Asked in his interview with the commercial Media Servis broadcaster on Thursday whether he believes that people who used to be former Prime Minister Ivo Sander's closest aides say truth when they claim that they did not know anything about the suspected wrongdoing, the president answers that the ruling coalition is certainly in trouble as some office-holders are under suspicion of corruption, all of which affects the government's rating.
According to Josipovic, this is also an opportunity for the ruling party to purges itself of crime and thus it can stand chances to maintain its electoral support and Croatia needs centre-right parties.
Josipovic did not want to speculate about a possible government reshuffle, adding that it was the matter for Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor.
Commenting on the demands by 52 environmentalist associations that Marina Matulovic-Dropulic should be relieved of duty as the minister of environment protection, zoning and construction, as it is not the European practice to have environmental protection and construction within the remit of the same ministry, Josipvic said that conditionally speaking, conflict of interest could be seen in the combination of those two areas into one ministry.
Commenting on the economic outlook, he said that according to some analysts, the projected growth of 1.5 percent in 2011 would suffice for pulling the country from recession but would not for the recovery from the crisis,
He said that much work, endeavours and sacrifices should be expected in 2011.
This year will be remembered for the turnaround in attitudes towards responsibility. Scandals rocking Croatia show that it has been a highly corrupted country, which does not create a good image, however, the determination to enhance responsibility is a positive and recognisable, he said.