President Zoran Milanovic said on Saturday that the recent presentation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan was insufficiently transparent, which he considers problematic, saying the public lacks precise information what the funds which Croatia will obtain from the EU will be spent on.

“That is a problem because it erodes the little trust that exists between citizens and the EU and that link – having information about what the money will be spent on – is very important. For the sake of transparency, so that one knows if it goes to public firms, those with political ties to the ruling party,” Milanović told reporters during a visit to Samobor, where he attended an event at which awards were presented to the best local salami makers.

Milanovic said that he had no information whatsoever on the content of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and that if he were Prime Minister, he would take care everything was as transparent as possible.

Having information on projects on which EU money will be spent is important to dispel suspicion of or rumours about preferential treatment, he said, adding that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO) should be available to a larger number of people.

The Prime Minister should not have come to the parliament with the NPOO as it is. “He has only provoked people to ask him legitimate questions,” said Milanovic.

Explaining his statement of Friday that the coming commemoration of the 1995 military and police operation “Flash” would turn into a show, he said that he was referring to the protocol because wreaths would again be laid by five different delegations.

“It will take until Christmas to do it instead of doing it all at once,” he said.

Describing the current commemorative arrangements “as an escapist, cowardly policy that does us no good,” Milanovic said that they would put some of the participants in the commemoration of Operation Flash in an awkward position, primarily military commanders, whose supreme commander he is and who will come with him.