"As regards claims made in today's issue of Jutarnji List daily, in an article headlined 'Vidosevic's Brother Fails to Present Credentials in Rome', notably its highlighted section reading 'Italians insulted by a diplomat with such a bad biography', I want to deny that I and Hido Biscevic, a state secretary at the Foreign Ministry, ever talked about the appointment of Vidosevic Ambassador to Rome, and I never expressed my view on the matter in any way," Grafini said in the statement, adding that the Italian Embassy had excellent relations with Vidosevic at the time when he was assistant foreign minister in charge of multilateral relations.
"Finally, his appointment was celebrated at a dinner at my residence and later at a dinner organised by the deputy mission chief, advisor Piantadosi, at which the new ambassador to Rome was introduced to Italian officials and business people operating in Croatia," the statement said.
"The delayed presentation of credentials by Ambassador Vidosevic should not be brought in connection with personal opinions of him, it rather has to do with internal assessments on Italy's part, which are also of organisational nature," the ambassador said in the statement.
Jutarnji List of Thursday reports, among other things, that it is unusual for a country to exert pressure on another country by stalling the procedure of accreditation of an ambassador.
Quoting "one of the sources familiar with the situation", the Zagreb-based daily said that after Vidosevic was appointed ambassador to Italy, Grafini complained to the state secretary at the Croatian Foreign Ministry, Hido Biscevic, saying that it was insulting that Croatia had appointed as ambassador to Italy, its most powerful neighbour, a person with such a bad biography as Vidosevic's.
The daily did not explain what the term "bad biography" meant.