President Milanović Confers Grand Order of Queen Jelena with Sash and Star on Former Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović conferred the Grand Order of Queen Jelena with Sash and Star on the former Prime Minister of Croatia Jadranka Kosor, for extraordinary contribution to the international position and reputation of the Republic of Croatia and for the development of relations between the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian people and other states and peoples.
“Dear Mrs. Kosor, dear Jadranka, esteemed members of the family and friends, today, 10 years after signing the Treaty of Accession of Croatia to the European Union – treaty signed by Mrs. Kosor following negotiations that reached an unpredictable deadlock, which you managed to resolve with great effort, skills and diplomacy – it is my decision to confer the Grand Order of Queen Jelena on you. This is not the only reason. The second reason is that in that short period of time, two and a half years – brief, but long too given the moment in history – while you were at the helm of the Government in difficult circumstances, at a time of serious disorder in the functioning of state institutions, huge corruption scandals that break the greatest and the toughest, you didn’t allow them to break you. You played honest, under terrible stress and pressure as head of the party in power, and you complete the job impartially to the end, as well as you could”, President Milanović said in justifying his reasons for decorating Jadranka Kosor.
“The party you led ejected you, the people you created politically no longer contact you, this is also a human issue”, President Milanović added, saying that this recognition is also a recognition to “Croatia that won’t be like that, that’ll be aware of the mistakes it made which there were, and of its achievements which outnumbered the mistakes, but also for its future that is, I believe, more brighter than this foggy and gloomy December day”. “Thank you for your service to the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian homeland. You have done what you could, and therefore I confer this decoration on you”, President MIlanović said while presenting the decoration to Mrs. Kosor.
In her thank you speech, Mrs. Kosor said that she is no longer in politics, but that she will strive in everything she will do from now on to represent the interests of the Republic of Croatia, as she has done during the turbulent times of her mandate as Prime Minister. Talking about those times, she underlined that this achievement is of exceptional importance, the ultimate strategic goal and the ultimate goal in which we all understood each other. “This kind of unifying around an important idea for Croatia has unfortunately disappeared, the shine has worn off in some institutions and, in some way, have caused their own downfall”, she stated.
“Since this recognition is presented for my political work, I would like to send a message to young politicians: we will all be gone one day, but in politics it’s important that when the day is done you’re not ashamed of anything, and there’s something you’re proud of. I am proud of the end of the negotiations and of my signature, as I am proud of this decoration. For everything in life as in politics, the brave people are the ones that count”, Mrs. Kosor said among others.
At the presentation ceremony alongside Mrs. Kosor were members of her family and friends: son Lovro Škopljanac, Jasminka Stričević and Franjo Stričević, journalist, editor and announcer on Croatian Radio and Television Sonja Šarunić, ophthalmologist and owner of Svjetlost Eye Clinic Nikica Gabrić, former State Attorney and former Supreme Court President Krunislav Olujić, forner Member of the Board of INA Davor Majer, Senior Lecturer in the Psychology Department of the Faculty of Croatian Studies Zoran Komar, former Member of the Croatian Parliament and lawyer Ljubica Lalić, President of the “Zajednica udruga hrvatskih dragovoljaca Domovinskog rata” Tom Kačinari, and former administrative secretary of Mrs. Kosor Jasenka Živković.
Alongside President Milanović were the Head of the Cabinet of the President Bartol Šimunić, Adviser to the President for Foreign and European Policy Neven Pelicarić, and the Adviser to the President for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan