Mesic was presented with the award by mayor Zvonko Boric, who said it was bestowed on the president for his outstanding achievements and contribution to the development of Osijek-Baranja County and Croatia as a whole.
Afterwards the press asked the president to comment on dilemmas caused by his recent statement about the losses of Croatian forces in the January 1993 Operation Maslenica.
Mesic said he had been speaking in the context "of commanders having to answer for the safety and lives of their soldiers, and if there were too many casualties, it should be analysed if they were necessary".
"I was reproached for not speaking about it then, but you can't object during the war. You have to win the war, but after the war analyses have to be made. I allow for the possibility that I might have been wrong, but let analyses show that," said Mesic.
Asked for a comment on the arrests of persons suspected of having enabled Ante Gotovina, the runaway general wanted by the Hague war crimes tribunal, to obtain a fake passport, Mesic said that Croatia "was an isolated country in which laws were applied selectively". He added that "today we must fight for a Croatia in which everyone will be equal before the law, and if someone broke the law, they should answer for it".
Asked what he thought of the latest political upheavals in connection with the idea of organising Croatia into regions, Mesic said that Europe was becoming regionalised but that he was not in favour of regionalisation becoming an issue because of the forthcoming local elections. He added there existed institutions, like parliament, city councils and county assemblies, where the best solutions should be found through discussion.
Asked to comment on the replacement of people endorsing regionalisation, Mesic said it was difficult to go into each case, but added that "it should always be condemned if someone bore the consequences for their opinions".
"I am in favour of people being replaced if we have a better solution and if someone does something unlawful, of establishing this through procedure," said the president.