ZAGREB, February 7, 2018 – Speaking about Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s visit to Croatia on 12-13 February, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday that there was no disagreement concerning that topic, adding that he had recently met with Vučić on several occasions, including Paris and then in Davos.
“In the meantime, the exhibition in UN headquarters in New York occurred. Some very serious, incorrect, misinformed and wrong insinuations by the (Serbian) foreign affairs minister (Ivica Dačić) occurred who directly called me out for not visiting Jasenovac and not condemning the Holocaust and everything that occurred in that concentration camp during the WWII NDH (Independent State of Croatia) regime. That is why our Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs reacted,” Plenković said.
“Had the minister called out the President, the Ministry would have sent the same (protest) note. These are normal, usual steps where states take account of their dignity and interests (…); we want to conduct a dialogue with all our neighbours and we have to conduct it to resolve outstanding issues,” Plenković said and added that the ‘timing’ of a visit is not that important.
Due to the differing positions over the arbitration agreement on the border, Croatia is offering Slovenia a bilateral agreement that would reconcile the positions of the two countries, Plenković told a press conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, expressing regret that Ljubljana had resorted to unilateral measures that have led to negative effects on Croatian citizens, primarily, fishermen.
“Slovenia wants to implement the agreement. We withdrew from it with good reason, not for fun, more than two and a half years ago. What we are offering our friendly and neighbouring country is one way of a bilateral agreement that would settle the attitudes of both countries,” he said.
He added that it was necessary to “undramatise” the dispute and that everything was being “exaggerated in the media and politically.”
