Asked by the press to comment on the gross domestic product decline and if he was thinking about resigning because of it, Milanovic said the government did not ask for sympathy or mercy but a little patience and that after half a year in office, it was perfectly clear that miracles were not possible in six months.
Milanovic said he could not predict if 2012 would be worse or better than 2011. He said the growth projection at the beginning of the year was 0.8% but that it would evidently not be so because the situation was difficult, adding that one must be very careful with predictions.
If there is headway next year, that won't be a miracle but at least a bit the result of this government's work, he said, adding that trends indicated that 2013 would be a little better in Europe and Croatia, not because of the environment, but because good measures and laws were being adopted in Croatia and an effective police was being waged.
Milanovic said the goal was that Croatia was not a problem country "but that we manage our resources and achieve results with them, that we don't ask anyone for mercy and that nobody else is the reason for our difficulties."
Asked if the government had failed, he said the government was good, perhaps the most competent so far, but that it had it hard. He said the government had done its utmost in half a year, much more than its predecessors in rehabilitating important industries.
Milanovic underlined the importance of developing the Rijeka seaport, a stable source of domestic energy, traffic connections, and the absorption of European Union funds.
He said Croatia would consist of two statistical regions which would not be at 63% of the European average, "because that's not what we want but at, let's say, 80%." He said the issue of European funds would then be irrelevant, "we will be too rich to use them and our goal isn't to tag along and draw money for the next 50 years."