Milanović: Croatia has a president without character, who embarrasses us

(Patria) - Presidential candidate Zoran Milanović was a guest on Točka na tjedan, on N1 TV. He explained why he wants to be president.

"I want to be, I'm not here to do it routinely. I watched, observed, realized that none of the people whom I might have supported as candidates went resolutely and decisively enough. If your opinion is that it is normal in Croatia for all of this to function, then it can continue as it has for the last 5 years. The biggest problem in Croatia is that HDZ has a monopoly on power, para-power, the deep state, and that is very harmful to Croatia, and I see that as my calling to change it," said Milanović.

He previously criticized the presidential function. When asked what specifically he can do from that position, Milanović posed a counter-question: "And from which other position could I?"

"I was prime minister for 4 years during the period when Croatia joined the EU, that is not my merit, but it happened. After a little over 9 years, I resigned as president of SDP. What more motivation is needed besides the desire for things to change with the instruments at your disposal?" said Milanović.

"The president is a shareholder of a very intangible, elusive category, you have authority and prestige or you don't. This is a degradation of the role for me, I would call it a circus, if I didn't have respect for the circus. This is a bad reality comedy and it should be abolished. Whenever HDZ held all the levers in the country, Croatia was not doing well," said Milanović.

"We have a president without character, a president without identity, a president who embarrasses us," said Milanović.

Is he the type of character suited for the position of president of the country.

"You quoted very generally, the burden I was under was enormous and it should be. The president's duty is different, the burden is smaller. You don't have to play on the first ball. I could be cold and rude, but I was not Viennese, but Confucian school in relation to the current prime minister. I was rude, but I never physically attacked a member of parliament," said Milanović.

"I will be better, because I am better," he added.

"Plenković and Grabar Kitarović are facing the consequences of the 'us or them' policy, because they let that evil spirit out of the bottle," said Milanović.

"They came out of the same cloth, they are all children of that Baudelairean flower. These are people who owe their complete political identity to HDZ. These are people who do not exist publicly without HDZ," said Milanović.

He added that this is not comparable to his political situation, that Plenković was brought into HDZ, while he was elected to SDP through democratic internal party elections.

"I speak and answer questions, Plenković was brought in by the HDZ right as a savior. I said that was fake, that this man came here to help himself. I was the first to say that, and now his internal opposition is repeating it. I will stop there, I will no longer deal with internal HDZ matters. It's fake," said Milanović.

"Just remember the comical commission for determining the culture of the heart and spirit of the old Croatian greeting, remember the tents, on which these boys and girls grew and to which they bowed, and as they say - what goes around comes around. From experience, I saw what would happen to Croatia after the policy during the distribution of positions in the European Commission. Now some of those countries will not forget what we did, how we blocked their candidates, and our goal is not to place Plenković and Šuica in Brussels, our goal is Schengen, and now we will see how it will backfire on us," said Milanović.

He also commented on the situation regarding Dubravka Šuica's property card.

"Who is working for SDP now? Trade unions, the Commission for the Prevention of Conflict of Interest, now I see that GONG is also working for SDP. As for Šuica, she is Plenković's project. He should ask her to disclose what she has and explain how she acquired it. Defending it with some GDPR now is ridiculous," said Milanović.