After attending the \u201cStabilnost 21\/1\u201d [Stability 21\/1] military drill at the Ga\u0161inci military training grounds, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanovi\u0107 took questions from reporters, who asked him what he expects from the forthcoming anniversary of the liberating Operation Flash, which will be marked in the town of Oku\u010dani. \u201cI expect it not to be like last year,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA situation where soldiers have to stand for hours while politicians and government officials successively lay wreaths to comply with epidemiological measures puts in an awkward position the Chief of Staff as well as the Army Commander who, if they do not want to offend anyone, have to be on duty… After arriving with me, they have to wait for (Prime Minister) Plenkovi\u0107, then also wait for (Parliament Speaker) Jandrokovi\u0107,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107. I\u2019m thinking about telling them to stay home, to simply protect them from any politicking… I will talk with the minister,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Journalists also asked him when he would talk to the Prime Minister about ambassadorial appointments, to which President Milanovi\u0107 replied that he is replying to that question every day and that there was no progress. \u201cCroatia does not have two diplomacies. Croatia has two political options and one diplomacy,\u201d said the President, adding that Croatia also has one army, which is even more serious than the diplomatic service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs the Commander in Chief, I have great influence on the staffing policy in the army, but not arbitrarily. There is also the Minister of Defence, without whose consent most things do not go forward, and the Chief of the General Staff who is the proposer. So, nothing is possible without cooperation. There is no such cooperation in diplomacy. People are assigned to diplomatic missions as they please and I have no insight into that at all. I must only sign the proposals coming from the HDZ. We will no longer do things like that and in the future my associates will also participate in all stages of the process. Otherwise, Plenkovi\u0107 is solely responsible for the non-functioning of the system,\u201d the President pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI see that there are conflicts and disagreements in some diplomatic missions, in Serbia for instance. I have no information about that. I dispatched the ambassador at the Prime Minister\u2019s request. I don\u2019t know whose policy he is pursuing there. I don\u2019t know if everything that is being written (about the ambassador) is true and I will have to recall him for consultations in order to find out. Someone is not telling the truth,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107, adding that he would do everything to reduce the amount of party politics present in diplomacy to the level in the army. \u201cThere will be no party politics in the army, and in diplomacy it will be kept to a minimum,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Milanovi\u0107 also spoke about the delegation of retired Croatian Defence Council (HVO) officers that he received in the Office of the President, which included General Tihomir Bla\u0161ki\u0107. \u201cHad General Bla\u0161ki\u0107 been responsible for something that, let\u2019s say Ratko Mladi\u0107 was responsible for, I would not have received him. But since we have no such people, I received him. I will also receive (General) Petkovi\u0107 when he is released from prison because he is not a war criminal. He was held accountable for certain wartime offences,\u201d said the President. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cCroatia does not have two diplomacies. Croatia has two political options and one diplomacy,\u201d said the President, adding that Croatia also has one army, which is even more serious than the diplomatic service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":8853,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-8855","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n