PM Andrej Plenkovic has said that President Zoran Milanovic's invitation to him to hold talks is beside the point and that new ambassadorial appointments will be the sole topic of their meeting, repeating, in the context of the JANAF affair, that "there are no unoutchables" in investigations.

Since the JANAF graft scandal broke Milanovic and Plenkovic have been trading barbs, with the government having told Milanovic that he should stabilise, to which he has responded that he is more stable than Plenkovic, recalling the PM’s having lunged at a member of parliament during a debate.

Asked to comment on Milanovic’s statements, Plenkovic said during a visit to Sibenik on Monday: “One can see from afar that he has stabilised.”

No untouchables

The PM repeated that the autonomy of state institutions was the main topic of the ongoing debate.

“We have to get back to the main topic – autonomy of the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor, the Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime and police, the secrecy of preliminary probes and a truly uncompromised fight against corruption. That is the policy of our government, and if there is suspicion that someone has been involved in corruption, regardless of who they are, the party they belong to or their office – they have to answer for it,” said the PM.

The government has been and will continue acting accordingly, in line with the law, he said, adding that “the public and all political actors have to realise that there are no untouchables. That is, as far as we are concerned, the story begins and ends,” he said.

Talks only on ambassadorial appointments

Asked by reporters if that meant that there would be no meeting to which President Milanovic had invited him, Plenkovic said that the invitation was beside the point.

“The only meeting we will have is one concerning the appointment of new ambassadors,” he said.