Who will be Croatia’s candidate for UN Secretary General?
Outgoing Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović has again sent to the UN headquarters in New York the documents needed for nomination of outgoing Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić to become the next Secretary-General of the United Nation. He had to quickly find a solution after the UN Secretariat announced a few days ago that her nomination would not be considered, reports Vecernji List and Jutarnji List on January 12, 2016.
The problem was that Milanović had initially sent the nomination too early, on 2 November, while the selection process for the next head of the UN was officially started on 15 December. Sources in New York confirm that the documents are the same as those sent in November, with the only difference being the date. Milanović has decided to renominate Pusić even though she does not have support of the Croatian President and the incoming government. That fact will further reduce the already small chances that a Croatian candidate could be elected.
When Pusić was first nominated in November, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović said that the decision should have been left to the new government. “I will not go against the national candidate, but I think a candidate must have broad support, almost at the level of national consensus”, said the president. Miro Kovač, HDZ international secretary and the leading candidate for the new Croatian Foreign Minister, said that, “if the outgoing government of Zoran Milanović, without consultations with the President, Prime Minister-designate and the new parliamentary majority, were to nominate Pusić, that would significantly compromise the reputation of Croatia, and thus the candidacy itself. Such behaviour would be contrary to democratic standards, would harm political standards in the country and might force the new government to withdraw support for the candidacy”, added Kovač.
HDZ President Tomislav Karamarko said that the new government will discuss the candidacy of outgoing Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić. “I think that so far the proper procedure has not been respected in this case and that, thanks to the outgoing government, Croatia has embarrassed itself”, added Karamarko.
Pusić said that the decision had been adopted by the government in a usual way. “The decision was made in early autumn. Everything that happened after that was the implementation of the decision, in accordance with the newly-defined UN procedures for selecting the Secretary-General”, said Pusić. “I expected that HDZ would support me”, she said, adding that she supported Croatian accession to the European Union even though that process was led by HDZ. “I have worked very hard at the time, because I thought it was a good thing. This is also a good thing. Although, of course, it is far from being certain that I would be elected”, Pusić added. “My candidacy cannot be withdrawn. The new government can write a letter that they do not support my candidacy, but that would indeed be a disgrace for the country in general, not for me personally. This is a job that I am qualified to do, and it would really be a good thing. Under normal circumstances, any government should support it and be happy that Croatia has a decent candidate who can represent it well, who has long experience in the struggle for human rights, development projects, NGOs, academia, parliament and government”, said Pusić.
