ZAGREB, May 14, 2019 – Speaking at a commemoration of the 97th birth anniversary of Croatia’s first president, Franjo Tuđman, Prime Minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday that as time passed by, the greatness of Tuđman’s achievements and his wise statesmanly decisions seemed to gain in importance while respect for him grew clearer and more widespread.
The commemoration took place in Veliko Trgovišće, Tuđman’s place of birth northwest of Zagreb, and the PM was accompanied by MP Miroslav Tuđman, Veterans Minister Tomo Medved, senior HDZ official Vladimir Šeks, and the HDZ candidates for the European Parliament, Dubravka Šuica, Tomislav Sokol and Nikolina Brnjac.
Plenković recalled that this year Croatia marked the 20th anniversary of Tudjman’s death as well as the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the HDZ, whose leader Tudjman had been.
“The HDZ is the biggest and strongest Croatian political party which, owing to Tudjman’s leadership, led Croatia towards freedom, independence and international recognition, as well as towards the strengthening of democracy and market economy, which eventually paved the way to the EU and NATO membership,” said Plenković.
“It was owing to his policy, leadership, vision and the fact that he was forward-looking that a modern, free Croatian state was established. As times goes by, I believe that the greatness of his achievements and the way he dealt with problems, with statesmanly wisdom, make everything greater and that respect for him grows clearer and more widespread,” said Plenković.
Asked by reporters about a proposal by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović to introduce a new state order, the Grand Order of Franjo Tuđman, Plenković said that consultations were under way to amend the relevant law. “I believe that 20 years after Tuđman’s death that initiative is very good. I agree with it and think that we will reach a consensus,” he said.
The mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić, and a delegation of the City of Zagreb on Tuesday laid a wreath and lit candles at Tudjman’s grave at Zagreb’s Mirogoj cemetery, with Bandić saying that without Croatian defenders and Tudjman and his philosophy of reconciliation, there would be no free and democratic Croatia today.
“If it hadn’t been for Croatian antifascism in World War II, Croatian antifascism in the Homeland War, and the first Croatian president and his philosophy of Croatian reconciliation, we would not have a free and democratic Croatia today,” Bandić said.
More news about Franjo Tuđman can be found in the Politics section.
