President Zoran Milanovic has replied to the government's call for him to apologise to everyone he has insulted, saying ironically that he wants to apologise to those, notably government ministers, whom the prime minister and some of his associates exposed to undeserved loss of face.

“The President of the Republic apologises in good faith to all those, primarily ministers, whom the Prime Minister and some of his associates have exposed, through their indolence and inaction, to undeserved humiliation,” Milanovic said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

The post appeared after on Saturday the government, in response to Milanovic’s criticism of the work of investigative and judicial bodies in the JANAF scandal, and his statement that he would invite PM Andrej Plenkovic to a meeting on that topic said that “Milanovic should first apologise to all those he has been insulting, and then stabilise.”

Milanovic says in his post that he also apologises to citizens for ministers’ luxury cars and undeclared assets.

“The President of the Republic also apologises to all citizens because the (Andrej Plenkovic) government for years included ministers who could not explain the origin of their luxury Mercedes cars or failed to declare their assets worth millions of kuna because they amassed such a fortune that they themselves were unable to count those assets. And all of that happened just because the Prime Minister did not want to know anything about it… regardless of how much others spoke or wrote about it, or warned him,” Milanovic said.

Milanovic also attached to his post a link to an article by Deutsche Welle from 2014 under which the then German minister of the interior, a member of the CDU party, had information about an investigation against a member of parliament from the SPD party.

President again invites PM for a meeting

Milanovic today again invited Plenkovic to a meeting at which they would discuss their opposing views on the functioning of state institutions in the context of the JANAF graft scandal.

“I once again invite the Prime Minister to a meeting, whenever it suits him. Lest it be forgotten,” the president said in his Facebook post.