President Milanović on Vaccination Prerequisite for Economic Aid: These decisions deeply encroach on privacy and lack representative legitimacy
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended the presentation of the document Long-term Banija Development Vision in the town of Glina, after which he commented on the announced vaccination prerequisite for economic aid to Croatian companies, the protest in Vruja and the rights of LGTBQ persons.
Journalists asked President Milanović what he thinks about introducing vaccination as a prerequisite for distributing economic aid to companies and whether that would be discriminatory. “If we had acted as I suggested and pleaded, if Parliament had made all these decisions that encroach on human liberties by a two-thirds majority – and it didn’t, but the Government did in its own way – the situation would be better now. These are decisions that deeply encroach on people’s privacy and they lack real representative legitimacy. The Government and the ruling party are not enough. That support existed more than a year ago and today it is a question of whether it exists. Therefore, I was not saying all of that back in February, March and April 2020 to spite the Government, but in some way in anticipation of a situation in which it would be necessary to go deeper and deeper. Yes, it would be good if all people were vaccinated.”
The President of the Republic added that “this has been treated wrongly from the beginning” and that “these are things that need to be resolved through conversation.” “Introducing such radical measures causes dissatisfaction in people. It all had to be anticipated. There are problems now. I don’t know if an employer can do that. Anyone who will be or believes that he is being harmed in the relationship with their employer will sue the employer,” he said, replying to the question of whether employers could force their employees to get vaccinated. Journalists asked the President if he thinks that the Prime Minister should introduce compulsory vaccination: “That is a step further, a triple jump. What does compulsory vaccination mean? Under threat of direct sanction? This means vaccination as a military obligation, which is provided by the Constitution.”
Asked how to encourage people to get vaccinated, he replied: “By persuasion. I’m not saying that the Government doesn’t do that, I do that too. However, the legal framework is extremely important. The bureaucratic procedure is important. It gives people some kind of security, so they know how far they can go and what awaits them at a certain point. And here omissions were made, probably because a year ago the Government thought it would get a ‘thumbs down’ at the beginning (of its mandate) for introducing very restrictive measures that were needed then. Now we have come to the point where we have a solution that half the people do not agree with. The vaccine is the solution. It protects those who have been vaccinated and they are protected for now. It works.”
President Milanović also commented on the protest in Vruja. “When someone donates a sum equivalent to a promile of the costs of your (Presidential) campaign and when they do that via accounts, then I ask such donors whether they are sure if they want to make a donation, since it means that they funding a political camp. When someone tells me they are ready to do that, I say – ok, there will be no services in return and this can only cost you where you live and work, and that is in Dalmatia where the HDZ is mostly present and in public agencies, Hrvatske šume, Hrvatske ceste, HDZ, HDZ, HDZ…” President Milanović said, posing the question: “Who am I protecting and by what means can I give protection? During my tenure, illegal construction was halted for the first time in a serious manner. Illegal construction is above all something that comes up overnight, so you can’t do anything about it. But illegal construction has many forms. Devastation of space has many forms. When I talk about something, I like to know the details and I don’t really know the details here except that behind this there are tens of permits and permissions issued in relation to the project by the county, state authorities and public agencies run by the HDZ, and we know how the HDZ runs things.”
The President also responded to accusations against him: “If you want to accuse me of something, I’m here. We’ll talk. I’m not saying don’t attack me. Hit me, just don’t lie. Don’t lie that certain people are employing my children because my son is attending studies. What service can the President of the Republic provide to someone who has transparently donated something to him? There is no such service. If it’s illegal, let them demolish (the structures) and ban that road. I am not such an expert to claim that is so until I have checked all the documents, and I don’t know how to do that, I can’t do it, I don’t have time … I trust the institutions to some extent. We will not solve anything with any ‘log revolutions’ and new forms of ‘tent protests’. Private property is private property, it is not absolute and that is a pillar of a civil, liberal and contemporary society, and it should be respected. Punish those who violate laws, but don’t evade the issue, don’t start a revolution.”
President Milanović also commented on the debate on the rights of LGTBQ persons, which was incited by MP Nikola Grmoja’s public statements. “That doesn’t lead anywhere, Croatia has changed and will continue to change. My position is known. During my Government, registered partnership was introduced. At the time, we were among three or four European countries that did that, but I did not do it to be on some ranking list, but because it is in line with the good in man and only after that a matter of being in line with trends,” President Milanović said and concluded: “I call on Messrs. Petrov and Grmoja to accept that the world is changing.”