INTERVIEW: STJEPAN MESIĆ

"Architecture of our region has been completed"

 

"Referendum in order to segregate Republika Srpska and unite it to Serbia is unacceptable for Croatia, Europe and the world. Europe will be a community of diversity, open borders and ethnic minorities that will connect the states and not be an excuse for someone to take someone else's territory because they are allegedly protecting their national minority. I think that the best solution for Bosnia and Herzegovina are cantons.", says Croatian President 2000 - 2010.

 

 

Stjepan Mesić, President of the Republic of Croatia from 2000 until 2010, welcomed us into his new office, officially named the Office of Former President of the Republic. The first such office in Croatia is still being renovated and although Mesić had moved in at the beginning of March, one can still smell the wall paint and outside the building in Grškovićeva Street there are still scaffoldings.

 

You have received a personal letter from the U.S. President Barack Obama in which he pays tribute to the role and the contribution you made for Croatia's entry into NATO, one year ago. He also congratulates you on the progress that Croatia made in the accession negotiations with the European Union. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Barack Obama for his letter, because we have not met many times, but we have established a good contact. I believe that he got to know Croatia during the talks he held with me and my associates. That is why this letter is not merely a formality. He had once told me: 'I have made another friend'. That is why I thank him for what he had expressed in this letter.
In my first mandate my objective was to open up Croatia towards Europe and the world, take it out of self-isolation, and begin the processes of reforms, in order to reach the Euro standards and meet the conditions for Croatia to become a member of the most elite economical and political club, the European Union. In the second term I continued to pursue that objective. It was necessary to support the reforms and to depoliticize state institutions.

 

However, which moment brought you the greatest personal satisfaction?

It is hard to say, because when you are in a position of the president almost daily you make decisions about important issues which define the direction that the country will take. I derived great satisfaction from the decision which came from another party - NATO decision to make Croatia its member. That was one of the two objectives in our foreign policy. The first one was to become a NATO member, to strengthen the security of our country, but also to become a part of the NATO military production. Unfortunately, we still have not done that to a satisfactory extent, and the only reason is the inertia of our economic entities, whilst there is a will on the part of NATO. The second objective in our foreign policy was to become a member of the European Union. I regret that during my mandate we had not achieved that objective as well.

 

You mentioned the inertia of our economy. Ever since you took office of the Croatian President you have emphasized the importance of economic diplomacy. Unfortunately, little has been achieved.

 

I would not say that little has been achieved. For example, Ericson Nikola Tesla Company has followed my lead and in most countries that I had visited this company has achieved the greatest results and established many contacts. A lot of them reacted after the talks I held with foreign statesmen and my official visits, and INA is doing business in Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Syria and many other countries. Also, I have to praise the Ingra management. The contacts were also established by the Konstruktor Company. Specifically, during the talks I held with Emir Al-Thani in Qatar, I said it would be good for our little countries, and our businesses, to collaborate among themselves, in order for us to have a greater significance in relations to bigger countries. Qatar has chosen Konstruktor from Split to build the bypass around their capital Doha.
We have invitations from Turkmenistan to engage all of our companies, especially construction companies, as well as from Tajikistan and Azerbaijan, which has an annual growth rate of 32 percent. They are in need of everything, and our companies are aware of this fact, but simply do not take any action. It seems to me that the problem is poor connections of Croatian diplomacy and economy. I hope that now, in this economic crisis, everyone has learned a lesion that they should do what others countries do. Foreign Heads of Missions perform these tasks better than ours, and we can see that in the fact that their companies apply for tenders. I have often been surprised during official visits of foreign heads of states by their specific questions, how well they were versed in investments and projects in Croatia. Lately we do not even have a formalized structure that needs to maintain contacts between our economy and the economies of those countries where we have our Embassies.

 

Recently was established state secretary for economic diplomacy with the Ministry of Economy. Bianca Matković was appointed.

This may even be a useful and a good solution, clearly if the relationship with our business entities and foreign policy network is going to be well-functioning.

How do you see the future of Croatia in the new world order that is being created?

Today we have one major world power, the United States, and other powers that emerged in the world: the European Union, Brazil, Russia, India and China. Respecting this, Croatian economic policymakers have to cooperate with everyone and must find a niche where we can be successful. It's not enough just to have a beautiful country and to state that we have large inventories of water resources. They have to be put to use. It is highly commendable that we have constructed a network of highways in our country, and thus enabled the trade routes from central and south-eastern Europe across the Adriatic and further to the world to go through Croatia. But the efficiency of our ports is not yet achieved. Moreover, we have not solved the question of energy sources. When I advocated DružbAdria project that would bring us security of the oil supply, many have criticized me and have been against it. Today, when we are already behind the schedule, it is proposed as a great solution. Also, we could have joined the South Stream gas pipeline project from the beginning because we have an oil pipeline that runs the entire length of Croatia and the same corridors could be used for a gas pipeline.

Why is it that Croatia had not undertaken DružbAdria and South Stream projects on time?

I do not know. The government should have focused on resolving energy issues, but instead, someone was afraid. I absolutely welcome the current efforts made by the Government and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor.

 

What are your predictions regarding the unresolved issues in the region related to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo?

The Dayton Agreement stopped the war not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it also eliminated the threat of the expansion of that war. But it has not established national mechanisms in Bosnia and Herzegovina. You have two entities that operate in different ways - in one there are Croats and Bosnians, and in the other entity there are Serbs. In this entity, which is called Republika Srpska, there was 48 percent of Croats and Bosnians before the war, and today there are only eight per cent. Neither the Bosnians nor the Croats return because there is a policy to prevent their return. We should be aware of the ambitions to wait for the international community to get tired and then to organize a referendum in order to segregate Republika Srpska and unite it to Serbia. This is unacceptable for Croatia, but it is also unacceptable for the world and Europe. Europe will be a community of diversity, open borders and ethnic minorities that will connect the states and not be an excuse for someone to take someone else's territory because they are allegedly protecting their national minority. That is why I advocated Bosnia and Herzegovina which would be complete and multi-ethnic, but in which all three peoples will be constituent throughout its territory. The Croats were the smallest nation and got the worst of this war, and this happened because they followed the wrong policy which thought that Milošević will incorporate most of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and so they searched for some kind of opportunity for Croatia. For Croatia, the third entity would still pose a danger, because most of the Croats live in central Bosnia in the Tuzla basin and Posavina, and a smaller number of them live in a part that some consider to be suitable for a third entity. I think that the best solution for Bosnia and Herzegovina are cantons, abolishing the entities to reduce the administrative practice that burdens the state. There should be a state and its institutions and mechanisms, and the cantons on a lower level. What they will be called is of less importance, in one canton there will be more people of one nationality, and more of the other in another canton, but there should be no such tendencies on the part of someone who thinks that they may create a state from their entity. This should be resolved through negotiations on the new constitutional structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

What about Kosovo?

As for Kosovo, it declared its independence, it is a new reality in our region and we acknowledge that reality. Serbia does not have to recognize Kosovo, but it must facilitate the communication in the region, because it would give us all the qualifications to sooner become a member of the European Union. West Germany had never recognized East Germany. They said that East Germany will never be a foreign country to them and they carried out that policy consistently. Serbia has no obstacles to say that it will never recognize Kosovo. They do not have to recognize Kosovo, but they must facilitate the communication in the region. That is what I had advocated, and not the deterioration of relations with Serbia.
I only talked about reality. The architecture of our region has been completed and we are invited to collaborate with each other in order to achieve the European standards.

 

What is your opinion on the talks that President Ivo Josipović held with Serbian President Boris Tadić on the island of Krk, where they addressed the possibility of withdrawal of claim and counterclaim for genocide. Josipović awarded former Ambassador of Serbia Radivoj Cvetičanin with the Order of Duke Branimir with a Neck Badge, despite the existing regulations by which you have not awarded him this medal on his departure in December.

It is not my place to comment on the current actions of the President, but I support communication, talks and meetings.

 

What is your message to Croatian diplomats, whose superior you have been until recently, and to members of foreign diplomatic missions that you have worked with?

With all the ambassadors to Croatia I had a perfect cooperation, and I would like them to remain engaged and to devote their efforts and establish even better relations between their countries and Croatia. And when I say better relations, I mean economic relations as well. We had several meetings a year, but I was most comfortable on the island of Brijuni, where we discussed many issues that are important for the relations of Croatia and their countries, in a relaxed atmosphere. As for our ambassadors and other members of our missions abroad, I would suggest that along with their formal duties as diplomats and representatives of the state, they engage in economic diplomacy, to help Croatian economy, because that is what pays for their salaries as well.