“I knew him personally, very personally and closely. We worked together for some time. All I had to say, I said in recent years. His death shocked me. It’s sad, difficult,” he told the press during a visit to Istria County.
Bandić died of a heart attack on Sunday aged 65.
Milanović said he would not attend the funeral tomorrow, recalling that he had extended his condolences on Sunday. Asked if it bothered him that the Croatian Navy’s harmony-singing group would sing at the funeral, he said, “Let them sing.”
“If I said something else, I’d come off as a heartless and ruthless person, but we’ll have to regulate that a little more precisely, under my supervision,” he said, adding, “This is a situation in which some people and parties are trying to profit politically, to exploit this small, quiet war of succession to what Milan leaves behind.”
Speaking of the election of the Supreme Court president, Milanović said he would inform Prime Minister Andrej Plenković about his candidate this month.
“In the end, we’ll talk about the person. And the law which was adopted contrary to the Constitution, they should repeal it as though it never existed. I can’t abide by it because I would be in breach of the Constitution and I took an oath that I would protect it.”
Milanović said he did not have a candidate yet. “I’ll do my best so that we can talk about a candidate this month already. We have a lot of time ahead to analyse and question this person. The president of the Supreme Court can do little. I want that little in action, yet so far I haven’t seen even that.”
Speaking of the government’s fight against COVID-19, Milanović said it was making an effort, as were all European governments, but once again criticised the national COVID-19 response team.
“We have an unconstitutional bastard and that’s not good. We should learn something from that and see that it doesn’t happen again. A group of people whom no one elected can’t formally and legally run the state, and we have been watching that for a year now. There are always people willing to accept that, but it is my duty to warn that that’s bad and that it’s always one step from something more, and we don’t want that any more.”
