President Milanović: Doctors and Medical Staff Actively Engaged in the Fight against the Coronavirus Should Be Paid Double
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended the formal session of the Presidency of the SDP marking 30 years of Croatian social democracy. Subsequently, he replied to reporters’ questions.
Reporters were interested in why he is having a public discourse with the Defense minister regarding the wreath laying ceremony for All Saints’ Day.
“On Friday, I avoided making comments on the Defense minister and on the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, my message was directed to the Prime Minister and the HDZ and his loyal Gogo who, in a “sloppy” manner, avoided the joint wreath laying ceremony, which isn’t nice. It is an act of civil decency. The minister must do what he is told. And then the minister started to deal with me. I didn’t quibble with anyone, not with him, I didn’t even mention him, I only spoke about him semi-affirmatively. Obviously, by order of ‘those above’ he had to insinuate, for the second time in a week, that his Commander in Chief is lying. He is just a minister, I am the President of the Republic, but I didn’t say that he was lying. Yesterday, it was apparent that nothing he said was true, and that they’re trying to justify why they’re getting away from a civilizational standard, probably not to have their picture taken with me. He included the army and the Chief of the General Staff whom he accused of signing an order based on nothing. That’s a serious matter. While I am President, I won’t allow such things. How will I prevent him? Not by violence, but by words and examples, yes”, President Milanović said.
According to the President of the Republic, in the past it never occurred that someone attacked the Chief of the General Staff disparagingly who just did his job according to the information given to him by the people who report to the Minister. “The Chief of the General Staff signed the order. These are not trivial, but serious matters. The order was put on the table of the Minister, he examines papers 24 hours a day and no harm done. Then he cowardly transfers the responsibility to a soldier and admiral to whom he can’t hold a stick”, President Milanović added.
Since in the Ministry of Defense’s last press release the Defense minister accused the President of the Republic of manipulating with documents and facts, President Milanović reminded that the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia presented exactly documents that are public, which were sent to 50 recipients, which were not only delivered to the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia. “In what way am I manipulating? So that I am indicating the truth and the chronology of events, the division of power and clear rules? The Minister did all what’s written in the documents, the Chief of the General Staff signed it and returned it to the Minister. Then the Minister dares say that the Chief of the General Staff practically imagined something”, the President of the Republic said, explaining that he is not arguing with the Minister, but that his boss is trying to settle accounts through him with the President.
In his reply whether after all there can be cooperation between him and the Prime Minister, President Milanović said: “Cooperation will be possible with the Prime Minister who, the night I was elected, stated that it will be a “hard cohabitation”. What does that mean? A serious person should not make such statements. It will be possible with a man who accused me of being responsible for the bloodshed and shooting in front of the Seat of the Government, and has still not answered how I provoked hatred and aggression in 2016. It will be possible with a man who doesn’t know what happened in more recent Croatian history and who said that I refused to be at the head of the National Council for Accession Negotiations with the EU, although the truth is totally different, his predecessor prevented me. Yes, cooperation will be possible with the person who is systematically avoiding convening the National Security Council, although there is radicalization in the country, although our healthcare system is collapsing because we have 1,200 ventilators, yet one hospital in Zagreb doesn’t have any.
Reporters further asked whether citizens should be concerned about the lack of communication in the state leadership in the current crisis situation. “This is in the jurisdiction of the Government, not the President. All of this can all be done and I am keeping silent, I am not making any comments. It is the Government’s responsibility, which has the formal authority and finances. I am not hindering them in any way whatsoever. The only thing I said, and now it is evident that I was right, is that we are in an extraordinary situation, not in a war situation, but in an extraordinary situation. Because a state in which we are once again talking about a lockdown, about closing thousands of private businesses, about suspending human rights… this can’t be decided either by Capak or by Plenković. It has to be approved by the Croatian Parliament. And had Plenković requested this consent in March or April, it would have been so much easier, now it’s much harder. And there is talk of a curfew.”
What can you do as president when we see that there is no cooperation even though you are saying that it is possible, especially since the Constitutional Court made the decision it has, and that in democracy there has to be a point of decision that is final, because “the final one cannot be to take to the streets”.
“But to avoid taking to the streets, which is the key, decisions must be legally valid, final. Until now in Croatia, the streets have not been a problem and I will do everything to make sure it does not become one. However, if you prevent people from taking to the streets and if you insinuate that you will prevent them from taking to the streets – and you don’t give any rational reasons, you don’t ensure a legal framework – then that threat exists. As a politician I have been fighting against that the whole time. Our country has avoided taking to the streets in the past 30 years, here we don’t force our way into the Parliament like in Belgrade and some other capitals. This terrible incident on St. Mark’s Square is an exception to the rule that Croatia has been a peaceful country so far. There is no aggressive social discontent. For it to remain so, we have to function as an orderly, legal state where the rules of the game are known”. The President of the Republic noted.
In this situation one has to make a choice between a dictatorship of the civil service manipulated by politicians and the decision of the representative body that has been given the mandate by the Croatian political nation. The President advocates the second. “If they come to their senses in this issue, I will be the first one to support them”, the President said. “I will be the first one to support a lockdown, but not a curfew. We will be able to live with the closing of cafes or restaurants that are still open, if they decide to do that. If someone mentions a curfew, I would put him away. A curfew is equivalent to a shooting, to imprisonment, to huge fines”, President MIlanović said.
In terms of the problems in the healthcare system, President MIlanović said that some problems cannot be resolved easily. If there are no ventilators in hospitals, and there are many in the country, then it is necessary to deliver these ventilators to the hospitals that need them. “Where are the ventilators? In the HDZ?”, the President asks.
In the case of overworked healthcare staff, President MIlanović said that that they have to be paid additionally for the hard and responsible work they are doing. “Pay them. They can pay doctors, like they pay soldiers during the war. This isn’t a war, but this demands strenuous efforts from certain categories of people. Specialists and educated people have to do the job now, pay them double. There aren’t many of them, pay them double. Is that a problem? Not all doctors are engaged in this work, those who are, the nurses, the specialists – is a small number of good people. Pay them double. Is that a problem for the Finance Minister?”, President MIlanović said.
The President of the Republic once again warned that in this situation “the elderly, the sick and the sick that are not old, have to be cared for, everything else is common sense”.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas