He received about 150 listeners of Radio 101 and the conversation was broadcast live.
He was asked why the comprehensive operation of tracking down Ante Gotovina, the runaway general wanted by the Hague war crimes tribunal and the main obstacle to Croatia's EU entry talks starting on March 17, had not been taken sooner and if it was too late for diplomacy.
Mesic replied the problem lay in Croatia's credibility. He said Croatia was not a law-based state before 2000.
"Laws were applied selectively and, clearly, there wasn't too much confidence in such a Croatia. When we claimed that we were doing everything to locate fugitive Hague tribunal indictees, we weren't believed. But if five of our generals have gone to The Hague, it's clear that we don't have even one reason to protect only one person, especially after it transpired that Gotovina had been convicted in France, that he had been in the Foreign Legion, in Paraguay on a similar business. But we didn't know that," said Mesic.
"The problem is that some thought we could have one rhetoric for Europe, one for the Croatian public, and one for this or that institution," he added.
Asked if today he would make the same statement he made when Gotovina granted an interview to Nacional weekly a few years ago, Mesic said, "Gotovina said he was ready to talk and that if his testimony wasn't accepted he would voluntarily go to The Hague. I said I supported him in that. If everyone else could talk, then give him the chance to talk too. That was my principled position and has remained the same."
Mesic also commented on some criticisms of his statement during the presidential campaign earlier this year that if he met Gotovina he would invite him for coffee. "One only needs to draw a logical conclusion. The coffee invitation means that six policemen are sitting next to me. I won't arrest anyone, the police will."
The president said it was difficult to say who was the most to blame for Croatia's loss of credibility. He added everyone had their share of the blame.
"The corrosion started a long time ago, when state mechanisms didn't function, giving birth to circles which were funded illegally and which in turn funded those running from the law. None of that was transparent, where that money came from," Mesic said.
He added Croatia would start EU entry talks because it was a national interest.