ZADAR, June 23 (Hina) - More than 170 envoys from all over Croatia and numerous guests, including Veterans' Minister Ivica Pancic, on Friday attended in Zadar the opening of the sixth assembly of Associations of Croatian Homeland War
Volunteer Veterans. Minister Pancic told the assembly there was no misunderstanding between himself and Croatia's veterans, as had been reported by the media, but that they had different opinions. He thanked the veterans on the support they had been giving him recently. "Next week, at the session of the Croatian National Parliament's House of Representatives, MPs will rule on the vote of confidence. I am not afraid because my conscience is clear. Once my mandate is over, people can say this and that about me, but no one will be able to point a finger at me and say that I am a thief, that I allocated flats, disability benefits and pensions. Not one of you
ZADAR, June 23 (Hina) - More than 170 envoys from all over Croatia
and numerous guests, including Veterans' Minister Ivica Pancic, on
Friday attended in Zadar the opening of the sixth assembly of
Associations of Croatian Homeland War Volunteer Veterans.
Minister Pancic told the assembly there was no misunderstanding
between himself and Croatia's veterans, as had been reported by the
media, but that they had different opinions. He thanked the
veterans on the support they had been giving him recently.
"Next week, at the session of the Croatian National Parliament's
House of Representatives, MPs will rule on the vote of confidence. I
am not afraid because my conscience is clear. Once my mandate is
over, people can say this and that about me, but no one will be able
to point a finger at me and say that I am a thief, that I allocated
flats, disability benefits and pensions. Not one of you went to war
because of the benefits, yet many smuggled through collecting well
for their alleged participation in the war.
"Now that we are trying to bring order and return to genuine
veterans the reputation they deserve, I and this government are
being accused of criminalising the Homeland War. I will persevere
in revising disability benefits, as well as in (establishing) the
actual number of Croatian veterans, because according to the figure
we have today we needn't have fought for five ears, but reached the
Black Sea way back in 1991," the minister said.
He asserted the Croatian state was created on the tenets of the
Homeland War, and not between 1941 and 1945, and was applauded.
(hina) ha jn