The President of the Republic participated in a trilateral meeting between the heads of state of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović participated in a trilateral meeting in Vienna between the heads of state of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia. Following his meeting with Austrian President Van der Bellen and Slovenian President Pahor, President Milanović said that Slovenia and Austria are two close countries of Croatia. “This is the format and the people I am most comfortable with, where we can do something constructive, where there is no dissension and where we can openly discuss the problems that we, the whole world and Europe are facing after the COVID pandemic,” President Milanović said in his statement after the meeting.
He added that a vaccine for the virus will be discovered or something else will happen, but life must go on. “There is no reason for alarm, some sort of unease and caution are justifiable, but we have to go on living a normal life as much as possible, otherwise we can only do more harm”, the Croatian President noted.
“This is the first time after my bilateral visit to Vienna that I have gone somewhere and spoken live. It is clear that no video link or zoom can replace a personal contact between people, heads of state, presidents, prime ministers, ministers. Regardless of what is behind us or what awaits us related to COVID-19, life goes on”, the President added.
President Milanović talked about tourism highlighting that Croatia, considering circumstances in Europe and in the world today, is an open and safe country. “At this time I would like to use this opportunity to invite the Austrian public and citizens to Croatia as guests, as tourists, and underline that Croatia, despite all the difficulties we have all experienced, is very safe. Nobody is totally safe, everybody has a certain amount of problems, but those slight excesses that all countries have, are relatively and absolutely small in Croatia. Croatia’s coast is big and sparsely populated, it has few people and is safe. It is as safe as it can be. This is my duty as President of the Republic of Croatia, I think I’m speaking rationally and I can corroborate this”, the Croatian President said.
Replying to a reporter’s question on whether he voted, how he comments the results of the election and when he will give Andrej Plenković the mandate to form the government, President Milanović said: “There is both a public and a private aspect to your question. The public aspect deals with my powers, my duties as President of the Republic in accordance with the Croatian Constitution, which is clear enough. It is clear what I have to do, and I will do it. I immediately congratulated the winner of the election Andrej Plenković even before 19:00 on Sunday. On the one hand, I am glad that the result is clear, it will make my role, which would have been delicate, perhaps even complex if the case had been like in 2015, more simple and will be reduced to a technicality, which pleases me. You asked whether I voted, that is a private matter, like whether you are religious and do you attend a religious institution. “You can hear me talk about ideas, social relations, values. I have been doing that as a politician for the past fifteen years and more, I am doing this as president, I said I would be doing it during my campaign and I have been acting accordingly. But private matters whether I have supported someone and who that someone is, will remain private and I will insist on that as president, notably with regard to parliamentary elections. As head of state my problem is that pressure is put on me to support someone and then not to talk about it, because elections mean supporting someone. Since I was formerly the leader of the strongest Croatian political party, this puts me additionally in an uncomfortable position, therefore, whether someone likes it or not, that is my private affair”, President Milanović stated.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta