PM says not afraid of Hungary closing its border with Croatia

The PM said that reports about a wire fence being put along the Hungarian-Croatian had been circulating for the past two weeks, underlining that the fence was made of barbed wire.

 

"The problem must be solved in Turkey and Greece. Someone was saying that the army should be deployed along Hungary's border with Croatia and Serbia; why don't they send ships to Greece," said Milanovic.

 

Asked to comment on Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's statement of Friday that the Croatian PM should be seen as "a representative of the Socialist International whose job is to attack Hungary" and that Hungary did not consider his statements to be the position of the Croatian people, Milanovic said: "(What he is saying) may pass in Hungary but not in Europe and particularly not at the European Council. It's nothing personal, I just have a human and political need to react to the things he is saying. I am more credible than he is because I have been left of the political centre my whole life while he has gone through a transition from a radical communist to a radical anti-liberal," Milanovic said in Dubrovnik.

 

He dismissed reports that 160 members of special police forces had been deployed on the southern peninsula of Prevlaka, saying that "the (main opposition party) HDZ is spreading panic" but also that Montenegrin authorities had been told not to send migrants to that part of Croatia's border.

 

"This is our house and we will decide which doors to open. For the time being, the doors are open in the north but I will protect Croatian interests and we are at least one step ahead of the situation. We did not grow up behind a fence even though we did not have a democratic system so we think differently."

 

Milanovic stressed that the problem with the migrant crisis could be solved in Greece, adding that he had discussed the matter with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British PM David Cameron.

 

He added that he was meeting with world leaders "and not hugging with dubious people who in the 1990s shelled Croatia."

 

Asked what Croatia would do if Hungary really sealed its border with a fence, Milanovic said that migrants will "eat that roll of barbed wire up."

 

"Hungarians will have to shoot at those people in that case. (Hungarian PM) Orban is not Croatia's enemy and I know that some would want his methods to be introduced here, but it won't happen. This is a question of good and not good," he said, adding that the outcome of Russia's military intervention in Syria was not known but that everything was welcome that could contribute to putting an end to conflicts in that region.

 

(Text and foto: HINA)