ZAGREB, 28 March 2021 - The Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) leader and member of Parliament, Milorad Pupovac, said on Saturday that President Zoran Milanović was destabilizing the country's constitutional order by violating his constitutional obligations and using threats in an attempt to influence lawmakers.

"An attempt by any branch of government to influence the opinions and decisions of members of Parliament is against the constitutional provisions on separation of powers and the independence of members of Parliament. Milanović violated these provisions in my case and in the case of Veljko Kajtazi (who represents the Roma minority) by trying to influence our opinions, our views, and our decisions, using threats," Pupovac told a press conference.

Pupovac said that Milanović had called Kajtazi and tried to influence him, while later saying that Kajtazi was blackmailed. He added that the President accused him of making decisions for his own benefit and that the USKOK anti-corruption agency should act against him.

"This kind of presumption constitutes absolute destabilization of the legal order and the autonomy of the work of members of the Croatian Parliament. If anyone thinks that my discussions on the Committee on the Constitution and Rules of Procedure or within the SDSS group were subject to anyone's influence or any bargaining, they should prove it," the SDSS leader said.

"And if they do not prove it, while at the same time threatening the state institutions as the representative of the highest state institution in the country, then this constitutes a serious violation of the Constitution," he added.

Pupovac said that Milanović told him by telephone that the other parliamentary representatives of the ethnic minorities should also vote for his candidate for Supreme Court President, Zlata Đurđević, which Pupovac said was an attempt at exerting influence.

Milanović took advantage of Đurđević.

Pupovac rejected the accusations that they had dragged Đurđević through the mud, saying that Milanović was creating "an alternative reality." He said that he thought highly of Đurđević and that he had defended her from right-wing circles who criticized her over her background.

"If anyone dragged through the mud this respectable member of the academic community who agreed to participate in the judicial reform, it was Milanović, with his interpretation of the Constitution and his attitude towards other stakeholders," Pupovac said, adding that Milanović had taken advantage of Đurđević for his own benefit.

Commenting on the statements and text messages he had received from President Milanović, Pupovac said that Milanović used foul, insulting, and belittling language.

Shortly before this press conference, which lasted 50 minutes, Pupovac published on his Facebook account the text messages he had received from Milanović at the time of discussion on the new Supreme Court President's appointment. He said he had decided to make them public after seeing such discourse being used in the public sphere.

In one of the messages that Pupovac published. Milanović wrote: "Shame on you, you wretch! The Serb people in Croatia will thrive once they get rid of you and your thieves." Pupovac said he would not seek an apology.

Pupovac also commented on his cooperation with Milanović during his term as prime minister, saying that, despite promises, they had not managed to have a single Serb-owned house in rural areas connected to the public electricity grid. "So much for his and his government's care about the Serbs." 

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ZAGREB, 25 March, 2021 - State Judicial Council (DSV) head Darko Milković on Thursday confirmed receipt of a notification from the Office of the President, announcing that a new public call for the post of Supreme Court President would be advertised in a couple of days and that interested candidates would be invited to apply.

In an interview with the N1 broadcaster, Milković said that only the head of state could request a new public call or it could be done by their office on their behalf and that that could not be done "by Parliament or an individual MP."

President Milanović earlier in the day called on the DSV to urgently repeat the public call for applications for the post of Supreme Court President, informing it that he would not nominate any of the three applicants following a previous public call.

His office stressed that the President's proposal "is not intended to influence in any way the DSV's constitutionally and legally defined powers" but that the President wanted, "in the current chaotic situation, caused by changes to the Courts Act, to contribute to the best possible and most efficient functioning of the judicial authorities as well as enable the functioning of the State Election Commission after the expiry of the term of the current Supreme Court President."

The Supreme Court President also serves as the chair of the State Election Commission.

Applications following the DSV's previous public call were submitted by Supreme Court President Đuro Sessa, whose term expires in July, and attorneys Šime Savić and Lidija Horvat, with the latter having in the meantime withdrawn her application.

Milanović insists that proposing a candidate for the Supreme Court President is his constitutional right and he has proposed Zagreb law professor Zlata Đurđević for that post. However, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković has refused to put his motion on Parliament's agenda as unlawful.

Milanović has said that members of Parliament will nonetheless have to vote on his nominee.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday concluded that the head of state can propose only a candidate who has submitted an application following a public call by the DSV and it claims that this does not restrict the President's constitutional right to propose a candidate and Parliament's right to elect them.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that even though she was a law professor, Đurđević had agreed to be part of an unlawful procedure and that therefore she could not lead the highest judicial body.

"A person who does not respect the legal order cannot be the President of the Supreme Court because that body protects the legal order, the Constitution, international treaties, all laws," he said.

Đurđević confirmed on Thursday that she did not plan to give up on her candidacy and that she would submit an application following a new public call by the DSV.

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 ZAGREB, 25 March, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Thursday called on the State Judicial Council (DSV) to urgently repeat the public call for applications for the post of Supreme Court president, informing it that he would not nominate any of the three candidates who had applied following a previous public call.

The Office of the President said that it had sent the DSV a notification informing it that Milanović would not propose for the Supreme Court president any of the candidates who had applied, and that it therefore proposed that the public call be repeated as soon as possible as "under the Constitution, the President is obliged to care for the regular and normal functioning and stability of state authority and in that context wants to ensure conditions for better and more efficient work of the judicial authorities, as well as ensure the unobstructed operation of the State Election Commission."

The office stresses that the president's proposal "is not intended to influence in any way the DSV's constitutionally and legally defined powers" but that the president wants, "in the current chaotic situation, caused by changes to the Courts Act, to contribute to the best possible and most efficient functioning of the judicial authorities as well as enable the functioning of the State Election Commission after the expiry of the term of the current Supreme Court President."

The Supreme Court president also serves as the chair of the State Election Commission.

The Office of the President proposes that the DSV repeat the public call as soon as possible and that it last no longer than 15 days, considering that one public call was already advertised.

Applications following the DSV's previous public call were submitted by Supreme Court President Đuro Sessa, whose term expires in July, and attorneys Šime Savić and Lidija Horvat, with the latter having in the meantime withdrawn her application.

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ZAGREB, 24 March, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday that Parliament would have to vote on his candidate for Supreme Court President, Zlata Đurđević, because that was its obligation under the Constitution.

"They will have to take a vote not because I want them to, but because that is their obligation under the Constitution," Milanović told the press during a visit to the northern Adriatic island of Cres.

Milanović has sent a letter to Parliament calling on MPs to fulfil their constitutional obligation and vote on his proposal to appoint Zlata Đurđević the Supreme Court President.

He accused Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković of concealing the document he had sent to Parliament, adding that Jandroković would not be punished for this theft. "What he did is unprecedented. The HDZ is trying to set up a dictatorship."

Milanović said that the Constitutional Court, which did not support Milanović's position, was a political body consisting of "mainly washed-up HDZ members.

Commenting on the statements by former Dinamo football club boss Zdravko Mamić, who accused some of the judges of corruption, Milanović said: "Always the same story, the same people. Mamić provided some evidence, but those people are no-goods. People who administer justice in such cases and who behave like that cannot be called anything else but no-goods."

Milanović said he did not believe that Mamić had financially supported former President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. "One should be careful when making such direct accusations. She was accused of serious corruption and I think she will seek satisfaction in court," he added.

Milanović said he believed that judges such as those who had accepted bribes from Mamić were in a minority and that the majority of judges were honourable.

He said that the HDZ-controlled justice system was designed by senior HDZ official Vladimir Šeks. "They are destroying this country and I will fight against that," the President said.

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ZAGREB, 24 March, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović visited Cres Island on Wednesday and the local cheese factory that is run by the Loznati agricultural cooperative, the construction site for the Orlec solar power plant, the refurbished Moise Palace and the reconstructed port in the town of Cres.

During his visit to the Loznati cheese factory, Milanović was informed that its new plant was waiting for an official inspection and permit to launch operations and the production of sheep and goat cheese.

The Loznati cooperative has a flock of about 350 sheep and it plans to attract other local sheep farmers to join the cooperative. A total of HRK 5.5 million was invested in the cheese factory, with HRK 2 million of that being a grant from the EU Rural Development Programme, HRK 2.5 million from a loan with the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) and the remaining HRK 1 million invested by the cooperative itself.

The President then visited the  HRK 45 million Orlec solar power plant.

The project was presented to the President by a member of the management board of the HEP national electricity provider, Petar Sprčić, the director of the Kvarner regional energy agency and member of the president's energy council, Darko Jardas and others.

The area of the future power plant covers 17.3 hectares divided into 13 segments and each will have a power of 500 kilowatts and a total installed power of 6.5 megawatts.The plant is expected to generate almost 8.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year which is sufficient to supply 2,000 average households.

Milanović said that visiting the power plant was the "most important element of his visit to Cres."

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ZAGREB, 23 March, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Tuesday commented on the Constitutional Court's decision made earlier in the day, saying in a Facebook post that rigging a competition for a post was a criminal act and that Judge Zlata Đurđević continued to be his candidate for the Supreme Court president.

"Zlata Đurđević is still my candidate and the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union), regardless of how difficult it may find it, will have to take a vote on her. For or against, and that will make everything clear," Milanović said after the Constitutional Court earlier in the day concluded by a majority vote that the President of the Republic can nominate for the post of the Supreme Court president only a candidate who has submitted an application following a public call by the State Judicial Council (DSV).

Milanović's candidate, Zagreb Law School professor Zlata Đurđević, was not among the three candidates who submitted their applications to the DSV.

Milanović also commented on statements made today by Constitutional Court President Miroslav Šeparović, alluding to media reports about his close friendship with senior HDZ member Vladimir Šeks.

"If public competitions, advertisements and public calls are possibly rigged, that is not the reason to abolish them but rather to enable the election of the best candidate through democratic control - so tells us Šeks's close friend at the Constitutional Court. And he adds that laws must be applied, I quote, 'meaningfully'," Milanović wrote on Facebook, adding "First of all, a competition and a public call are not the same. One more thing you have not learned. And rigging a competition is a criminal act. That goes for everyone, including close friends. You should have learned that."

The president described most Constitutional Court judges as the HDZ's bargaining chips whose role was to save the incumbent Supreme Court President Đuro Sessa, whom he described as "a soldier of the HDZ-run judiciary."

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ZAGREB, 23 March, 2021 - The Constitutional Court on Tuesday concluded that the Croatian President can select a nominee for the Supreme Court Chief Justice only from those applicants who sent their applications for that post after the State Judicial Council (DSV) publicly advertised the position. 

After receiving requests to test the constitutionality of the provision regulating the selection procedure under which the DSV advertises the position for the Supreme Court President, the Constitutional Court, which considered this issue, said that the provision concerned does not restrict the head of state's constitutional powers whereby he/she can nominate the candidate for the said post while it is the parliament that appoints the Supreme Court head.

The Constitutional Court says that the head of state is authorised to nominate one of the applicants who have sent their applications following the DSV's public advertisement.

The latest conclusion of the Constitutional Court was adopted with nine votes in favour and four votes against it. These four judges have announced their dissenting opinions, while four of the nine judges who voted for this conclusion have also announced the publication of their supporting opinions.

The Constitutional Court has received a few requests to review the constitutionality of the Courts Act which stipulates the procedure for the appointment of the Supreme Court President.

The issue has grabbed limelight since President Zoran Milanović decided not to select any of the three applicants who sent their applications after the State Judicial Council advertised the position.

After the expiry of the public call, Milanović proposed law professor Zlata Đurđević, insisting that the law regulating the procedure is not in line with the Constitution.

In the meantime, lawyers Sandra Marković and Jadranka Sloković have sent a request to the Constitutional Court to test the constitutionality of the said legislation, after a request for the review of its constitutionality was also forwarded by filmmaker Dario Juričan, who ran in the presidential election in 2019.

Constitutional Court president Miroslav Šeparović told Hina on Friday that the court would decide on Tuesday whether the latest request would be put on its agenda as a separate item or whether it would be discussed together with Juričan's proposal.

Milanović insists that it is his constitutional right to nominate the person he chooses. The decision of the parliament speaker not to add Milanović's motion to the parliament's agenda concerning professor Đurđević, who was not among the three applicants, prompted President Milanović to criticise the legislature for defending the status quo and "untouchable" top officials in the judiciary.

Last Friday, the parliament confirmed the opinion of the Committee on the Constitution that no mistake was made by Speaker Gordan Jandroković when he asked President Milanović to supplement his motion on the nomination of the Supreme Court president.

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ZAGREB, 12 March, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Friday said that Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković has done something that is unprecedented and impermissible by asking him, as the proposer, to supplement his draft decision on the selection of the Supreme Court president.

Jandroković sent back Milanović's draft decision after identifying some shortcomings.

Milanović said that Jandroković put his recommendation for the Supreme Court candidate "in a drawer," underscoring that Jandroković has no right to do so.

"He has no right to do that, whatever the HDZ majority in the Committee on the Constitution, thinks," Milanović told reporters in Požega after attending an oath giving ceremony by the 29th generation of volunteer army recruits.

Only thing protecting Jandroković from consequences is his immunity

Milanović said that the Speaker had done something he is not allowed to and the "only thing protecting him from the consequences is his immunity."

"He stole the document I sent to the parliament and allowed himself to interpret it... and assess the legality of my recommendation," claimed Milanović, adding that only the parliament can decide on the legality of something and not Jandroković.

"In future too he or anyone else can do what they want with documents and proposals. That is (ruling party) HDZ's message to parliament and its partners in the government... and if they want to agree to Jandroković shelving issues at his discretion and conducting a legislative analysis of a proposal's admissibility, let them do so. That is the road to tyranny," underscored Milanović.

Jandroković has privatised the position of Parliament Speaker

Milanović called out Jandroković for "privatising the position of Parliament Speaker," which the "HDZ majority in the parliamentary Committee on the Constitution gave him the right to do."

Milanović underscored that his recommendation for president of the Supreme Court, Zlata Đurđević, is a good choice, reiterating his stance that a public call for applications for the position is not transparent and that he as the president of the country has the authority to recommend a candidate.

"If you don't like it, abolish it, but it exists - all my authority and duty is to make a recommendation and I did so and that is the most transparent way possible. The public call is not transparent. Hundreds of Croatian lawyers are perhaps scared and don't want to participate in a travesty... Professor Đurđević is my candidate. Reject her, I dare you!" said Milanović.

He also commented on criticism by some constitutional law experts of his refusing to support one of the candidates that applied for the position, saying that these were people who wish to become Constitutional Court judges and are just waiting outside the Constitutional Court door waiting for a public call so they "can jump in."

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ZAGREB, 10 March, 2021 - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Wednesday called on President Zoran Milanović to supplement his motion concerning the nomination and election of the Supreme Court President.

The request to amend the motion ensued after some shortcomings were noticed in the submitted motion, a source from the Office of Parliament Speaker said.

Under Article 170 of the legislature's rule book, the sponsor of a motion can be asked to resubmit the amended motion within 15 days, after the parliament speaker establishes that the initial motion has not been submitted in accordance with the rule book of the national parliament.

Otherwise, the motion shall be considered null and void.

On Monday, Milanović announced his plan to nominate the Zagreb law school's professor Zlata Đurđević as his candidate for the Supreme Court President, and said that he would send the relevant proposal to the Sabor on the same day.

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ZAGREB, 8 March, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Monday visited the Sisak Faculty of Metallurgy, saying metallurgy was stereotypically considered a male profession, and the Petrinja Faculty of Teacher Education, saying teaching was considered a female profession.

One of the topics with faculty officials and students was the role of women in science and higher education.

"The reason I am here today, on International Women's Day, is also the fact that at (the Sisak) faculty, in management and leadership, are solely women, which is very unusual given that the nature of their profession is stereotypically considered male," Milanović told the press, adding that it was also unusual that half the students were women.

Speaking of the 60 years of the Sisak Faculty of Metallurgy, which is part of the University of Zagreb, the president said it was fighting and developing despite all the changes Croatia had gone through.

"In Sisak, the cradle of Croatian metallurgy, which has had its ups and downs, fighting for survival and progress, that knowledge is nurtured," he said, adding that the doctoral studies at the faculty were "a big success considering how demanding, intensive and complicated they are."

Milanović said he was sure the Science and Education Ministry and the faculty itself would advance the faculty with European funding.

After visiting the Petrinja Faculty of Teacher Education, which is also part of the University of Zagreb, the president said he was confident that it would "carry this city" after the devastating earthquake last December.

Congratulating women on their day, Milanović said "there are women and women," explaining that some were fighters who would not sell themselves or be broken, who would "kick in that place" any thug or abuser, while others put on a show.

Asked if he was again referring to Hollywood actresses, he said, "Never mind those actresses now."

Asked if women deserved protection, he said the weak deserved it. "Female teachers deserve protection, the girls who are teaching assistants and must make headway through a non-transparent system and who depend on older colleagues, but are not interesting enough for 30 cameras to gather because of them."