The liberal Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) - a junior partner in the ruling coalition - said on Monday they would ask for the coalition members to meet to discuss the recent statements made by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and possibly a response to them.
The HSLS, which only holds one seat in the 151-seat Croatian parliament, was referring to a speech Vucic made in Kosovo on Sunday, in which he described the 1990s Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic as a “great leader” and saying that the Croatian town of Knin “now has a chequerboard (Croatian coat-of-arms) flying over it, which had never been there before.”
In Croatia, Milosevic and his expansionist policies are seen as the main cause which triggered the wars of the 1990s, in part due to his backing of Serb rebels which had set up a self-proclaimed independent territory in areas populated by ethnic Serbs within Croatia’s borders, with Knin as its capital, before it ceased to exist in 1995 following Croatia’s military offensive Operation Storm.
On Monday, HSLS said they would request all parties of the ruling coalition led by the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) to meet to discuss Vucic’s statements.
“In that meeting, we want to hear what is the stance of the Croatian government on the matter, as well as the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) coalition partner,” the HSLS said in a press release.
Croatia’s coalition led by HDZ holds a wafer-thin majority of 77 MPs in the 151-seat parliament, and depends for survival on the support of half a dozen small parties, as well as MPs representing ethnic minorities, including three MPs from the SDSS, a party representing Croatian Serbs.
VEZANE VIJESTI
Vucic’s speech on Kosovo “underwhelming”
Political analysts, Dejan Jovic, commented on Vucic’s speech on N1’s morning programme Novi Dan on Monday, saying that it failed to offer any clear idea on solving Belgrade’s long-standing dispute with Pristina.
Vucic had made the speech in the Serb-dominated part of the divided town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo.
“I think that speech was a bit underwhelming because the expectations of it were huge. Over the last few months Vucic had announced he would come up with a new idea (as a solution for Kosovo) based on correcting Kosovo borders, and we expected him to say something more specific about that,” Jovic said.
Jovic added that the references to Milosevic and the events of the 1990s were ambiguous.
“As for Milosevic’s policies, Vucic was ambivalent about him, in the speech he had both praise and criticism for him. The speech mainly focused on reaching a compromise solution, and was directed at Kosovo Albanians,” Jovic said.
Too much attention given to Vucic, minister says
When asked to comment on the speech on Monday, Veterans’ Affairs Minister, Tomo Medved, said that Vucic was being given too much attention in the Croatian media.
“I think we are affording too much attention to Vucic here in Croatia, we should turn to our own matters, issues that are important for the economy and prosperity here in Croatia. It is my opinion that we are paying too much attention to a president of a neighbouring country,” Medved said.
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