ZAGREB, September 28, 2019 - The Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) will support the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate and former prime minister Zoran Milanović in the forthcoming presidential election, the IDS Council decided by a majority of votes at a meeting on Friday evening.

IDS leader Boris Miletić said that Milanovic offered the strongest guarantees for the victory of the progressive Croatia in the presidential election.

"Voters will be choosing between a regressive and a progressive Croatia. With its support, the IDS wishes once again to make a strong contribution to Croatia truly becoming a normal, pro-European, open and modern country," Miletić said.

"Croatia's entry into the Schengen zone, which would eliminate the border within Istria, the removal of the barbed-wire fence on the border with Slovenia, and better road and rail connections with the whole of Europe are issues of vital importance to Istria, which the future President of the Republic can and should influence. Zoran Milanović has given convincing and credible guarantees that he will protect the interests of Istria and its civilisational, economic and cultural specificities," the IDS leader said.

He concluded by saying that the presidential election could mark "the beginning of the end of bigoted, retrograde nationalism and insane populism which has degraded the image of Croatia in the world and put our country at the bottom of Europe."

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 7, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić said on Saturday that Croatian Serb leader Milorad Pupovac had gone too far in comparing the contemporary Croatia to the 1941-1945 Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) regime, however he holds the current government responsible for "a climate facilitating attacks on those who differ from others".

"It is clear to everyone that Croatia cannot be compared to the NDH," the SDP chief said during his visit to the ongoing international agricultural fair in Bjelovar, about 90 kilometres northeast of Zagreb.

On the other hand, there is a climate suitable for attacks on those who differ from the majority, Bernardić said, blaming it on the current government. In this context he claimed that attacks directed against Serbs had become normal, and also pointed out the tolerated use of the Ustasha salute "For the homeland ready".

Bernardić again wondered why Pupovac was still a member of the ruling coalition.

Media outlets have reported that recent statements made by Pupovac were on the agenda of a three-hour long meeting of the ruling coalition parties in Zagreb on Friday.

Zoran Milanović, the presidential candidate of the SDP party, who toured the fair grounds separately from Bernardić, said in his comment on relations within the ruling coalition, that it was up to the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) to decide whether it would treat Pupovac as a friend or foe.

In 1997, when he voted for constitutional changes, Pupovac was loved by the HDZ more than if he were their brother, said Milanović, a former SDP leader and prime minister.

He, however, would not comment on Pupovac's statements in which he had compared the current Croatia to the NDH regime. "I do not know what exactly Pupovac said. I hope he didn't overreact," Milanović told the press.

As for statements made by another presidential hopeful, Miroslav Škoro, about a possibility to impose a ban on Pupovac's Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Milanović said that "every political party talks nonsense from time to time. The SDP used to talk nonsense, the HDZ talks nonsense every day. If we start banning parties for that, it will pave the way to tyranny".

Earlier in the day Bernardić said that Škoro's proposal on the possible ban of the SDSS was unacceptable.

More SDP news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - Presidential hopeful Zoran Milanović on Thursday called out President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović for not speaking up about an attack on several ethnic Serbs that occurred in Knin on Wednesday evening.

He said that the election is drawing closer and incidents of this nature could occur "at the expense of the weaker and fewer ethnic Serbs in Knin, who it seems will be paying 'interest in arrears' for the mistakes of their fathers, for the next one thousand years."

Milanović posted on his Facebook profile that the "expression 'Great Serbia aggression' in fact serves to isolate Great Serbia megalomaniacs who have been bullying (us) and neighbouring peoples for more than a hundred years."

"If we were to say just 'Serb aggression,' that would refer to all Serbs," he added.

Aggression as such need not be contentious for anyone unless Vučić becomes flustered, so dear HDZ candidate (for the presidency) I hope I was of some help," Milanović posted.

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 16, 2019 - A former prime minister Zoran Milanović, who is the Social Democratic Party's presidential candidate, on Thursday welcomed a ruling of the High Magistrates' Court in connection with the salute "For the homeland ready", explaining that he does not expect the ruling to become a standard as Croatia does not have the stare decisis doctrine.

"We do not have the precedent system. It is possible for every panel of judges, that is independent, to make different decisions," Milanović said during his visit to the town of Nova Gradiška.

"' 'For the homeland ready' is the Ustasha salute of Ante Pavelić," Milanović said adding that he would welcome any next court ruling whereby chanting this salute is fined. "I will regard other rulings to be human and political cowardice."

As for the court practice, Milanović said that the political trends are followed too much.

He criticised the current president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović for announcing her decision to run for a second term in the newspaper "Hrvatski Tjednik" which is perceived as a media outlet that downplays the crimes committed during the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).

He said that Grabar-Kitarović's move was wrong.

You simply do not talk with such newspapers, he said answering questions from the press.

More news about Zoran Milanović can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 11, 2019 - Presidential candidate Zoran Milanović said during a visit to the southern town of Metković on Saturday that President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's possibly calling an extraordinary parliament session would set a precedent but that the president was the one to make a decision on the matter.

The Office of the President said in a statement on Friday that with regard to a request sent to her by the Bridge party to call an extraordinary session of the parliament to discuss a vote of no confidence in Health Minister Milan Kujundžić, she would make a decision on the request if the Constitutional Court ruled that conditions for such a move had been created.

"The President knows the Constitution well enough because she tendentiously violated it when she gave Tihomir Orešković the term to form the government, and now after five years she pretends not to know the Constitution; the Constitutional Court does not decide about such matters, it serves for other purposes," the former Social Democrat prime minister said when asked to comment on the Opposition's motion for a vote of no confidence in Health Minister Milan Kujundžić.

"The President should decide whether or not to take action. The Opposition's actions are legitimate - it is trying to provoke the majority. I don't know to what extent the president of the republic can become involved in political struggles... If a session of the parliament was called now, during the summer recess, it would set a precedent and we could expect the Opposition to request an extraordinary parliament session every summer in the coming years. It's up to the president to decide," said Milanović, who attended the Boat Marathon in Metković.

Asked if Kujundžić should leave, he declined to comment.

"I have said that I will not behave towards any government the way others behaved towards me (as PM) because I know how harmful it is for the country," he said, noting that the president of the republic should be neutral but have political views and must not "scheme regarding the appointment or replacement of ministers or blackmail the government."

"We are witnessing that now. My opinion of the incumbent government is not good but I wouldn't do the things the president has been doing. What she has been doing is not decent," Milanović said.

Asked if he could count with the support of the entire Social Democratic Party (SDP), considering senior SDP official Zlatko Komadina's statement that his chances of winning the election in the second round were not very good, Milanović said that it was up to the SDP to decide how much his presidential candidacy was in its interest.

"But I am a candidate with the SDP's support and I agree that I can win in the second round only with the support of Croatian voters," he said.

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 5, 2019 - Presidential candidate Zoran Milanović said on Monday that President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović was selling Croatians fake news, and that presidential candidate Miroslav Škoro's advocating more powers for the president was a road to tyranny.

After laying wreaths at Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery on the occasion of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Veterans Day, Milanovic commented on other presidential candidates and the central commemoration of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Veterans Day in Knin.

Milanovic laid wreaths and lit candles at the central cross in the Alley of Croatian Defenders, at the grave of Croatian Army general Petar Stipetić and at the common grave of unidentified Homeland War victims.

Asked about President Grabar-Kitarović's speech in Knin in which she spoke about Croatia's defence in the 1991-95 war, saying that she had felt guilty at the time and had wanted to "take a rifle and go to war," Milanovic said the statement was fake and a fraud.

He noted that he did not attend the Sinjska Alka tournament on Sunday for private reasons and that his nonattendance at the Knin commemoration was a political message.

"Knin is one of the places one can go to... but it is not Berlin and it was by no means the real centre of the (Croatian Serb) rebellion, either in terms of financing, ideology, material or human resources, the centre was Belgrade. I respect Knin but Croatia exists also outside of Knin. To give too much attention to the commemoration in Knin means to attach too much importance to the so-called Republic of Serb Krajina," he said.

He added that Operation Storm began one day earlier and that the biggest battles were fought on Mt Vještić and Mt Dinara as well as in the area of Petrinja and the Banovina region and that most people were killed there.

Commenting on presidential candidate Miroslav Škoro, Milanović said that he did not make mention of him specifically on his Facebook wall but that he wrote about people who acquired their property through membership of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party.

"He is not my rival, he is just another candidate of the HDZ," said Milanović.

As for Škoro's calling for expanding presidential powers, Milanović said that that was a road to tyranny.

"I am not in favour of rearranging the furniture in the Croatian house of democracy, that furniture has already been arranged," he said.

The president should not have too great powers and he should be independent, especially from other people's money, Milanovic said, adding that calls for expanding presidential powers were motivated by the wish to "take the money and trade in favours."

"Croatian men and women, that is a road to tyranny and it should be opposed," he said.

"My campaign is a fight against thievery, against a system in which people who work hard cannot succeed," he said, adding that his political orientation was liberal democracy.

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 1, 2019 - Commenting on President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's statement in Israel that Bosnia and Herzegovina is controlled by "militant Islam", which she has denied, Zoran Milanović said that during trips abroad, especially to the Middle East, one should discuss such matters as little as possible, and added that he believes that this information "leaked from the Israeli president's team."

"In fact, they (the Israelis) should apologise to Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, and she should pick her interlocutors more carefully and watch what she says," the Social Democratic Party's (SDP) candidate for President of the Republic said during a visit to the northwestern town of Čakovec on Wednesday evening.

Milanović believes that the president's statement has not done much damage, "although this is the president's third major misunderstanding with the press in a very short time." He said that that was "very unfair of the host, who is apparently our strategic partner, although we have declared them so, they did not declare themselves that."

He said it was inconceivable to him that after a closed-door meeting between two presidents such things should appear in the press. "That never happens," he stressed.

"This is the first time I see this happen. It was someone from the Israel president's team who leaked it to the journalist, and when they saw that they caused damage and offended the guest, they tried to mend the situation a bit, but that's not how things go," Milanović said.

"Next time she should be careful who she is talking to. She'd better not declare everyone a strategic partner, because she told Iranians the same thing two years ago. People see that, it's flippant, insincere and it's not going anywhere. But the most important thing is that we don't get into trouble because of that. Pushing to become a strategic partner to Israel, a country that is in serious trouble, a country that I support, but I don't support the policy of its government because its policy is not the one being pursued by EU member states," Milanović said. "We don't want to cause a fire with an exaggerated statement because we are not a country that should be rushing to the front ranks in certain matters," he added.

Commenting on the government's plan to buy back the Hungarian energy group MOL's stake in the INA oil company, Milanović said: "They made a promise no one forced them to and were aware that they would not deliver it. A realistic solution is to put pressure on the other side."

"How did they get the 45 percent and later acquire even more shares? Which party made that possible? Now they want to clean up what they soiled 15 years ago, but nothing will come of it," he said.

He said that this government was sympathetic to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom he described as "a mockery of European democracy". "He does not respect Croatia but is mocking us," he added.

"In the 1990s Hungary was a very good ally to us. As a member of the diplomatic service at the time, I can say that they were more supportive of us than the Germans and Austrians. Things are different now," Milanović said.

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 27, 2019 - The Social Democratic Party's (SDP) candidate for President of the Republic, Zoran Milanović, said on Friday that the latest government measures to reduce income tax for people under the age of 30 and lower the VAT rate on tourism services were not a tax reform.

"Something that is done in four steps cannot be a reform. This is just sounding out the situation and it need not end badly. I can understand some of the things that have been done and I welcome them as a continuation of what was begun in January and February 2015, Milanović said, referring to the time when his government was in office.

"This is not a reform, nor do I think that Croatia needs a tax reform. What it needs is constant monitoring and correcting. These are trial-and-error changes. I have to say that there haven't been many errors so far, but this is a continuation of what was begun in 2015. I can't see why it was necessary to abolish and then reinstate a lower rate for tourism. Such moves only cause unnecessary uncertainty. If possible, taxes should be reduced. This government has entered into a good inertia for which prerequisites were created before," he told the press during a visit to the eastern city of Osijek.

Asked what his relationship with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković would be like if he became President, Milanović said that he would not be destructive nor would he spite the government. He also said that he would not seek the prime minister's resignation. "A President of the Republic should not do that. We saw it five years ago and that's not good. I won't be banging my fist on the table. You can't trust those who say they will, just as you can't trust them when they say that Croatia will be as rich as Switzerland. But Croatia can be as normal as Switzerland, I can promise that."

He declined to comment on other presidential candidates "for tactical reasons," adding that he hoped he would win the race.

Commenting on the death of the first Croatian soldier in Afghanistan this week, Milanović said that the Croatian contingent should be scaled down and that this idea should be discussed. He recalled that when he became prime minister the Croatian contingent in Afghanistan was 350-strong.

"We reduced their number to 50 and now there are 90 of them. I think this number should be reduced because it's not just that it's not our war but it's not NATO's war either because they also do police work there. It's an unnecessary risk," Milanović said.

He recalled that the Croatian army had been present in Afghanistan since 2003 when he was assistant foreign minister, and that he had discussed their deployment with the then prime minister Ivica Račan and foreign minister Tonino Picula.

He said that at the time Croatia was an aspirant for NATO membership and that by deploying its troops to Afghanistan it wanted to show its readiness to assume certain obligations in the alliance.

"In a way I feel responsible for the deployment of Croatian troops there. I will go there, just as (former president) Ivo Josipović and I withdrew Croatian troops from the Golan Heights when they found themselves in danger. A withdrawal of the Croatian troops from Afghanistan is a topic that should be discussed," Milanović concluded.

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 25, 2019 - The Social Democratic Party's (SDP) candidate for President of the Republic, Zoran Milanović, told Hina in an interview that he did not enter the presidential race unprepared and without ideas and that he knew what values he would promote, adding that if he had begun his campaign differently he would have been portrayed as "aggressive and violent".

"I also know what I will not be doing - much of what we have seen in the last five years. ... I think I know a lot about state affairs. I have a great experience as the leader of a large political party and prime minister, which is an advantage, but possibly a drawback, too. People will give their verdict, that's how it is, it can't be otherwise in politics," he said.

Milanović would not comment on the performance of the incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović or say what he thought of the other contenders.

"I don't want to comment. I simply think and am confident that I will do this job better, with greater dignity and more worthy of Croatia," he said, adding that he would advocate Croatian interests "more convincingly, more energetically and with greater authority, and not opportunistically."

Asked how he saw the recent government reshuffle, he said: "This is another topic I would prefer not to comment on, because I think I will have to work and cooperate with these people. There's no stability there." He added that he would not use "dirty tricks" to undermine the government as had been done in 2015 in relations between the president and the opposition.

Milanović said that, if elected, he would not treat the government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković "destructively and unconstitutionally" as the incumbent president had done, but that he wanted "a fair relationship, clear, transparent, direct and critical if necessary, but not opportunistic and cowardly."

Asked whose support he had for his presidential bid, he said he was backed by the SDP, the Pensioners' Party (HSU) and the Peasant Party (HSS). "But I cannot hope for a victory unless I am stronger than this. Above all, I am my own candidate and I will be what I have been all along - unquestionably independent, even rudely independent. ... I am in touch with the IDS (Istrian Democratic Assembly) and they will make their decision. I need their assistance because in Istria it is not irrelevant whether you are supported by the IDS or not."

Asked who would finance his campaign and how much money he intended to spend, Milanovic said: "Not much. We haven't planned it all yet, but we plan to spend as little as possible. I expect support from the SDP, but I believe other parties will also assist symbolically. But I am here to attract the hearts and minds of people. The President of the Republic cannot return a favour. What Croatia needs from the President is to be cunning, to look after national interests and show no sympathy for Serbian President Vučić and Hungary's Orban."

Asked if he was in favour of changing the powers of the President, Milanović said: "I am not one of those who want greater powers or who interpret the existing powers in their own way and misuse them. I will not behave like that. I will abide by the Constitution. The phrase that the President is the only one directly elected is music to the ears of megalomaniacs. It would be better if the President were elected by compromise because then that person would be more firmly on the ground and aware that they are not God-given."

More news about the presidential race can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 17, 2019 - The Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for president, Zoran Milanović, on Tuesday said that he is not opposed to introducing the euro currency in Croatia, but the condition for that is continual talks which will lead to a decision on the fate of the country.

"Croatia in the euro area in five years' time, why not?" Milanović said in a video posted on his Facebook profile and underscored that that does not mean cheaper money because lower interest rates exist only in functioning countries.

He said that he was not for introducing the euro at a referendum and at meetings with the International Monetary Fund, which he called "the world's financial policeman", but "as a community of people who think and make decisions on their fate in the next ten, twenty, thirty years."

He assessed that introducing the euro means that Croatia will not have a national currency. "That means a currency on whose trends decisions are made by the people we don't elect. And I reiterate, why not? But not in this way," he said.

"Introducing the euro in Croatia does not mean cheaper money! We see that in a series of examples in Europe in which countries which are not in the euro area have the lowest interest rates. Interest rates do not depend on whether you are in the euro area but to what extent you are a functioning state, whether endemic thievery exists or order and the rule of law. That is why I advocate a modern Croatia, talks, not dictate," said Milanović.

More news about the presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.