ZAGREB, August 5, 2019 – Presidential candidate Zoran Milanović said on Monday that President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović was selling Croatians fake news, and that presidential candidate Miroslav Škoro’s advocating more powers for the president was a road to tyranny.
After laying wreaths at Zagreb’s Mirogoj cemetery on the occasion of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Veterans Day, Milanovic commented on other presidential candidates and the central commemoration of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Veterans Day in Knin.
Milanovic laid wreaths and lit candles at the central cross in the Alley of Croatian Defenders, at the grave of Croatian Army general Petar Stipetić and at the common grave of unidentified Homeland War victims.
Asked about President Grabar-Kitarović’s speech in Knin in which she spoke about Croatia’s defence in the 1991-95 war, saying that she had felt guilty at the time and had wanted to “take a rifle and go to war,” Milanovic said the statement was fake and a fraud.
He noted that he did not attend the Sinjska Alka tournament on Sunday for private reasons and that his nonattendance at the Knin commemoration was a political message.
“Knin is one of the places one can go to… but it is not Berlin and it was by no means the real centre of the (Croatian Serb) rebellion, either in terms of financing, ideology, material or human resources, the centre was Belgrade. I respect Knin but Croatia exists also outside of Knin. To give too much attention to the commemoration in Knin means to attach too much importance to the so-called Republic of Serb Krajina,” he said.
He added that Operation Storm began one day earlier and that the biggest battles were fought on Mt Vještić and Mt Dinara as well as in the area of Petrinja and the Banovina region and that most people were killed there.
Commenting on presidential candidate Miroslav Škoro, Milanović said that he did not make mention of him specifically on his Facebook wall but that he wrote about people who acquired their property through membership of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party.
“He is not my rival, he is just another candidate of the HDZ,” said Milanović.
As for Škoro’s calling for expanding presidential powers, Milanović said that that was a road to tyranny.
“I am not in favour of rearranging the furniture in the Croatian house of democracy, that furniture has already been arranged,” he said.
The president should not have too great powers and he should be independent, especially from other people’s money, Milanovic said, adding that calls for expanding presidential powers were motivated by the wish to “take the money and trade in favours.”
“Croatian men and women, that is a road to tyranny and it should be opposed,” he said.
“My campaign is a fight against thievery, against a system in which people who work hard cannot succeed,” he said, adding that his political orientation was liberal democracy.
More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.
