President Milanović after Meeting with Swiss President: To side with Ukraine is civic and Christian duty

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović met in Geneva today with the President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis on whose invitation he is paying a two-day Official visit to this state.

After the bilateral meeting and the discussions between the two presidents, President Milanović underlined at the press conference that Switzerland is “in my opinion a state whose view of problems in the present-day world carries a lot of weight since it is generally neutral, and is focused on itself, which is important in politics”. “Switzerland is very well aware of its interests, and at the same time it is neutral”, he stated.

In terms of the topics he discussed with his Swiss counterpart, President Milanović said that their views are more or less quite similar. “The Russian attack against Ukraine is a topic that could not be avoided, and to side with the weaker one in such a conflict is a civic as well as a Christian duty”, he said, confirming that they discussed the aggression against Ukraine.

“Before I even mentioned it, I felt the need to broach the subject, and President Cassis also encouraged it – the Western Balkans, Croatia’s neighbourhood to the east. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, but it has clout, and since it is my job to represent Croatian interests, I raised the issue of the election law in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, the Croatian President noted.

Furthermore, they discussed the European prospects of states in Croatia’s neighbourhood. “One has been negotiating with the European Union for years, namely Serbia, and the other has yet to be recognized by a large number of members, namely Kosovo. These are topics that have been avoided these past weeks and days in the European Union, as if these two states do not even exist. In my view these are days, months and periods in which some decisions must be made”, President Milanović said. “Croatia cannot do much in Ukraine,” but it can do much in the region it lives in, and that is tied to Croatia’s east, it can talk about that and it wants to participate in the process. This concerns us directly and we have good intentions,” he added.

President Milanović replied to press questions about the sanctions imposed against Russia, saying that Croatia has joined the European sanctions. “As for individual sanctions, each state broadens the area or not. These sanctions will not suffice to stop the war. I would be happiest if Russia withdrew in an hour, if they simply went back to where they came from, but that won’t happen. Accordingly, the only way is diplomacy, namely, a diplomacy in which the mediators will be those who enjoy a certain degree of trust. In this role I see just a few countries in the world. Will this happen, I don’t know, President Milanović noted.

In his statement to the press, President Cassis estimated that President Milanović’s visit is exceptionally important. “The Republic of Croatia is the last country to have joined the European Union, but is making great strides in its development and changes. It will soon enter the Schengen Area and adopt the euro as its currency”, the President of the Swiss Confederation stated.

“Today we have met under the burden of very difficult circumstances that are evolving in Ukraine. Every day we are witnessing atrocities, we are shocked by what we thought we would never see in Europe after the end of the Second World War”, President Cassis said, underlining that Switzerland resolutely condemns Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. He added that Switzerland has immediately called for the establishment of an international commission that would examine the accountability for this aggression and document whether there have been violations of international humanitarian rights.

“We have discussed this today, it was one of the main topics of our talks. We have also discussed the consequences of this war, its repercussion to the geopolitics of Europe and in general to the architecture of one security policy for Europe”, the Swiss President added.

“Since we have discussed Croatian-Swiss relations, we could not avoid mentioning the Western Balkans, which is crucial for stability in Europe. We talked about countries that have been waiting for years to join the European Union and the kind of future that was in store for them”, he noted, and underlined that he especially wanted to talk about this with the Croatian President “because unlike Switzerland, he is the president of a country that experienced war thirty years ago in the Balkan area and he knows very well what we are talking about”.

In terms of the bilateral relations between Croatia and Switzerland, President Cassis said that they are on an enviable level not only because of our mutual interests in the economic sector but also because we share the same values, we have the same views regarding security in Europe, peace and prosperity.

The bilateral part of President Milanović’s Official visit to Switzerland began at an official welcoming ceremony in front of St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. Subsequently, President Milanović and President Cassis had a tête-à-tête, which was followed by a bilateral meeting between the delegations of the Republic of Croatia and the Swiss Confederation. President Milanović’s Official visit marks 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In the continuation of the day, the two presidents visited the University of Geneva where they took part in a panel entitled: “Security challenges in Europe and Swiss neutrality“. The moderator of the panel was Micheline Calmy-Rey, former President of the Swiss Confederation and professor at the University of Geneva. Presidents Milanović and Cassis answered questions from the students.

President Milanović visited the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Croatia to the United Nations Office and to other international organizations.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta