ZAGREB, Jan 25(Hina) - After visiting the photo exhibition "Warsaw Ghetto 1943" in the Jewish Community offices in Zagreb on Sunday, President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader answered reporters' questions on several
current political issues, including one on statements made recently by Deputy Prime Minister Andrija Hebrang.
ZAGREB, Jan 25(Hina) - After visiting the photo exhibition "Warsaw
Ghetto 1943" in the Jewish Community offices in Zagreb on Sunday,
President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader answered
reporters' questions on several current political issues, including
one on statements made recently by Deputy Prime Minister Andrija
Hebrang.#L#
The media on Saturday quoted Hebrang as saying in a Thursday talk-show
on Nova TV that he objected to President Mesic "having completely
devalued the presidential function".
The government's public relations office yesterday issued a statement
in which Hebrang distanced himself from "the wrong media
interpretations of his statement about President Stjepan Mesic",
stressing that "there are no and will be no conflicts between the
Government and the President's Office".
Explaining his statement, Hebrang said that "at the time to which the
statement referred, the President of the Republic had to have more
powers because the country was going through major changes".
"Hebrang and his statements are of no interest to me," President Mesic
said today when asked to comment on Hebrang's statement.
Prime Minister Sanader said he believed that "the good relations
between the Government and the President of the Republic have not been
marred" and that with yesterday's statement Hebrang "has considerably
corrected the statement carried by the media".
(Hina) rml sb