB, 30 April, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Friday issued a congratulatory message on the occasion of International Workers' Day on 1 May, saying that "it is the obligation of all of us, as a society, to work more, smarter and more thoughtfully because the world around us has also changed due to the crisis".

"This year again we are celebrating International Workers' Day in the circumstances that prevent Croatian workers from celebrating that important date traditionally and appropriately. It is an even bigger problem that many people don't have a reason to celebrate because they have either lost their job or are not allowed to work and provide for themselves and their families. For over a year, the main reason for that has been the coronavirus pandemic but also the vague and dubious regulations adopted in order to protect against coronavirus which limit the right to work," the president said in the message.

He added that the state is helping entrepreneurs, "which is its obligation in a situation when it is at the same time preventing them from normally conducting business".

The current short-term measures to help the economy are welcome, but their purpose should also have been and should be to protect workers and everyone living from their work, and not profit. Those measures are not sufficient to ensure stable growth in the long term and, which is equally important, to ensure a fair wage for fair work, social security and certainty for workers, Milanović said.

Croatia has the opportunity, he says, to ensure all this if it uses the money available to us through the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in a smart, transparent and responsible way.

The biggest responsibility is on the state, the policy it leads, to recognise the new circumstances and use the opportunity that can ensure long-term stability in Croatia and a better life for our people, said President Milanović, wishing all Croatian workers and citizens a happy International Workers' Day.

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ZAGREB, 30 April, 2021 - Defence Minister Mario Banožić said on Friday that the Croatian Army is not a training ground for political rivalry, adding that he will never allow his actions to put the army in a position to be used for political recriminations.

"The key is a Croatian Army that needs to develop. It isn't a training ground for political rivalry. I will never do anything, regardless of whoever wants to put me in that position, to make the Croatian Army a topic for political recriminations. The Army does credit to us all, particularly now when we are marking the 30th anniversary of the Armed Forces and each week we have at least one event," Banožić told reporters after meeting with Kosovo's defence minister.

He recalled that according to his decision based on the Defence Act, the Croatian Army will attend the commemoration of the 26th anniversary of Operation Flash in Okučani. He added that no one had ever made a decision on where the Chief of Staff and other commanders would be, and that will not be the case now.

There's no such thing as the President's Army, there's only the Croatian Army

"This refers to people who participated in the Homeland War, people who are deeply aware of the emergence of the Croatian Army and the way it was formed. They are also aware of the fact that any commemoration, including the commemoration of Operation Flash, makes new generations proud as they need to learn how to behave and love their country," the minister said, underscoring that he expects everyone to behave in that spirit.

"That means that we do not have the President's Army, we only have the Croatian Army which is defined by the Defence Act," said Banožić. He recalled that the Defence Act was adopted in 2013 under the then prime minister Zoran Milanović and said that now as president Milanović certainly knows what changes were made to the act in comparison to the period before that.

"Vital changes occurred then. The Minister of Defence participates in creating the budget and in decisions on how the budget will be spent and reports to the government and parliament," said Banožić. He said he respects the authority of the President of the Republic as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and that they are clearly defined by the Constitution.

Banožić was referring to President Zoran Milanović's statement on Thursday that his delegation at the commemoration in Okučani would include military commanders, while "I don't know who will be with Plenković, but they won't be." 

"I think that is something that is quite damaging for the Croatian Army, to politicise it in that way. The Defence Act serves as the basis for further equipping, modernisation and development of the army. Topics like we have had until now concerning peace missions and operations, cooperation with other countries and support to civil institutions. While I am minister we will adhere to that and we will certainly not put any commander in any uncomfortable situation regarding where and with whom he will be," said Banožić.

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ZAGREB, 30 April, 2021 - Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman on Friday called on President Zoran Milanović to cease obstructing the process of the appointment of 19 Croatian ambassadors and to go back to the constitutional and legislative frameworks when performing his presidential duties.

Grlić Radman's statement ensued after the dispute between the government and the president Milanović about the process of the appointment of 19 ambassadors and six consuls-general whose  current terms will soon expire.

"I think that the president is behaving like the Opposition leader rather than the head of state," said the minister.

Milanović insists on "a fifty to fifty quota" so that he could nominate a half of those appointments and a half can be proposed by the government, claiming this was the practice of in the terms of some of the previous presidents. Insisting on this quota model, Milanović says that this should fend off the attempts by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) attempts to control everything.

The minister explained that he had not known of the fifty to fifty quota in the past.

This is not the proper way. Croatia's diplomacy is one diplomacy which cannot be fragmented, ambassadors do not belong to somebody, they are top-ranking political representatives in host countries and pursue the foreign policies of their countries, Minister Grlić Radman said.

Grlić Radman recalled that on 23 November 2020 during a meeting of the National Security Council, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković presented a list of ambassadorial nominations to President Milanović and a few days later the presidential office's chief of staff said that Milanović did not want to discuss the list containing the nominations and that he insisted on 50 to 50 quota.

"President Milanović is a co-creator of the country's foreign policy and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković wants to discuss this with him, as the list has to be fine-tuned", the minister said today.

He also called on the president to stop using offensive language.

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ZAGREB, 28 April, 2021 -  President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday that the Croatian Army was one of the pillars of a civil, democratic state, while attending, in his capacity as the supreme commander, the official oath ceremony of the armed forces' 3rd mechanised battalion.

The ceremony was held in the Knin army barracks and was attended by also Defence Minister Mario Banožić, Chief-of-Staff, Admiral Robert Hranj and commander of the land forces Lieutenant-General Boris Šerić, the President's office said in press release.

Addressing those present Milanović said that the army is primarily for defending the Croatian homeland, on land and sea.

The Croatian Army, which means you, will build its future on international institutions. The circumstances are such that there will not be any more wars as there were thirty years ago. Today are different times, different circumstances...strive for the best for yourself, your families, your units, your homeland - Croatia," said Milanović.

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ZAGREB, 28 April, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that the state is functioning normally, dismissing interpretations that he is squabbling with President Zoran Milanović and that their relationship is affecting the state of the country.

"There is no squabbling. What you are saying is misrepresentation of facts and deduction of a conclusion that does not exist," Plenković told reporters in Šibenik when asked if the country can function with him and the president squabbling for months.

There is civilised, polite communication, arguments... listen, watch, follow and you will see who is insulting whom, who is arguing with whom, who is whose target, added Plenković.

"The government has always been constructive and willing to resolve problems and negotiate. But there is no sense in faking some sort of unity that doesn't exist," he said.

"The state is functioning well. There is nothing wrong with the state - everything that needs to function is functioning," he said.

Everyone is receiving their wages, pension allowances, a COVID supplement will be paid to pensioners, tax refunds and job-keeping measures will continue, he said.

"The election will be held, we need to fix some details regarding vaccination and we are working on enabling the tourism season," he added in reference to his visits to Dalmatia today and yesterday.

Plenković dismissed accusations by the opposition that he and Health Minister Vili Beroš are to blame for the problems in organising vaccination against COVID-19, saying that the opposition, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in particular, were trying to score cheap political points due to their unfavourable approval ratings and likely poor results in the local election.

He said that it was thanks to the engagement of his government and not that of the opposition that COVID-19 vaccines had been secured.

"As of today, with the latest shipment of the Pfizer vaccine, Croatia has received a total of one million doses of vaccines. Thanks to me and my government and not the opposition's, in the next two months more than 3.2 million doses will come. And now it is up to the healthcare system, in coordination with (Health) Minister (Vili) Beroš, to intensify inoculation and  ensure citizens' health protection," said Plenković.

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ZAGREB, 27 April, 2021 - Croatia's President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday that he would recall Croatian Ambassador to Belgrade, Hidajet Biščević, after the ethnic Croat leader Tomislav Žigmanov criticised the diplomat for working against the Croats in Serbia.

In the meantime media outlets have reported that Ambassador Biščević did not react to the developments in which ethnic Croats received death threats, and that he also failed to even telephone those members who received threats to express sympathy with them.

Žigmanov, who is the leader of the Democratic party of Croats in Vojvodina (DSHV), recently claimed that the Croatian ambassador had made a "tepid reaction" to attempts by Serbian authorities in Subotica to introduce the Bunjevci vernacular as an official language in that northern city and that the ambassador communicated with people whom Žigmanov described as persons "who are actively working on the destabilisation and dissolution of the (ethnic Croat) community."

All that prompted President Milanović to say today that he did not know whose policy Biščević "is pursuing there."

I cannot know whether all those headlines are true and I will summon him back to Zagreb for consultations, Milanović said in his address to the press at the Gašinci military range in eastern Croatia.

The Večernji List daily has reported that on 30 March, Žigmanov sent a letter to Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman to inform him that Biščević was working against the interests of the ethnic Croat community in Serbia.

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ZAGREB, 27 April, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday that he was considering not having the army participate in the coming commemoration of the 1995 military and police operation "Flash" in Okučani, to protect it from politicking, and that he would discuss the matter with Defence Minister Mario Banožić.

"A situation where soldiers have to stand for hours while politicians and government officials successively lay wreaths to comply with epidemiological measures puts in an awkward position the Army Chief of Staff as well as the commander of the land army who, if they do not want to offend anyone, have to be on duty... after arriving with me, they have to wait for (PM Andrej) Plenković, then, I guess, also for (Parliament Speaker Gordan) Jandroković," said Milanović, who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

"So I'm thinking about telling them to stay home, to simply protect them from any politicking... I will talk with the minister," said Milanović while visiting the Gašinci military grounds.

Milanović said that he did not see anything contentious about the fact that on Monday, at a reception he gave for retired officers and wartime commanders of the Croatian Defence Force (HVO) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he also met with retired HVO general Tihomir Blaškić, who was in the HVO delegation. 

Blaškić was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and served a nine-year prison sentence for the cruel and inhumane treatment of Bosniak civilians and POWs from 1992 to 1994.

"Had Blaškić been responsible for something that, let's say Ratko Mladić was responsible for, I would not have received him," he said.

He announced that he would also receive General Milivoj Petković when he is released from prison "because he isn't a war criminal."

The convictions against Blaškić and Petković were political convictions, he added.

The ICTY convicted Petković of crimes committed in 1993 against Bosniaks in the territory that was under the control of the Croat authorities of Herceg-Bosna

Asked if he would attend a ceremony marking the anniversary of the establishment of the 4th Guards Brigade in Split, Milanović said that he would attend the ceremony in Knin.

"I'm going to Knin, not Split, that brigade is in Knin and the army will conduct such events in barracks," the president said.

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April 24, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Saturday that the recent presentation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan was insufficiently transparent, which he considers problematic, saying the public lacks precise information on what the funds which Croatia will obtain from the EU will be spent on.

"That is a problem because it erodes the little trust that exists between citizens and the EU and that link - having information about what the money will be spent on - is very important. For the sake of transparency, so that one knows if it goes to public firms, those with political ties to the ruling party," Milanović told reporters during a visit to Samobor, where he attended an event at which awards were presented to the best local salami makers.

Milanović said that he had no information whatsoever on the content of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and that if he were Prime Minister, he would take care everything was as transparent as possible.

Having information on projects on which EU money will be spent is important to dispel suspicion of or rumors about preferential treatment, he said, adding that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO) should be available to a larger number of people.

The Prime Minister should not have come to the parliament with the NPOO as it is. "He has only provoked people to ask him legitimate questions," said Milanović.

Explaining his statement of Friday that the coming commemoration of the 1995 military and police operation "Flash" would turn into a show, he said that he was referring to the protocol because wreaths would again be laid by five different delegations.

"It will take until Christmas to do it instead of doing it all at once," he said.

Describing the current commemorative arrangements "as an escapist, cowardly policy that does us no good," Milanović said that they would put some of the participants in the commemoration of Operation Flash in an awkward position, primarily military commanders, whose supreme commander he is and who will come with him.

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April 24, 2021 - Commenting on an incident in Belgrade where the Croatian flag was removed from the residence of the Croatian ambassador, President Zoran Milanović said on Friday that such a thing, Croatia flag removal, could not happen in Zagreb.

"I thought an ambassador's residence was a protected building, and this is the case in Croatia. So I think that it (what happened in Belgrade) could not happen here. Croatia's law enforcement authorities would prevent it," Milanović said in response to questions from the press after he attended a special session of the town council in Križevci on the occasion of the town's day.

Croatian Ambassador Hido Biščević said on Thursday it was no accident that the Croatian flag was taken down from his residence in the Serbian capital city and that the incident reflected "part of the atmosphere" in Serbia's society, which he said continued to feed on hate speech.

Milanović said that Biščević was an experienced diplomat and "I hope that he knows what he is doing."

The president went on to say that Croatia and Serbia have several outstanding issues, and Croatia is generally ready to shelve all of them except the issue of people who went missing in the 1991-1995 war.

Milanović also accused Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and his cabinet of a stalemate in the process of the appointment of new Croatian ambassadors.

He said that it was Plenković who turned down the model of a 50/50 quota whereby half of the nominees for diplomatic missions are proposed by the head of state and a half by the government and added that such a model had been applied in the past during the presidential term of Stipe Mesić and the governments led by Ivo Sanader and Jadranka Kosor.

He complained about a lack of communication with the premier and added that this adversely affected the state affairs.

Milanović also criticized the government for disbursing extremely small outlays for the Croat ethnic minority in Serbia, which is why local Croats depend on Serbian President "Aleksandar Vučić and (Serbian) Radicals."

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ZAGREB, 23 April, 2021 - Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman on Friday condemned the removal of the Croatian flag from the ambassador's official residence in Belgrade, saying that such incidents fomented an atmosphere of hate, hostility and intolerance.

"Such incidents are certainly not conducive to understanding (...) We hope and wish for the relations between Croatia and Serbia to be good because it makes sense that we should have stable relations," he told the press.

Croatian Ambassador Hido Biščević told N1 television on Thursday it was no accident that the Croatian flag was taken down from his residence and that the incident reflected "part of the atmosphere" in Serbian society, which he said continued to feed on hate speech.

Unknown persons removed the flag from the building which has video surveillance but no guards most likely on Wednesday morning, he said.

The Serbian Foreign Ministry said this was an "injudicious and isolated act," hoping that it "won't cast a shadow on efforts to set Serbia-Croatia relations on new foundations so that in future they can develop in the spirit of mutual trust and cooperation."

Grlić Radman said that because of such incidents "we can't say the relations have good prospects, we can't talk about a good future, but we must believe in a good future."

He announced that he will go to Subotica on 28 April for the laying of the cornerstone of a new Croatia House. His talks with local officials will also address an initiative, opposed by Croatian linguists, to declare the Bunjevci dialect an official language in that town in northern Serbia.

The minister reiterated that the initiative was contrary to the Croatia-Serbia agreement on the protection of national minorities.

He said that on 27 April the prime minister of the Vojvodina province, Igor Mirović, would visit Petrinja, struck by a devastating earthquake last December.

Serbia's EU path "goes also across Croatia"

The minister went on to say that Serbia's EU path "goes also across Croatia." Before Serbia joins, it is necessary to resolve the issue of the war missing, universal jurisdiction, and reparations for POWs, he said.

Serb representatives have three guaranteed seats in the Croatian parliament and Croatia wants Croats in Serbia to be represented as well, he added.

Serbia "must actively and strongly deal" with reforms, the fight against corruption, and the rule of law, he said.

Serbia was granted EU candidate status in March 2012 and began accession negotiations in January 2014.

Ambassadorial appointments

Although Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and President Zoran Milanović have not yet agreed on the appointment of new ambassadors and consuls, Grlić Radman said he did not think the process was blocked and that there was "only one Croatian diplomacy."

He dismissed the possibility of a quota or a 50:50 model (between the president's and government's proposals). He said "agreement must be reached" and that one could talk about the list of candidates the government had sent the president, but that the government was not in favour of quotas.

He said the candidates were "professional diplomats who have proved themselves on the job."

Milanović, on the other hand, wants it to be known who is behind which ambassador for responsibility's sake, saying that this has been the practice before.

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