President Milanović on Meeting with Bakir Izetbegović: I Initiated the Meeting a Year ago, It’s a Good Thing It Happened
“The topic of the meeting is what is in the press release – first of all relations between the Bosniaks and the Croats”, President Milanović commented on Wednesday the meeting with the leader of the Democratic Action Party (SDA) Bakir Izetbegović, held a day earlier.
He explained to the press that he received Bakir Izetbegović because he is the leading politician from the ranks of the Bosniak political body in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We won’t stop at this, I wish to acquaint the Croatian Government and the Foreign Minister with the meeting. This meeting could have been held a year ago. Mr. Izetbegović came now, I am glad he did. I think that there is much room for cooperation between the Bosniaks and the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and at the present it does not fare well. It does not have to go at the expense of the Serbs, I will also inform Mr. Dodik about this meeting, and encourage all of them to give it a try, for as many possible to get together”, President Milanović added about the meeting.
Journalists were interested in the role of former President Stjepan Mesić who also attended the meeting. “Mesić called me and suggested the meeting, and I said – as far as I’m concerned, we could have agreed to a meeting a year ago, but now’s fine. He came with Mr. Izetbegović who probably felt more at ease. I was the initiator of the meeting a year ago, now it materialized”, President Milanović explained.
He added that the situation in the Republic of Srpska (RS) was not a topic of the meeting with Bakir Izetbegović, or the announcement of the establishment of an army of the Republic of Srpska. “The fact is that an army is not stipulated in the Constitution. Otherwise the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not exist, there is some sort of commanding staff, a number of soldiers. To a certain extent Mr. Dodik is hostage to the situation in RS and to elements and people that are more radical than he is. I think that he is not radical at all, but at one moment it becomes a bit frivolous. It would be as if I would threaten Slovenia with an aircraft carrier. First, I never would threaten Slovenia, second, I cannot utter such stupidities”, President Milanović stated.
He also commented on the reconstruction of the city of Zagreb, the amendments to the Law on Reconstruction that have just been presented. “As far as Zagreb’s post-quake reconstruction is concerned, the processes are already entering the red zone. The financial situation in the City of Zagreb, as far as I have heard, is not good, not because of the present city administration but because of the former. Since I am neither, I can say what I see and what is very clear to me – they invoiced or gave away anything possible over the past year, the other option won, and is barely making ends meet. It’s important that the Prime Minister pay attention to this. There is no room for bartering. The City of Zagreb cannot borrow over certain levels. The previous administration has brought it to the edge of the abyss”, he said.
In replying to a question on the non-implementation of reforms in Croatia, President Milanović said, among others, that the judiciary needs reform. “So that there is not greater control, but greater responsibility of the judiciary, because it is non-existent. Cases are being judged in whatever way possible, there are not enough clear criteria, and no one answers for it. I will talk about this throughout my entire term. I will also talk about this when we solve the complications regarding the Supreme Court. There must be an interest to solve this situation. I made a proposal. They tore candidate number one apart, but they didn’t candidate number two. What are they waiting for? Let them start tearing him apart!”
Regarding the visa waiver requirement for Croatian citizens travelling to the USA, President Milanović briefly said: “It’s good this is happening, it should have happened ten years ago. Perhaps we should have reacted by introducing visas for Americans, but we didn’t. This is good news for us, but a secondary topic”.