ZAGREB, May 4, 2018 – President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Friday she had prepared a set of measures aimed at demographic revival and would like to agree with the government about their presentation, and if that wasn’t possible she would present them to the public on her own soon.
“The measures have been defined, We will agree on when to unveil them. I would like that to happen in synergy and in cooperation with the government. If that is not possible, I will present them on my own,” the president said after the opening of the renovated maternity ward in Čakovec, an investment worth five million kuna. The funds for that purpose were ensured by Međimurje County.
Asked to comment on criticisms of her idea to establish an international fact-finding commission on the Ustasha-run WW2 Jasenovac concentration camp, the president said such criticism was not clear to her. “I do not know whom the truth does not suit, given that the truth is what we all absolutely need. I can’t see how that can negate anti-Fascism and the fact that anti-Fascism is one of the tenets of the Croatian constitution,” she said.
“It is in everyone’s interest that manipulations about the past cease, and this is the only way to close that chapter of the past and turn to the future.” The president said that it was civil society associations and activists who had made the suggestion to establish a fact-finding commission and that she supported it.
Commenting on the latest developments in Serbia-Croatia relations, Grabar-Kitarović said she had not been in touch with her Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić in recent days. She said she had met him in Skopje at an international gathering where they greeted each other, but did not engage in any talks.
“I think this situation should be defused. It is in the interest of both countries to talk about the future rather than the past. We should discuss the past only to resolve outstanding issues, and they can be dealt with only through dialogue,” Grabar-Kitarović said.
In this context, she mentioned families whose members had gone missing in the 1991-1995 war and who expected the countries’ leaders to help them find their relatives.
