General Ante Gotovina has recently been named as special advisor to Defence Minister Damir Krstičević.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković visited Osijek on Friday evening, where he said that the Government will help Slavonia and would take into account balanced regional development of all Croatian regions. During his visit, the Prime Minister also replied to recent statement made by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić regarding the appointment of General Ante Gotovina as a special advisor to Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Damir Krstičević, reports Večernji List on November 19, 2016.
After the news about General Gotovina’s appointment was announced, Vučić said that Serbia “understood the message sent by the appointment of Ante Gotovina as a national security advisor to the Croatian government” and that “it is certain that Serbs, primarily those Serbs who used to live in Krajina and Croatia, cannot be happy about it”.
Reacting to Vučić’s comments, Prime Minister Plenković said that general Gotovina “with his experience and his approach to politics can be extremely useful in focusing on the future”. “When you talk with Gotovina, you can see that he is focused on peace, cooperation, future, stability and the analysis of the complicated environment which currently surrounds Croatia and Europe. I believe that, with his wisdom and humility, he will be a useful adviser to the Minister of Defence”, noted Plenković.
The Prime Minister added that he did not expect raising of tensions in the relations with Serbia. Asked by reporters whether he was surprised by the reactions from Serbia, Plenković responded that he “does not see that reaction as something which would be problematic”.
Osijek Mayor Ivan Vrkić said that he and the government delegation discussed how to put the problems of the region in the focus of Croatian policies and added that he told the Prime Minister that Osijek and Slavonia did not seek aid, but only equality. “I asked for us to be ‘more equal’ than others, because Osijek and Slavonia during the war gave the most, and during the peace they received the least. I said that we needed a system that will take from those in which we have invested so far, and will bring these funds to the areas where there is no money, and that is Slavonia and Baranja”, said Vrkić.
He added that it was necessary to solve the problem of agriculture, because Croatia cannot invest just in tourism and forget about people who migrate abroad because they cannot live from agriculture.
Osijek-Baranja County Prefect Vladimir Šišljagić said that he talked with the Prime Minister about projects in which the county is interested, and particularly about the projects which have been “on hold” for years, even though they are strategic projects of national interest. He added that the he proposed to Plenković to organize a special government session in Slavonia.
