President Zoran Milanovic said on Monday that the extraordinary circumstances caused by the coronavirus epidemic required extraordinary measures for which a higher level of coordination and agreement was necessary.

In an interview with the Vecernji TV on Monday evening, Milanovic said that the situation in the health system was serious with regard to the coronavirus epidemic and that there would be yet another wave of the epidemic.

“This isn’t over. These things come in two or three waves. We haven’t beaten coronavirus, which is what the Prime Minister bragged about this summer. It’s back, it is here and you cannot live with that normally,” said Milanovic.

He noted that the country is in “an extraordinary situation in which extraordinary measures are adopted and they require a higher level of coordination and agreement between the nation, the state and state administration and the parliament.”

Milanovic also commented on the issue of convening the National Security Council following the October 12 attack on Government House and the related disputes, calling them a “ridiculous game”.

Noting that even though the “Prime Minister keeps announcing invitations through the media,” he “has not received anything” and has been “acting deliberately and in line with the law the entire time.”

Asked whether he believes Plenkovic wants to bypass him in matters of national security, Milanovic answered, “Absolutely. Isn’t that obvious?”

“But that can’t go like that. I’m here to defend democracy,” he added.

Commemoration of the anniversary of Vukovar’s fall organised by gov’t

One of the topics during the interview was the coming anniversary of the fall of the eastern town of Vukovar, about which he said that it was understood that the president of the state attended the commemoration.

In that regard, he said, he had received a detailed programme of the event from Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava but not from the government which, he underscored, is responsible for organising the event. He compared that with the organisation of commemorations of the fall of Skabrnja, which is in the remit of the municipal head, noting that he had received a detailed plan of that event, including all measures related to the current epidemiological situation.

Milanovic believes that the same measures must also be applied to the anniversary in Vukovar, where usually thousands of people participate in the commemorative procession.

In that regard, he referred to the recent official opening of the reconstructed Water Tower in Vukovar, which was adapted to the current epidemiological situation.