Milanović and Plenković to travel to Pope Francis' funeral on separate flights

(Patria) - The top leaders of Croatia - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and President Zoran Milanović will travel separately to Pope Francis' funeral, RTL Danas reports.

Plenković and Milanović are traveling to Rome tomorrow on separate flights. The President will most likely depart from Zagreb, while the Prime Minister will arrive later from Istria, where he has previously scheduled commitments all day.

Although protocols considered yesterday that they would return to Zagreb together after the funeral, it was agreed that they would return on separate flights on a state plane, which, they claim, is "usual, more appropriate, and for security reasons, especially since both are staying abroad at the same time".

The day before, they met at the 80th anniversary of the breakthrough of prisoners from the Ustaše concentration camp of Jasenovac, where they greeted and shook hands.

This was one of the main topics in the Croatian media, given the long history of their conflicts and difficult cohabitation between the Presidential Palace and the Government.

They will not travel together to the funeral of the 88-year-old Pope, which will be organized on Saturday morning, although there were speculations about it in the past few days.

Otherwise, for security reasons, many countries avoid sending their highest state officials, such as prime ministers and presidents, on trips together, in the same plane or vehicle, especially for longer journeys or flights abroad.

For example, the US President and Vice President rarely travel together.

In case of an accident or attack, the country should not be left without both leaders, thus reducing the risk of institutional instability.

Croatian legislation does not explicitly prohibit such joint travel.

If circumstances require it, the President and Prime Minister of Croatia can be on the same plane, but this is most often avoided.