ZAGREB, July 17, 2020 – President Zoran Milanovic said on Friday that it was his duty to point to problems, and described as “utterly uncivilised” some media interpretations of his tete-a-tete talks with PM Andrej Plenkovic as his attempt “to pontificate and lecture” Plenkovic on how to solve the problems.
Milanovic said that attempts by some to retell what he and Plenkovic discussed during their tete-a-tete talks on Thursday were uncivilised and criticised media articles that claimed that during the ceremony of entrusting Plenkovic with the task to form the next government he “pontificated and lectured” Plenkovic on the role of the national COVID-19 crisis management team.
“I did not pontificate on anything,” Milanovic said during his visit to an exhibition in Zagreb on Friday.
My behaviour was transparent and concerned a very important topic, the president insisted.
He also said that after yesterday’s talks with the prime minister he had not divulged the contents of their talks.
However, there are some people spreading their version and there are media ready to publish all that. Can that be called journalism?” wondered the Croatian president, adding that it was actually bad practice.
As for the topic of the role of the COVID-19 crisis response team, Milanovic reiterated his position that in Croatia there was no place for principles that were valid in the Soviet Union when it came to human rights.
“We a western European country. I must point to that,” Milanovic said in the context of his comments on the legislative solutions for the crisis management team.
I believe that the Croatian parliament should definitely set a time frame for how long the government can be authorised to make decisions from the parliament’s remit (on the COVID-related problems), Milanovic said adding that he had a very constructive approach towards the government.
He also praised the example of Spain in this context.
On Thursday, addressing the reporters after he nominated Plenkovic as the PM-designate, Milanovic said that he expects a clearer and more precise legal framework from the perspective of the Constitution related to the national COVID-19 response team, such as defining powers for adopting measures and their duration, adding that the current legislation does not define that.
“That can be resolved so that the government or parliamentary majority, pursuant to Article 17 of the Constitution, decides to suspend human rights to a certain degree for a certain period of time in cases like this. That way we would have a clearer legal situation. We are a law-based state. We know what can be done and for how long. Such a decision would make the legal regime we live in a lot clearer and make it easier for the government to do that. I call on all lawmakers to support such a motion if it is put forward,” said Milanovic then.
Milanovic hopes that there will be way out of the crisis
In connection with the closing of the Meggle factory in Osijek and announced lay-offs in some companies, Milanovic said that it was on the government to deal with the economic issues.
Possible layoffs loom in whole Europe, including Croatia, and went on to say that the government in Croatia could not be held responsible for the corona crisis.
He said he hoped that the country would be dragged out of the crisis.
“The solace is all are faced with similar problems more or less. I hope that the next year will be a year of recovery and growth,” he added
“The European Union is dealing well with the current situation,” he said underscoring that this conduct of the EU in the current situation is by rules.
