President Milanović following meeting with Slovak President: Europe is at a critical moment
“I do not have the courage to give advice to any people on what to do in such moments. What I know for sure is that the price of such thinking will be in the heads and lives of Ukrainians and Russians, but not of Germans and the French”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović commented on possible territorial concessions which Ukraine will be prepared to consider in order to end the war. The President stated this in Bratislava, during his official visit to the Slovak Republic, where he met with Slovak President Peter Pellegrini, Prime Minister Robert Fico and the Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Richard Raši.
“It is easy to wave and swing a sabre or throw a spear that ultimately doesn’t fall on your house or in your garden”, the President added, saying that “territorial concessions which Ukraine should make, are up to Ukraine”. “Any advice whether to accept or not accept has in fact one diabolical streak in it. Behind such a stance – for example, do not accept that, which I hear from many smart alecs in the European Union – lie a few hundred corpses”, President Milanović said.
“The political moment, the political period in which Europe finds itself is critical. Slovakia and the people who lead it are some of those with whom one can talk about it openly. Since, in reality we have no access to the information. Some keep this information to themselves and that is the reality in which we live”, President Milanović commented on the meetings he had with the leaders of the Slovak Republic.
“I believe that certain forces, states and circles are pushing decisions that are both harmful and dangerous for Europe and European states. The European Union, the Commission and the European institutions are bodies towards which – in relation to them and what they say, undertake and do – one should always have creative scepticism“, President Milanović cautioned.
The President explained that he feels this is the fundamental approach to bureaucracy and to those who are not elected, i.e. “are not democratically elected”. “I never called this ‘a deep state’ for the reason that the European Union is not a state, and as far as I am concerned and those who think that way it will never become a state because it is a path to ruin. But, associations and the way European free states and national states operate – that yes”, President Milanović stated, emphasizing that he sees the European Union as a space of tolerance, freedom of movement, but in no way“ as a vertical approach in which we all decide in a community of happy and cheerful nations, yet in fact a few of them decide”.
“Slovakia is one of the countries whose political leadership belongs to those who think for themselves and have a strong stance on certain issues. I do not want to offend or underestimate some others in Europe, but Slovakia and its leaders stand out in this regard,” President Milanović said, noting that before the meeting with his host, President Pellegrini, he had also spoken to Prime Minister Fico. “I was directly informed and learned some of his views and positions on what lies ahead, and what will be decided tomorrow at the European Council, and these are major decisions. I continued to talk about this with President Pellegrini, and that was the core of our discussions,” said President Milanović, adding that they also discussed the economy, trade, tourism and industry.
When asked by a journalist about the use of frozen Russian assets to finance reparations or loans for Ukraine, President Milanović said: “Russian assets are Russian sovereign property and should not be touched, and if they are touched, it should have been done on the first day or in the first year of the war. The fact that it was not done in the first year of the war but at the end of the fourth year of the war speaks of the logical and argumentative unsustainability of this.”
“I won’t say that I am against it, but the European Central Bank is against it, a number of actors are against it because they are aware of where it is leading. What fascinates me is the irresponsibility of a group of people who are currently issuing orders because they know that they will not be held accountable for it tomorrow,” President Milanović said. “That is one of the curses of the democratic system which we know and which there is no better. It often allows the approach – after me, the deluge, I don’t care what will happen after me, who will repay those hundreds of billions of euros, how the war will really end in the end. That is both the beauty and the curse of liberal democracy as we know it and the irresponsibility of people who have a very high opinion of themselves. It was conceived elsewhere, and the European Commission is implementing it, and in that chain of interaction, states like Croatia, Slovakia and many others do not participate, we have nothing to do with it. I feel sorry for those who think they represent something, we do not participate in it, I do not want to participate in it,” President Milanović stated.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek