Vesna Pusić’s nomination for UN Secretary General causing disagreements
“If she wants the new government to support her candidacy for UN Secretary General, Vesna Pusić should think about whether she will continue to criticize and attack the government or not.” That was the message sent by the new Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovač in a television interview, report Index.hr and Jutarnji List on March 6, 2016.
“I have said many times that we are approaching things in a structured way. We are currently preoccupied with the budget and we do not deal with the candidacy of Vesna Pusić. But, Mrs. Pusić knows how her candidacy was proposed, and that the former government of Zoran Milanović did it after they had already lost the parliamentary elections. But personally, as Miro Kovač, I will say that Mrs. Pusić has been constantly attacking this Croatian government, dishonouring Prime Minister Orešković, criticizing the government decisions, but at the same time, she wants to have the support of the government. Vesna Pusić should think about it”, said Kovač who added that it was the government who will make the final decision and that Prime Minister Orešković will quickly put the issue on the agenda.
“Do not worry about deadlines, everything will be known in time”, said Kovač responding to the question whether, since international media are reporting about her candidacy and Pusić has been actively lobbying for herself, there is a point in time when it will be very difficult to change the decision.
Former Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić replied via Facebook to her successor. Pusić wrote that she was always criticizing things which are wrong, but that she never resorted to insults and that she could not be blackmailed. “My way of working is to politely and with arguments criticize what is wrong and to advocate for a civil Croatia, against all forms of extremism and hatred. I never insult, I have not done it so far, and I will not do it in the future. Those who claim otherwise should have by now understood that I cannot be politically blackmailed because that method of communication is unacceptable”, she wrote.
