ZAGREB, November 22, 2019 – Zoran Milanović, who started collecting signatures on Friday morning for his candidacy for the presidential election, said in Pula that he expected support in Istria and announced a fierce and fair fight in the campaign in the build-up to the election, set for 22 December.
Answering reporters’ questions about his opinion on the ongoing strike by employees in primary and secondary schools, Milanović said that he found their demands for a higher job complexity index to be absolutely justified and that none of this should have occurred.
“The demand for an increased index today is absolutely justified and this rude ignoring that has lasted for a month already, is not heading anywhere. In 2011, Croatia was a country that was financially drowning and somehow needed to be given artificial breathing. That was one period, now is another period,” Milanović said referring to 2011 when he became the prime minister of the government and during his term in office the wages of education-sector staff fell because Christmas and holiday bonuses were abolished and transport costs were cut.
Milanović today described the case of the military helicopter used to transport a civilian, a suspected arms smuggler, as a dangerous scandal.
That’s a dangerous scandal and says everything about the system. That was probably kept under the carpet because of the campaign and as president I will do everything within my power as the supreme commander of the armed forces for the Croatian Army to be cleansed of that sort of crime and immorality. Someone kept that on the shelf for two months hoping that the affair would be swept under the carpet,” said Milanović.
He believes that the foreign policy situation is a lot worse than in 2015 when his government’s term came to an end.
“Pula is the western part of Croatia. Croatia is part of the West and the thing that gives us the most strength is Croatia belonging to the western circle of civilisation with regard to values. Croatia naturally is also the Mediterranean and partially in the Balkans and our incumbent president and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) are directly and indirectly symbolically pushing us into the Balkans,” Milanović added.
He said that his policy toward Serbia, when he becomes president, will be fair, contrary to what he said Serbia’s unfair policy towards Croatia.
“There is no prejudice. We need to help our neighbours for our own interests, above all. However, I don’t want everything to be brought down to a policy and low level of blackmail that Croatians are always called to before an election. Croatia is not exclusively the West but it needs to look to the West, that is where values, money and opportunities are. After all that is where our people are emigrating to,” he concluded.
More news about Zoran Milanović can be found in the Politics section.
