\u201cEverything is very expensive,\u201d warned the President of the Republic, Zoran Milanovi\u0107, today. When asked if he expects price increases in light of the Government\u2019s reduction of measures, he said that things \u201cwill be more expensive.\u201d He ironically commented on the Government\u2019s position that there will be no price increases: \u201cThen there won\u2019t, since they always speak the truth and only the truth, and never anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Journalists were also interested in President Milanovi\u0107\u2019s opinion on whether it is time to end state intervention in the energy market: \u201cWe need to protect those who are struggling the most, and these are primarily pensioners, for whom, for some unknown reason, they never bothered to calculate a sustainable formula. The average pension remains at 40% of the salary, the same as when I was Prime Minister under much tougher conditions and circumstances. This is unjustified, unsustainable, and impossible to live on. Back then, there were justifications for it, which I didn\u2019t seek, but at that time, pensioners weren\u2019t protesting. They were aware of the situation and how things stood. Pensions remain this low primarily due to the Government\u2019s incompetence, not because it\u2019s unsolvable. Wages have grown nominally, but let\u2019s not forget that inflation has also increased,\u201d he said, adding that a thousand euros today does not have the same value as it did 10 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked by journalists, he also commented on the fact that Milorad Dodik included war criminals Karad\u017ei\u0107 and Mladi\u0107 as war heroes in textbooks. \u201cWhatever I try to fix, he messes up. Dodik is absolutely the main interlocutor for all Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats in politics. Who else should be the interlocutor? The heirs of Mladi\u0107 and Karad\u017ei\u0107? Unfortunately, Dodik calculates too much and plays with fire unnecessarily. I always tell him to keep things calm, to ease up a bit, and not to go to Moscow because it\u2019s stupid and he doesn\u2019t need it, as they won\u2019t help him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking about the political situation of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he said: \u201cNow, Plenkovi\u0107 has been in Bosnia and Herzegovina for two days, and he finally took a courage pill, so he said something about the Sejdi\u0107\/Finci rulings and how Croats cannot elect their own member of the Presidency because political Sarajevo obstructs them. I\u2019ve been talking about this for six years. Plenkovi\u0107 finally got the courage to acknowledge the problem, while other countries would demand more and complain more than Croatia. The attitude of the team from the SDA and political Sarajevo towards Plenkovi\u0107 is the same as towards me. So, as soon as he brought it up \u2013 after hiding and being scared for years \u2013 he got the same reaction as I did. Unfortunately, you can\u2019t deal with these people nicely. I\u2019ve tried, and I have more experience than Plenkovi\u0107. We need to agree on what to do for the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina because political Sarajevo and their sponsors, like the Office of the High Representative and the U.S. Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, don\u2019t care about Croats; they care about who runs the secret service and how they cooperate with the Americans in combating militant Islam. That\u2019s all they care about. If we don\u2019t help the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina restore their basic rights, no one will. The way Plenkovi\u0107 and his lackeys are handling it is wrong, and in the end, it leads to where I am \u2013 on political Sarajevo\u2019s list. We\u2019re both on that list, only I speak clearly, but I don\u2019t have the tools, while Plenkovi\u0107 dodges the issue, though he has the tools,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked by journalists, President Milanovi\u0107 also commented on the opening of proceedings by the Commission for the Prevention of Conflicts of Interest regarding helicopter flights. \u201cI am the Commander in Chief, so it will continue to be my decision. As the President of the Republic, I have a certain status according to the Croatian Constitution, and whoever becomes President after me, in five years, will have it too. This will not change, and no Commission will change that. The dignity of the office of the President of the Republic does not allow me to respond to this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the weekly Nacional recently reported that Prime Minister Plenkovi\u0107 used police boats for private purposes, journalists were interested in President Milanovi\u0107\u2019s comment. \u201cThere are no private purposes. Whatever he is, and he\u2019s nothing, he is still the Prime Minister, and when he goes to an island in Croatia, he can go by ferry or by military ship. In both cases, there will be a police boat alongside the one he\u2019s traveling on, and there\u2019s no offense involved. We\u2019ve said this many times before, only I play fair, and Plenkovi\u0107 and his people play dirty. That\u2019s the difference,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding the situation at Jadrolinija, President Milanovi\u0107 said: \u201cThey are guilty as sin. The Old Testament doesn\u2019t describe a situation as guilty as theirs, and how much they protect their crony, some Sopta, instead of removing him and restructuring the company. Clearly, nothing functions there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Milanovi\u0107 also commented on the Report of the Chief of General Staff, as well as his relationship with the Minister of Defense. \u201cThese aren\u2019t my or Anu\u0161i\u0107\u2019s numbers. Anu\u0161i\u0107 and I never had a falling out, and I really don\u2019t want to lose a good friend. We got along great for eight months. It was particularly inspiring to listen to him when he commented on some of his HDZ colleagues \u2013 not the Prime Minister \u2013 and all the things he said about them. All you could do was nod in agreement. However, when it comes to the functioning of the defense, it\u2019s clear who the Commander in Chief is (that\u2019s me), and who the party commissar is (that\u2019s him). Our relationship was fine, but it started to resemble the one I had with Bano\u017ei\u0107, because there\u2019s that chromosomal error in the political makeup of every HDZ member, where at some point, they have to lose it and try to take a bite out of me. If they keep at it, they\u2019ll break their teeth. So, I call for a friendly relationship overall, especially when it comes to personnel decisions. Things started getting complicated on 31 July when HDZ\u2019s Trojan horse on wheels decided to run for President. That\u2019s when the problems began, and that\u2019s when we learned about the ridiculous idea that 10 warships would land in Kupari on August 1. It\u2019s my duty to put a stop to that,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 said in a statement to the media on Saturday in Zagreb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cEverything is very expensive,\u201d warned the President of the Republic, Zoran Milanovi\u0107, today. When asked if he expects price increases in light of the Government\u2019s reduction of measures, he said that things \u201cwill be more expensive.\u201d He ironically commented on the Government\u2019s position that there will be no price increases: \u201cThen there won\u2019t, since they always speak the truth and only the truth, and never anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32511,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-32563","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n