After marking Donji Miholjac Municipal Day, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanovi\u0107 apologized to everyone he had offended by his way of communicating and said that he was more stable than Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi\u0107. \u201cI have apologized, the manner of my apology can be ironic, but is not insulting. I did not call anyone mad. I did not turn on anyone physically in Parliament. I do not see what all the fuss is about. For someone to tell you to stabilize, what does that mean? I am more stable than he is,” President Milanovi\u0107 said in replying to Prime Minister Plenkovi\u0107 who suggested that he should apologize to everyone he has insulted and that he should stabilize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Milanovi\u0107 told reporters he went twice to the \u201cclub\u201d of former Janaf CEO Dragan Kova\u010devi\u0107 in Slovenska 9; he was there in a \u201cvery small group\u201d and wouldn\u2019t go back. \u201cThis is a man who was the CEO of Janaf. I start from the point that he must be someone who must stand for something, and he is someone I have known for some time. I was in the company of a completely different group of people. I did not go there on St. Martin’s Day and especially not since I was elected,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked whether it was appropriate that he as President went to the “club” during lockdown, when everyone else had to be at home, he said that is demagogy. Both the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister continued more or less to work normally during the lockdown and meet with their associates, and during that time 50% of the population went to work too, he recalled. “This is ridiculous. Was I supposed to stay home and consult with my associates via ‘Zoom’,” President Milanovi\u0107 asked, and claimed that there has to be a certain level of trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow we see that we have a Prime Minister who doesn\u2019t know anything. Let\u2019s get back to this and not to the lockdown, which isn\u2019t any kind of regime, it was an across-the-board decision and was designed in a sloppy fashion. Many people travelled during the lockdown, and you ask me as President why I didn\u2019t stay home. I didn\u2019t and I would never stay home\u201d, President Milanovi\u0107 said, and added that he spoke with the Chief of the General Staff on the development of the Armed Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked when he will speak with Prime Minister Plenkovi\u0107 and what he expects from this discussion, President Milanovi\u0107 answered: \u201cMy constitutional authority is to propose to Parliament the appointment of the President of the Supreme Court. Will the two of us discuss this? With whom should I discuss this? I have to speak with Prime Minister Plenkovi\u0107. Is this a subject for discussion? I expect us to talk, but I won\u2019t beg him. Some things have to be agreed on that cannot go without him or me. We have a serious problem, we have a whole lot of scandals and someone will have to provide answers\u201d, the President noted, and said that he will not stop raising this issue. The President added: \u201cThey should stop talking to me about style, I don\u2019t get physical with people, I don\u2019t swear, I don\u2019t yell at them, I try to keep their dignity. I am rough sometimes, but that level of arrogance is not my territory\u201d. He asserted that he is careful about whom he talks to and that he certainly didn\u2019t speak to anyone about something that would compromise him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In terms of the abolishment of security checks, he repeated that it isn\u2019t so that his government abolished them, and explained that they were never introduced legally. \u201cIt is a discretionary power, a matter of common sense, statesmanship and intelligence of a leader to use it\u201d, President Milanovi\u0107 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that there are certain situations when the Security and Intelligence Agency\u2019s (SOA) services must be used, it\u2019s a decision for the Prime Minister to make, and underlined that someone could have been completely \u201cclean\u201d in his security check, only to later have crossed the limit of unlawfulness. \u201cEven if I had abolished security checks, bring them back. I didn\u2019t abolish anything, but I said that people from SOA cannot check candidates for a minister\u2019s portfolio after an election, except if someone was being currently investigated. Then I must have this information, that does not concern SOA but the State Attorney\u2019s office (DORH), President Milanovi\u0107 remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked whether a visit by US State Secretary Mike Pompeo can be related to certain strategic management projects, he said that it can be related to the US presidential election. “They did not remember us for four years. Now, the visa regime is being abolished, that should have been done long ago. We are treated as a security problem and that’s that. We in fact did not have any relations with the US for the past four years,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When asked when he will speak with Prime Minister Plenkovi\u0107 and what he expects from this discussion, President Milanovi\u0107 answered: \u201cMy constitutional authority is to propose to Parliament the appointment of the President of the Supreme Court. Will the two of us discuss this? With whom should I discuss this? I have to speak with Prime Minister Plenkovi\u0107. Is this a subject for discussion? I expect us to talk, but I won\u2019t beg him. Some things have to be agreed on that cannot go without him or me. We have a serious problem, we have a whole lot of scandals and someone will have to provide answers\u201d, the President noted, and said that he will not stop raising this issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5716,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-5718","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n