After attending a swearing-in ceremony of soldiers enrolled in voluntary military training in Po\u017eega, President Zoran Milanovi\u0107 took questions from journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked to comment on the possibility of the former President of the Republic of Croatia becoming a candidate for the post of new NATO chief, President Milanovi\u0107 said that \u201che would have nothing against it\u201d and that \u201cit would be useful for Croatia,\u201d but he emphasized: \u201cIt\u2019s in a year, let\u2019s put that aside. I prefer her to anyone else who is a foreigner and everyone should look at it that way, but don\u2019t rush. This should not be made public like this. These things are resolved at the last minute and generally quietly. If you want to hurt someone who is a potential candidate, if they are, then you will talk too much about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Milanovi\u0107 also commented on the current coronavirus situation in Croatia and on the vaccination process by saying that he understood, but did not approve of the direction it was going. \u201cI have been an advocate of vaccination from the beginning. More than half of the people in Croatia have not been vaccinated. For some reason they won\u2019t. What is the point of putting such pressure on one half of the population? How do you get people to get vaccinated? By terror? Threats? It doesn\u2019t work that way. Those who were vaccinated and wanted to get vaccinated were able to do so and can still get vaccinated. For him or her, life is almost completely normal. I do not feel threatened by people who were not vaccinated, but I will try to encourage them to get vaccinated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pointed out that he believes that Croatia\u2019s approach will not be individual, because as a member of the European Union, it will be important how the largest countries behave. \u201cI see a fear of the situation there, of the voters. It started with repressive measures, with threats to certain categories of people. If someone is ready to take the risk of becoming seriously ill with corona, let them take it,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107, reminding that for a year now we have been witnessing an approach that restricts fundamental human freedoms without a qualified majority in parliaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President also addressed the topic of this year\u2019s anniversary celebration of the Military and Police Operation Storm. He replied to a journalist\u2019s question about the agreed protocol and location of this year\u2019s ceremony at the stadium in Knin. \u201cNot everything is happening at the fortress and that has changed from year to year. My Government was the first to open the fortress to the defenders. It is not clear to me why this was not done earlier. Last year, the centre of Knin was fenced off to prevent people from accessing it. I didn\u2019t do that. And now we\u2019re going to the stadium,\u201d said the President of the Republic, who also confirmed that he would attend the Operation Storm anniversary ceremony in Knin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the press statement, the President answered a journalist\u2019s question on whether he could confirm reports that it was uncertain whether two firefighting aircraft that were in an overhaul facility for an extended period of time would ever fly again: \u201cWe have six firefighting aircraft, that\u2019s a lot and it\u2019s adequate. There is always some under repair. It\u2019s mid-July, so far there have been no horrific fires, let\u2019s hope … things will stay that way,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 said, concluding: \u201cIf the two firefighting aircraft indeed won\u2019t be able to fly due to parts procurement issues, it should not be a problem for Croatia to buy others because it is a matter of national interest.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After attending a swearing-in ceremony of soldiers enrolled in voluntary military training in Po\u017eega, President Zoran Milanovi\u0107 took questions from journalists.Asked to comment on the possibility of the former President of the Republic of Croatia becoming a candidate for the post of new NATO chief, President Milanovi\u0107 said that \u201che would have nothing against it\u201d and that \u201cit would be useful for Croatia,\u201d but he emphasized: \u201cIt\u2019s in a year, let\u2019s put that aside. I prefer her to anyone else who is a foreigner and everyone should look at it that way, but don\u2019t rush. This should not be made public like this. These things are resolved at the last minute and generally quietly. If you want to hurt someone who is a potential candidate, if they are, then you will talk too much about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11225,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-11226","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n