Who wants to be a minister?
After Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković met with another group of veterans and war victims associations and announced that on Tuesday he finally met with HDZ secretary general Milijan Brkić, who is a candidate for the Veterans Affairs Minister nominated by the Patriotic Coalition, yesterday evening reports appeared saying that the prime minister met with one more candidate – Đuro Glogoški, who is the leader of the veterans protests, reports Večernji List on March 10, 2016.
The information was confirmed by Dražimir Jukić, his close associate and president of the Union of Guard Troops Veterans. “If Đuro is selected as minister, that will be as if we all have been selected. Of course, politicians will make the selection and we leave the final decision to the prime minister. To us, the most important thing is that the selected person works in the best interest of Croatian war veterans”, said Jukić.
The meeting with Glogoški was initiated by the prime minister himself, and Glogoški gladly accepted the nomination. He later confirmed that he was a candidate for veterans minister and that he did meet with Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. “We had an honest meeting. I am ready again to make sacrifices for Croatian veterans and for a better future of the Croatian people and the Croatian state”, said Glogoški. When asked whose support he had, Glogoški answered that he was supported by “many veterans who have passed through the protest tent and by many veterans’ associations”. “I also believe I am supported by a large part of the Croatian people who recognize what Croatian veterans did in the war”.
During the day, several additional names for veterans minister were being mentioned in the media. In addition to Branko Borković, who was proposed by veterans associations from Vukovar, the name of Stjepan Šterc has also been mentioned. He has been nominated by members of the Association of War Widows from Zagreb. Association of the Antiterrorist Unit Lučko proposed Vlado Marić, who is known as the president of the Council for War Veterans and a former member of the National Commissions for Military Medals who submitted his resignation to then President Ivo Josipović due to disagreements with his policies.
After yesterday’s meeting with war veterans associations, the prime minister announced that he would choose the next minister by the end of this week, or early next week at the latest.
