A rather unusual sight at the cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has returned from Moscow where he attended the World Cup semi-final match between Croatia and England.
He and all the ministers came to this morning’s session dressed in football shirts.
“All of us, all over Croatia, we once again congratulate the Croatian national football team, manager Zlatko Dalić, and the Croatian Football Federation leadership on the fascinating success for Croatian sports and our country. Success, will, knowledge, experience, winning mentality, the power to turn around things, everything that our footballers demonstrated yesterday was inspiring,” said Plenković and added, “We saw a nice stadium in Russia and we have to do something about our national stadium as well. When if not now? The Croatian national team deserves it.”
The ministers then congratulated the Croatian national team on its success.
“Congratulations to footballers and staff for all their wins,” said Justice Minister Dražen Bošnjaković.
Minister of Education and Science Blaženka Divjak said that for the victory it was necessary to join the heart and talent with discipline and intelligence. “If that happens, we are invincible, and not just in football,” she said. She thinks this would be a good recipe for the Croatian politics as well. “Yes, absolutely. Talent and heart on the one hand, but nothing can be achieved without intelligence and discipline,” said Divjak.
Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said he bought tickets for the finals a month and a half ago, indicating that his expectations about the success of the Croatian national team were based in reality. Asked what this meant for the branding of Croatia, he said that footballers are the best ambassadors of Croatia. “The first message I received was from China: ‘You did a great thing, expect more Chinese tourists in Croatia.’ The match was seen by many people there,” said Cappelli.
Just like other ministers, Minister of Regional Development and European Funds Gabrijela Žalac came to the cabinet session in a shirt of the Croatian football team. She was asked who ordered the dress-code. She said they did not need any order to come dressed like that.
