After paying a visit to the Knowledge Center of Me\u0111imurje County, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanovi\u0107 delivered press statements, at the beginning of which he again posed a question to the Prime Minister: \u201cWith what words and gestures and with what content in 2016 did I \u2013 let me quote him \u2013 \u2018sprinkle and sow the seeds of hatred and aggression\u2019. I will ask him that tomorrow,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked to comment on the Prime Minister\u2019s claim that he is \u2018relativizing\u2019, i.e. downplaying the role of the President of the Republic with his actions and statements, the President said: \u201cEverything is relative, Einstein understood that as well. I don\u2019t know what it means to relativize, that\u2019s vocabulary from Plenkovi\u0107\u2019s dissertation.\u201d He added that this was not a row: \u201cOn the day of the attack on the Croatian Government building, I called the Prime Minister, offered cooperation and said publicly what I thought. I agreed with him that a session of the National Security Council is not needed, only for him to accuse me of sowing hatred the next day in Brussels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reporters also asked the President to comment on the Prime Minister\u2019s accusation that he was downplaying last week\u2019s attack on the Croatian Government building: \u201cWho said publicly that the Government building should be protected, is that downplaying of the attack,\u201d asked President Milanovi\u0107, adding that his wife \u201cpassed by the Government building two minutes before the shooting. I didn\u2019t say that a few days ago. Or is he perhaps downplaying the office of the Prime Minister, given that he knows nothing, follows nothing, decides on nothing. But now I see that decisions are being made, I see that meetings are being called at which DORH (State Attorney\u2019s Office) is also present, messages about arrests are being sent,\u201d said the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Milanovi\u0107 said that he saw the video of the attack immediately and that is why he was surprised by what the Prime Minister was saying: \u201cIt was an attack on police officers. There are elements of terrorism, but on the other hand, it was a lone assailant whose behaviour was to a great extent unusual. That has nothing to do with well-organized plotting,\u201d said the President. Asked whether the video of the attack should have been released publicly, President Milanovi\u0107 responded affirmatively: \u201cIt is always done that way. To date Croatia has always been a peaceful country and this is somewhere on the verge of terrorism. The DORH will decide on the category of the offence; putting pressure on DORH is out of the question,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked by reporters whether and when a session of the National Security Council would be held, President Milanovi\u0107 said: \u201cI want a session of the National Security Council, but as the law prescribes, and not as a public relations parade at which half of the participants are HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) members. Ask the Prime Minister that, ask what I said in 2016 \u2013 otherwise he is not telling the truth. I do not stand in the way of the functioning of the law. Everything is relative except for the Croatian state and its security; I offered to write a draft<\/em> for him on that topic. I am not protecting anything here, let alone my position,\u201d the President added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Milanovi\u0107 also commented on criticism coming from the Prime Minister that he was not as vocal in the Josipa Rimac case, compared with the Janaf case. \u201cI will start behaving like a village teacher. Why wasn\u2019t I as vocal? What was I supposed to be vocal about? Those are his people, not mine. Speaking of vague communication, let him say clearly what he meant when he said that in 2016 I let the evil spirit out of the bottle. \u201cI think that they let the evil spirit out of the demijohn in 2012 and that he entered the European Parliament on the wings of that evil spirit and later became the head of the political party,\u201d said the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am not aggressive. Poor man. Ask him what I mean by that. Did I hand out jobs in Janaf or have lawyer contracts? What kind of allusion is that? Let Plenkovi\u0107 explain what he is referring to, and let him tell us what I was saying in the 2016 campaign and how that fits into the definition of hatred. I see that changes to the Telecommunications Act are in the works. That should have been done a long time ago and in that sense I extend my support to the Government, but we will follow the law amendment procedure with great scrutiny,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reporters asked the President to comment on the Prime Minister\u2019s statement that he could call him a 54-year-old \u2018brat\u2019: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t offend me. I am three years older than him, much more experienced; I offer him cooperation on the day of the attack, on the day after the attack, and then he goes to Brussels and behaves very irresponsibly. He tried to present himself as a victim of an attack about which we do not yet have any key information. My wife was the one who was closest (to the attack). What does he mean, what kind of evidence is that, Plenkovi\u0107 was not at work then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked whether the public is becoming annoyed by the communication between the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic, President Milanovi\u0107 said that the question should be posed to the Croatian public: \u201cThere are epithets that are uncreative, semi street-talk and epithets that relate to women one day and to men the other. \u2018Keeners\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s joking. A \u2018brat\u2019 is when you don\u2019t know your language and can\u2019t think of anything better to say. That\u2019s what they used to call us at school,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked why he doesn\u2019t support the Three Seas Initiative, the President replied that he believes it is unnecessary for Croatia and potentially harmful, because Croatia could be resented by others. \u201cI hear that Plenkovi\u0107 will participate in this conference instead of me. I hear that Croatia will pay \u20ac20 million into a joint fund. That\u2019s a lot of money. If from these funds, which don\u2019t exist, we get money for carpentry for this complex, I\u2019ll be surprised. We won\u2019t get anything because there isn\u2019t anything,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 said, adding that the Three Seas Initiative annoys both Germany and Russia. What\u2019s in it for Croatia? I am against Croatia giving one cent for this Initiative, before we see clearly how, what and when,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107, explaining that the Initiative would force Croatia to buy U.S. liquefied gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After paying a visit to the Knowledge Center of Me\u0111imurje County, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanovi\u0107 delivered press statements, at the beginning of which he again posed a question to the Prime Minister: \u201cWith what words and gestures and with what content in 2016 did I \u2013 let me quote him \u2013 \u2018sprinkle and sow the seeds of hatred and aggression\u2019. I will ask him that tomorrow,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6109,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-6154","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n