ZAGREB, November 9, 2019 – The candidate for the president of Croatia of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) and 12 other liberal-left parties, Zoran Milanović, said at a motivational rally in Zagreb on Saturday that if elected president, he would be a supreme defender of the rights of Croatia and its citizens.
“My strongest weapon will be my speech. That is what the president has, and if he does not – nothing can help him, particularly not greater powers. I will be a sort of supreme defender of the rights of Croatia, its people and citizens, even though the current ombudswoman does her job well.”
“The president can do the most by tirelessly warning about the problems of ordinary people who live off their work,” Milanović told those gathered for his first big election rally, held under the slogan “An entirely normal rally.”
Along with the slogan “A president with attitude”, another key slogan of Milanović’s campaign focuses on the term normality.
“We must create a normal state where we will wake up in a month and a half from now and say – this was worth it,” Milanović said.
In his 30-minute motivational speech he also said that he would point to thievery.
“In Croatia there is no trust in the judiciary, people are exposed to power-wielders and we have been witnessing that for 30 years. As president of the republic I will warn about problems and injustices and help build trust in the system because our state has a deep meaning despite the efforts of many to devalue it. Corruption is a nice term for what people call thievery – it’s greed for the property of others, for what is in the common treasury. I will work to change that. With attitude and loud warnings if necessary but not by banging my fist on the table or by forming unlawful shadow cabinets,” he said, adding that he would cooperate with the government but would not exceed his powers.
In an ironic reference to President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Milanovic said that he was not one of “those who say that they still believe in Croatia, I have always believed in it, and I also believe in the EU.”
Commenting on current disputes in society, he said that antifascism “is not an ideology but resistance” and that his ideology was one aimed at protecting the weak.
Commenting on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Milanović said that it was time for Croatians to ask themselves if they were better, happier and smarter and in what kind of country they lived.
“Our past was difficult, more difficult than the past of any other country in Europe but the wars are over. We won those wars. We owe eternal gratitude to those who fought in them, but we must move on, we must build a normal country. The state is there for us to be satisfied living in it but is that the case today? Who is responsible for that? It does not even matter. I will not point the finger at anyone, but I will not keep silent either. My most powerful weapon will be my speech,” he said.
Describing his vision of the president’s role in foreign policy, he said that he would do his best to protect Croatia’s interests in cooperation with the government, adding that there was no need to play the role of commander in chief of the armed forces 24 hours a day.
“We now have members of the Croatian army deployed around the world, where I deeply believe they do not belong,” he said.
He also noted that life should be protected with all means available but that women’s rights should be protected as well.
“I see memoricide trends, trends of restriction of women’s rights and I will be a staunch advocate of the worldviews and rights of the weaker ones,” he said.
Milanović’s presidential candidacy is for now supported by 13 political parties – the SDP, the HSS, GLAS, the IDS, the HSU, the Democrats, SNAGA, the PGS, the Reformists, the SU, the Croatian Labour Party (HL), the Medjimurje Democratic Alliance, and the Green Pula.
More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.
