PM Milanovic welcomes President-elect

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Thursday thanked on behalf of the government outgoing President Ivo Josipovic and welcomed President-elect Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

"We once again thank former President Ivo Josipovic who, in the opinion of us all, performed the office of president of the Republic of Croatia in a honourable and exemplary fashion, and welcome the new president with whom we will cooperate within the law, as has been the case until now. We are strict about that, that's how we function and so it will be in the future," Milanovic said at the beginning of a government session.

He said the government cooperated with Josipovic very well in the areas of cooperation between the president and the government, which were few and some of them important, voicing confidence that it would be the same in the future.

Milanovic said that as prime minister he would be at the new president's disposal every Thursday after her inauguration for talks and a briefing on what the government did over the past three years, on what it would do over the next 12 months, and on why he felt it was good and much better than the previous government.

"But opinions on that can alway vary. We have our arguments and are open for talks," Milanovic said, adding that he was inviting Grabar-Kitarovic for talks formally and that the government's door was always open. "The government is a working and political body. As a rule, it meets on Thursday. We are here."

As for Grabar-Kitarovic's wish to relocate the president's office from Pantovcak to Visoka Ulica street, he said the government "can hardly say no. As far as we are concerned, the move can begin immediately after the inauguration, practically the first day. If that is in the spirit of saving which the government advocates, all the better for it."

(Hina) ha

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