ZAGREB, Oct 30 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic declined to comment on recent polemical statements senior officials of the ruling coalition's two strongest parties had made in connection with the formulation of draft amendments
to the constitution. He told a Croatian Radio show on Monday it was not on him to comment on statements by SDP's Mato Arlovic and HSLS' Josko Kontic. The government can survive only if all factors within cooperate, he asserted. If they cooperate and work for the common good, the government will surely survive, but if things turn out differently than voters expected and trusted, new elections are possible, said Mesic. The president believes the time is not right for elections and that neither external nor internal factors allow Croatia to play with new elections. We have to solve the chief problems and they are related to the stimulation of economy, he said. Speaking about amendm
ZAGREB, Oct 30 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic declined to
comment on recent polemical statements senior officials of the
ruling coalition's two strongest parties had made in connection
with the formulation of draft amendments to the constitution.
He told a Croatian Radio show on Monday it was not on him to comment
on statements by SDP's Mato Arlovic and HSLS' Josko Kontic.
The government can survive only if all factors within cooperate, he
asserted. If they cooperate and work for the common good, the
government will surely survive, but if things turn out differently
than voters expected and trusted, new elections are possible, said
Mesic.
The president believes the time is not right for elections and that
neither external nor internal factors allow Croatia to play with
new elections. We have to solve the chief problems and they are
related to the stimulation of economy, he said.
Speaking about amendments to the constitution, Mesic said they had
been formulated hastily, and reiterated his stance that the
president of state should be a firm point in the system and that the
role of parliament should be reinforced.
Asked about the government's performance thus far, the president
said it had been necessary to review the situation and that the
government had done so. Too little has been done to activate
production or put the monetary policy in the function of
development, and a lot, if not enough, has been done to decentralise
power and funds, he said.
Mesic said he was not apprehensive about his trip to the central
town of Gospic tomorrow. He said the police and the judiciary should
be allowed to do their job in connection with alleged war crimes and
the assassination of a Hague tribunal witness, Gospic resident
Milan Levar. It is the proper thing to do, he stressed.
Asked if tonight he was going to meet Prime Minister Ivica Racan and
the president of the Croatian Social Liberal Party, Drazen Budisa,
who were to meet in the afternoon according to some information,
Mesic said he had no knowledge of the Racan-Budisa meeting.
(hina) ha