site.btaCroatian President: NATO Secretary General Is Welcome, But He Does Not Make Decisions

During a visit to the Medimurje region on Friday, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic commented on current international and domestic political issues, as well as on the upcoming visit on Monday of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Croatian media reported.

Speaking to journalists in the town of Cakovec, Milanovic said that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is "welcome in Croatia," but he is not an official who "makes decisions or has any funds at his disposal."

"When he speaks, it is unclear on whose behalf he is speaking, and he says many things that I do not support at all," Milanovic said. "On Monday, he will be a guest here, we will talk, but he is not the person who makes decisions," the President added.

Milanovic also criticized the aid provided by the Croatian Government to Ukraine while the construction of Croatian patrol vessels remains incomplete. The President noted that the Government boasted about granting EUR 15 million in aid to Ukraine, which, in his view, is insufficient even to heat a barracks for one month. On the other hand, the state has not allocated EUR 12 million for completing the construction of five patrol vessels at the Brodosplit shipyard, he pointed out.

On Friday, the Day of the Unification of Medimurje with the Croatian Mother Country was celebrated in the region. On 9 January 1919, the Great National Assembly in Cakovec decided to separate Medimurje from Hungary.