President Zoran Milanovic said on Friday he would reply to the invitation from the PM's office to a National Security Council session and that he was surprised the government rejected his proposal that the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina's Federation entity be discussed.
Speaking to the press in the southern coastal townTrogir, Milanovic said Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic rejected his proposal that the session discuss the violations of the Dayton peace agreement to the detriment of Croats in the Federation. “That’s odd. I will ask him again for this to be considered.”
According to Milanovic, Plenkovic said via his chief of staff that topic should be part of a discussion on “the status of all Croats, from New Zealand to the Antarctic, which is wrong because only in BiH are Croats a constituent people.”
He said Plenkovic agreed to the session discussing the functioning of the justice system, notably in the fight against corruption and organised crime.
Milanovic said Plenkovic wanted the state attorney to attend but that he was against it. “There is no reason for the state attorney to attend a National Security Council session. The law is very clear on that.”
The president reiterated that representatives of the opposition should sit on the steering committee drawing up the national development strategy until 2030, saying he suggested it to Plenkovic because it would be too late if the opposition talked about the strategy once it was already in parliament.
“I expected him to accept. He didn’t, without any arguments… I hope it’s not because I suggested it a few days ago,” Milanovic said.
It’s not normal to keep €700,000 in party’s safe for 9 months
Commenting on today’s conviction of former PM Ivo Sanader and the HDZ party in the Fimi Media corruption case, he said he was pleased the court found that “it’s not normal behaviour for someone to keep €700,000 in the party’s safe for nine months.”
“I think some people in the HDZ can be satisfied with this ruling, notably those whose reflex was to keep €700,000 in cash in the safe for nine months… I’m glad the court found that’s not normal behaviour, at least as far as the party is concerned, so that other parties don’t think that’s normal.”
