President Milanović: To people who won’t get vaccinated, I can only repeat – people, get vaccinated!
In his statement to the media in Oklaj, where he attended a commemoration for victims in the Homeland War, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović expressed his support for the adoption of the law on civilian Homeland War victims. “I support the adoption of that law. Someone should explain to the families of the civilians killed in Oklaj and Promina why they are against it because it applies to them, but also to all civilians who were victims. Those who are against such a law… are against the state’s equitable compensation and assistance to those people’s descendants also,” said the President.
Speaking of the COVID crisis management team’s latest restrictions, President Milanović said the team “is playing by others’ rules and there is no choice, so that they can’t reproach us for anything, not to save the (tourist) season, which is good.” He added that he is very optimistic about the tourist season. The biggest challenge “is that Croatia starts managing its tourism, that we analyse everything that is being rented, who pays taxes, how many citizens from other EU states have bought properties here and rent them at minimum tax or even illegally, which is destroying what we offer.” Croatia cannot be Europe’s ‘apartment dump’, warned President Milanović, adding that this is now happening.
After Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said he agreed with President Milanović’s view that all COVID restrictions should be lifted in the autumn, the President called that “rational behaviour” and underscored: “As for threatening people to get vaccinated, it’s not going to get us anywhere, it’s a path to tyranny and unenforceable. Too many people will not get vaccinated. I can only tell them every time – people, get vaccinated.”
The President also commented on a conclusion by the State Attorney’s Office that last year’s attack on the Government building was not a terrorist attack and on speculation that the attacker did not act alone but that there were nests. “He’s dead, he did a horrible, terrible thing. It’s one thing to give your judgment immediately as opposed to nine months later when we know more. I don’t know about any terrorist groups. Those saying they do should say so, otherwise they are unsettling the Croatian people and public.”
As for the payment Zdravko Mamić made to the state following a court ruling, the President said: “It would be good if he had done that ten years ago.”
Another question asked by the journalists was about the investigation into the construction taking place in Vruja Cove. “They will arrest a man who has dozens of consents given to him by the system controlled by the HDZ. Take them from him, punish the people who gave him those consents and tear down all of the structures,” repeated President Milanović, commenting on a reporter’s inquiry about the construction in Vruja Cove. He reiterated that he has no material interests at stake, that his campaign was financed transparently, and that the state could have acted in the Vruja case, but did not act, except for allowing the construction to take place. “I consider it a shame that the State Attorney’s Office has only now acted after years of media coverage on this. Who will now be held accountable for all the consents he received,” the President asked and repeated: “Is it possible that so many state bodies gave their consent, that this has been going on for ten years and that nobody arrested that man?”
Furthermore, President Milanović commented on Serbia’s reactions to a proposal, which also came from the Office of the President, to put Nikola Tesla’s image on Croatian euro coins: “Nikola Tesla spent less time in Serbia than I in Oklaj today.” If they put Tesla on a cent coin, added President Milanović, it doesn’t make sense. In his opinion, on the euro coins “perhaps they could have put Ruđer Bošković, perhaps Faust Vrančić, and Tesla is the heritage of mankind.”
Journalists also asked the President if he would request an investigation into security breaches in the case of soldiers who used illegal drugs. The President replied: “How do you know these are security breaches? They didn’t find out at the press conference but came to that conclusion through their own operations. People have been caught in a crime and they will undergo proceedings. Let’s not confuse what the Security and Intelligence Agency does with what the State Attorney’s Office does. When you find out what’s going on, and you find out by doing your job, it would be ideal to know something more, but it’s not the job of a security agency. Their job is to protect the system and they’ve done that.
PHOTO : Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek