President Milanović: The new Montenegrin President’s speech was pro-European

“President Milatović’s speech was good, pro-European, but he won’t be evaluated by his speech”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović stated after the inauguration of the new president of Montenegro. Recalling that he had a good cooperation with former president Milo Đukanović, President Milanović added that he would be happy if that cooperation would continue in matters of foreign policy.

After the inauguration in Podgorica, President Milanović met in Donja Lastva with representatives of the Croatian community in Montenegro. Speaking of the meeting, he said he doesn’t interfere in internal matters of Montenegro, but came to lend support to the Croatian Civil Initiative (Hrvatska građanska inicijativa HGI).

“The status, history and identity of the Croats are important for Montenegro, and for Croatia too, and this community has always been in favour of a European Montenegro, the Montenegrin state, they were among the first. It’s important and beneficial for the local Croats to support the Croatian Civil Initiative. The Croats of this area are one of the native ethnic communities, they have lived here for a very long time, and they are interested in securing a seat in the Parliament of Montenegro”, President Milanović noted.

The journalists asked him to comment on his meeting with the president of Serbia who sat next to him at the inauguration. “We talked, there are problems between Croatia and Serbia, but can be solved. One of the problems is the missing persons, and I can’t believe that Serbia doesn’t have that information. And I can’t believe they would protect individuals, from their perspective, because more than thirty years have passed, and those people, i.e. non-people, are already dead”, he stated.

In terms of the possible entry of representatives of the Croatian Civil Initiative (HGI) in the new government of Montenegro, President Milanović replied: “If something should bother me, then it would be interference of others from the region and outside of the region in forming the Croatian government, therefore I won’t interfere in the formation of the Montenegrin government. It’s a matter of election results. However, I won’t give up on supporting the HGI, Mr. Vuksanović and his associates who are doing good integrative work and are loyal citizens of Montenegro”.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek