“If it was 15% of people, that would not be important because we would be on the verge of collective immunity. What’s the point of this pressure on half the population? That’s not even politically intelligent,” he told the press in Požega.
He said that those who wanted to get vaccinated did so and that others could not be terrorised into doing so, and that he doesn’t approve of the direction that is being taken.
He added that if his secretary, for example, did not get vaccinated, he would not sack her.
Milanović said Croatia could not have a separate approach to curbing the pandemic, as it is an EU member state but added that, out of fear from voters, there was talk of repression and threats.
He said he was not happy about threats against certain groups of people, but added that medical workers and those caring for the elderly and the ill were one thing, while all others who more or less work in normal jobs should therefore be allowed to decide whether to get vaccinated.
Milanović said that those in charge should explain why a neighbour, for example, should get vaccinated and if they did not, why their life should become impossible.
“It all boils down to not overwhelming the system, but the system is always overwhelmed,” he added.
He said that for one year Croatia has had an approach to public policy and restrictions of fundamental human rights, without the parliamentary majority having decided on that.
“States vary. Healthcare isn’t centralised and won’t be, as far as I’m concerned… I need autonomy from the EU. This is a sort of fear of voters, which is good, but this panic, the danger of someone getting sick… I’m not saying the intentions of the people running big states are dictatorial, they are not, but at one point, you have to say ‘it’s over’ like the British.”
Organised plunder of Zagreb
Speaking of an anti-corruption investigation in Zagreb which has resulted in the arrest of a number of former mayor Milan Bandić’s associates, Milanović said that what Zagreb went through in the past 20 years was worse than communism because in communism people did not steal.
He called it an organised plunder of the city and that he said so when he ousted Bandić from his then Social Democratic Party.
As for former president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović’s possible candidacy for NATO secretary-general, Milanović said he would not have anything against that.
Operation Storm anniversary
Speaking of the 1995 Operation Storm anniversary in Knin on 5 August, he said he would participate but that he did not see the point in lining up the army at a stadium on a non-jubilee anniversary. He assumes that “some people want to avoid an unpleasant situation at the Knin square.”
Speaking of two fire-fighting planes that were being overhauled, he said Croatia would buy something else because it was a matter of national interest. “If Croatia can buy 12 multipurpose jets, then you can buy two more fire-fighting planes.”
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