President Milanović on Croatia’s vote in UN: Not that I wasn’t consulted, but it was done behind my back
“Not that I wasn’t consulted, but it was done behind my back. The Permanent Representative of Croatia to the UN showed that he has no backbone, a man who likes to advertise himself as a great fighter for human rights, he was even an assistant to the UN Secretary-General. All he had to do was abstain, that’s the gist of the story. There is honour, common sense and reputation, and it shouldn’t be played with”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović stated on Croatia’s vote against the UN declaration calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza, which was voted without prior consultation and agreement with the President of the Republic who under the Constitution is co-creator of Croatian foreign policy.
Commenting on the explanations by the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman and the Prime Minister’s adviser Mate Granić as to why Croatia voted against the UN resolution, President Milanović stated: “The explanation by one who misappropriated public assets in 1991 and specialised in killing pigs, and the explanation by his mentor Mate Granić – are cause for disqualification. Mate Granić, Plenković’s mentor and failed presidential candidate in a campaign managed by Plenković, talks about a cohabitation that doesn’t work and that they have to violate the Constitution. You will violate the Constitution by not to consulting the President. We voted like that to pay back a debt? To whom? To the Americans? That’s what the man said in his right mind. That’s how we sell off our image and our reputation in the UN”.
The President of the Republic further said he’s still waiting for the Prime Minister’s explanation as to why Croatia voted against the UN resolution. “We’re waiting for the great de-dramatist to explain why they did it. Plenković had his photo taken with Novak Đoković. By the way that’s that Russophile. Fantastic athlete I root for generally, but a Russophile. At the same time, he settles accounts with MPs who voted against dragging Croatia into the war and the training of soldiers for the war in Ukraine – because they’re looking at Croatian interests – but there’s no problem having his photo taken with people who openly sided with Moscow”.
President Milanović noted that he won’t keep quiet about the situation in Gaza. “I won’t keep quiet about this situation. We have no complexes, we didn’t persecute Jews in the Second World War for me to have to presently tolerate all kinds of actions by the Israeli government, without any responsibility. I’m saying this from the perspective of the Croatian state and the Croatian people who were abused left and right. Therefore, we are not descendants of Nazis, for the most part we are descendants of antifascists, a large group of people who fought for justice, at times too violently and erroneously. I have no complexes. We have enough honour and self-respect to know where we are and know the difference between right and wrong. At present something not good is happening and there are no innocent ones. After the Irish Prime Minister, I was the first one in Europe to warn about this”, he stated, adding that “he won’t yell either every day like the Israeli ambassador in Zagreb to whom as a militant agitator it is quite normal to call out the Croatian President in the middle of Zagreb, and our miserable government doesn’t react”.
Moreover, President Milanović warned that this situation is a result of a “staged farce by Plenković related to the appointment of ambassadors”. “Had we not kept the ambassadors and chiefs of missions appointed a long time ago and who are all either uninterested or loyal to the hand that feeds them, we would be consulting in this matter. The obstruction invented by Plenković made it possible for him to violate the Constitution and is doing so behind my back”, the President explained.
Journalists asked him if the vote compromises national security, meaning is Croatia thereby a target. “I don’t see it for now, I believe it won’t happen. The group of good-for nothings who are behind it will have to suffer eventual consequences”, he replied.