President Milanović in Lecture to Students: Authority at the European Union level is chosen through political intrigues and agreements
“The European Union is a system that is not based on accountability. There is no accountability; authority is chosen through political intrigues and agreements. It has nothing to do with democracy. Decisions are being made over there and they are speaking on behalf of the 400 million citizens of the European Union. There is talk of a Europe without borders, and we see how sustainable this is at a moment when the heart flutters just a little and then Slovenia immediately reintroduces border controls. There is no Europe without borders, God forbid. Europe without border controls – yes, but without borders – no,” the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović said on Friday in a lecture to students at the Faculty of Economics and Business in the city of Rijeka.
In his lecture “The global political environment and challenges for the Republic of Croatia,” President Milanović pointed to the new circumstances in which we live: “The world we have known for the last thirty years, which we were used to and which was created with the disintegration of Cold War divisions in which one country, the United States, was dominant, is disappearing. That world is disappearing, it is threatened, new cards are being dealt and new players are emerging on the scene. We will have to adapt to that. America no longer has the strength to maintain the order that was, for me, the best and simplest, in which you knew who you were dealing with.”
The President holds that today international law is at its lowest ebb. “Never has it been less respected, never has it been interpreted more arbitrarily, with double, triple standards, with incredible flexibility in its interpretation. This causes distrust and resistance in people very quickly. We are witnessing this resistance at the global level. We belong to Western Europe. We try to impose our values on others, and others see it as bullying, not as the promotion of doctrine, beliefs and values, but as pure opportunism and a chance to reap profit, advantage and dominance. That’s how the world looks today,” said President Milanović, explaining that this is most clearly seen in the set-up of the United Nations: “The UN is dysfunctional because the control system – the Security Council – functions according to the veto principle. It is imperfect, and anything else would be impossible. In such a system, the best litmus test is the countries’ mood in the General Assembly during voting.”
In his lecture to students, President Milanović commented on the conflict in Palestine and the issue of a Palestinian state, which he said does not exist because it was not allowed. “This is a real problem because seven million people live in impossible conditions. And this is where humanity is divided over the petrodollars and the future of the situation in which we have been living for seventy years. Russia and China are already showing that they will not live under these conditions, that they are ready to take active measures in their power, even wage war, to disparage such a system, to call it into question and impose their own rules. We cannot change the world we live in by force,” he said.
In conclusion, he warned that serious challenges await Croatia and its citizens, and that we must adapt to everyday matters, such as finding people who will work. “They are obviously not our children and grandchildren; they are someone else’s children and grandchildren, from neighbouring countries. When they dry up and when they enter the EU, those who are very different from us will arrive. It is up to us to be minimally critical and sceptical, to know what our interests are, how to protect them, and to recognize the difference between what is permissible and impermissible,” he said.
President Milanović appealed to and advised the students who attended his lecture the following: “Read, be critical and sceptical, use your own head, do not give in to influence, to the racket, try to be intellectuals, people who measure and observe. This is the only way to become independent and ultimately rich, so that the kind of society we seek survives and prospers. In my opinion, that is the key mission of this institution,” President Milanović said.
Responding to students’ questions about the issue of illegal migrations, President Milanović said: “These present-day migrants are lowlifes, one should not be in solidarity and sympathise with them, but with the Croatian police for attempting to control them. This work is worthy of respect and is in our interest. The right of exiles to protection and the ban on returning asylum seekers to the area they came from, where their existence or lives are threatened, does not apply in this case. It does not apply because they come from Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they arrived by way of deceit. The visa regime is lenient there, so they land in Sarajevo and then proceed to Bihać. Here we are dealing with a trick that is targeted, not directly, against our interests, because these people just want to pass through Croatia. However, they will begin to stay. And what will we do with them? Give everyone the right to asylum? I’m sorry, but they don’t meet the criteria.”
Prior to his lecture, President Milanović held a meeting with the administration of the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Rijeka: Dean Saša Drezgić, Vice Dean for Science and Research Ana Bobinac, Vice Dean for Cooperation with the Business Community and Affairs Vesna Buterin, Vice Dean for Internationalization and Sustainable Development Saša Čegar, Vice Dean for Quality Assurance and Student Affairs Ivan Gržeta, and Vice Dean for Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Maja Grdinić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan