President Milanović: Nothing has been done in post-earthquake reconstruction although we also received EU money, the Government is accountable for that   

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović called out the Government on Friday for the slow reconstruction of earthquake-affected areas, notably in the Banija region, saying “frighteningly little” has been done and that it “pains me to see that (the Bosnian Serb entity) has reconstructed more than the Croatian Government.”

“After two years, I can interpret that only as epic incompetence or perhaps negligence, absence of elementary empathy for those mostly poorest Croatian citizens. Because that degree of poverty does not exist in some other parts of Croatia, it is especially prominent in Banija,” President Milanović told a press conference.

Commenting on numbers which show that only six family houses have been built in Banija since the December 2020 earthquake and that works are under way on another 88, he said they meant that “nothing has been done.”

“A mere 100 houses. That’s frighteningly little, yet we received money also from the EU,” he added.

President Milanović said no one could be held accountable but the Government. “It is the Government that has the cloth, scissors, tailoring sheets. It has everything,” he said. Human patience has a limit, you can justify many aggravating circumstances, but there have been none in the last two years, he said, reiterating the availability of EU funds.

“The European Union and the entire Western world are floating on an air cushion of huge amounts of somewhat fictitious money, but if you spend it immediately, it is not fictitious,” the President said.

Asked whether he should talk more often about this and thus pressure the Government, President Milanović said, “Is it really my job to exert pressure on the Government?” given the President’s constitutional powers. As head of state, he added, he is not a member of any party.

“There is a limit to what I, according to some custom, code, should even do, but I did it and have been quite benevolent.”

He noted that on yesterday’s anniversary of the earthquake, neither Prime Minister Andrej Plenković nor any minister visited Banija. “I went both where they did and didn’t like me, where they booed. Plenković is avoiding that in a panic.”

Asked to comment on the Government’s announcement that 2023 would be the year of reconstruction, President Milanović said, “I no longer believe (them). If you are a fool, you continue to believe.”

He said the question of when everything would be reconstructed should be put to Prime Minister Plenković. “I thought most of it would be solved in a year and that the authorities would then boast about it. However, they are experiencing justified criticisms.”

The President of the Republic commented on a decision by Defence Minister Mario Banožić according to which the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Admiral Robert Hranj remains in service for another six months, saying that it “only prolongs Hranj’s agony.”

“I will only talk about Andrej Plenković. Banožić is only a medium through which this is released to the public. He does not mean anything. He does not decide anything but signs decisions. So yesterday, he signed the decision to prolong the agony or the life of the Chief of the General Staff, whom I appointed at the Government’s recommendation, for another half year so that the moral blackmail, the passive aggression… continues,” President Milanović told a press conference.

“Well, you’re not going to do that, Plenković… you didn’t appoint him, and you won’t remove him,” said President Milanović.

Admiral Hranj turns 60 next year and he could retire, which is being speculated. However, President Milanović underscored that this does not apply to the Chief of the General Staff because there was a decision by former Defence Minister Damir Krstičević from 2020 that Admiral Hranj would hold that position for four years, until the end of his term, which was ignored after Banožić’s decision yesterday.

President Milanović assessed that the decision to extend Admiral Hranj’s term for six months was a “sociopathic plot.” He called Banožić’s decision void and assessed that the same method is being used to undermine the entire defence system.

President Milanović went on to say that if Banožić was not “picked up sooner or later” by the State Prosecutor’s Office (DORH) for what he did in the ministry, which the President said was documented and for which witnesses, minutes of meetings and a complaint exist, he would demand that DORH be held to account because it would mean that someone was systematically protecting Banožić. (Hina)