President Milanović on Appointment of Ivan Turudić: The problem lies with Plenković and his minions, who raise their hands for the enslavement of the State
Turudić is a man of the party, a party guy. They are trying to portray him as a person who will make order, when in reality he will be protecting Plenković and his clique. Shameless, cynical, rude. Turudić is a man who declared himself a HDZ member, without repercussions, is that a reference?! A very harrowing moment in which, out of many poor candidates, the one who is by far the worst emerges in the end, a man who should be the subject of an investigation. Plenković is the problem. AP is the problem. The party is obediently keeping silent. That man wants repressive power by force and AP gives it to him right in front of the entire Croatian public,” said the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović, commenting on Friday the Government’s nomination of judge Ivan Turudić as the State Attorney General.
Speaking about his function, as the President of the Republic, and what he could do in this case, President Milanović said that he can speak and “encourage others to speak and oppose this type of institutional, civilizational violence and cynicism that has been going on since day one.” “The problem lies with Plenković and his minions and garden gnomes who raise their hands for the enslavement of the State,” the President warned, reminding about the adoption of the so-called Lex AP.
“AP is coming, who wants to, above all, persecute journalists. They would not be prosecuted, but they would be harassed if they disclosed and revealed who committed a crime. And their crime consists of the fact that some people make it possible for the public to find out about the filth and thievery in which the people who are part of the Government and its inner circle are involved in. At the same time, there is a public call – what a farce – for a new State Attorney General, after he used up several of them. First there was Jelinić, who was reckless, then came Zlata Hrvoj Šipek, just before the last parliamentary elections. That (appointment) was corrupt and cowardly, as is the case now. That unfortunate man, Turudić, appears – out of all the judges, he is the least suitable by all criteria to be in that position, above all the criteria of political morality and autonomy. He is insisted on, and like a parrot he repeats all the elements of the explanation of that malicious law Lex AP, which is exactly what Plenković wants to hear. Turudić would prohibit all of this and make the (investigative) process secret again. He would make it impossible for the media to find out that Plenković’s close associates are scoundrels and thieves. That must not be known,” President Milanović explained, adding that all those who support this effort are working against Croatian democracy.
“One needs to put an end to this. How should it be done? I see I’m not the only one who thinks this way. This thievery, which is worse than it has ever been in more recent Croatian history, needs to be stopped. What we experienced during Sanader’s period – and Turudić was his guy – can be remembered as an insecure, erroneous period, but as a period of innocence compared to this mess we live in today,” President Milanović continued, calling on “those whose job it is” to reflect over this, since “the appointment of Turudić is a personnel appointment, whom the simple majority in Parliament will elect, thus confirming AP’s will.” “As things stand, he is most likely leaving Croatia, and he wants to have someone here who will hold his back. He chose the wrong person, the man is pathologically disloyal. He will turn his back on him at the first opportunity. Just as he destroyed Sanader, the man who had made him,” President Milanović concluded.
President Milanović also commented on the warning measures in the judiciary. “When everything is promised to everyone in a period when it is easy to manage the government and finances, seemingly giving everything to everyone, then it results in this kind of disharmony and disorder. I don’t know whether the judges should get more. Those things should be talked about. But Plenković is not used to having a conversation. He imposes, threatens and buys – with your money,” the President said, adding that he does not know if the judges are right or wrong, but that they must understand that the independence of their authority does not mean absolute independence. “The Constitution prescribes the principle and need for mutual control over bodies and branches of government, legislative and judicial. They shouldn’t set their own salaries because that would lead to total independence. And who has it? I don’t have it; the Government has to ask Parliament, and it’s a little different with the courts. Judges must understand that they are part of the system, that they share the fate of the country, that they must judge faster and more efficiently,” President Milanović believes.
In this context, he also commented on the case of pop singer Severina Vučković, and the Supreme Court’s decision to annul a verdict in her favour related to her child. “It’s been going on for nine years, that boy probably already went grey. Nine years. I don’t know what his mother and father are like, but where are the courts? Who should take the blame? The President of the Supreme Court? He can’t do anything about it. I don’t know, maybe the Constitution is wrongly written, maybe something needs to be changed in it,” said the President.
Journalists also asked President Milanović to comment on Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s decision not to meet with Željko Komšić in Sarajevo. The President of the Republic first reminded that – after consulting with the representatives of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina – he extended his support, in a press release, to the representatives of the Croats, Serbs and Bosniaks to continue the talks and agree on amendments to the Election Law, for this is in the interest of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “It will satisfy their basic needs and pride, and that their representatives are not chosen by others,” the President underscored.
“I said that as long as Komšić is the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, I would not go to Sarajevo officially. When he won’t be, when Bećirović comes, I will find a way to go there, without Komšić being present. This is legitimate and feasible, if the other side wants it,” said President Milanović. In his opinion, Prime Minister Plenković went to Sarajevo with the intention of a photo being taken in which he is not present, but he did not achieve anything because the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte went to Komšić, even though Prime Minister Plenković claimed that he further sensitized them to the problems of the Croats in BiH. “Well, that’s how he sensitized them, they didn’t listen to him,” he concluded.