Croatian President Ivo Josipovic has said that it is evident that Croatia has not emerged from the crisis yet and that an economic growth of 0.8% cannot be encouraging.
"Croatia is still in a crisis and those who cannot see have no place in the economy or in politics. We should face it, it is an evident fact and we should work on changing it," Josipovic said in an interview with the commercial broadcaster "Media Servis" on Monday.
He said that the economic growth of 0.8% in the second quarter of 2011 "is far too low" given that this was a rise in comparison to a previous "very serious decline in the Croatian economy".
The President urged the authorities to focus on economic growth and job creation.
"I think that it must be the fundamental element of the election campaign," Josipovic said, adding that poverty, a weak economy and possible stagnation were now the main challenges faced by the Croatian society.
Josipovic believes that citizens expect participants in the election campaign to offer solutions to the "grave crisis in which we are".
Asked whether the conflict between PM Kosor and Serbian President Boris Tadic would affect the bilateral relations, Josipovic said that it should not because Croatia's interest is to have the relations with its neighbours settled in order to solve a series of open issues, particularly, the problem of missing people and property issues.
"Any worsening of the relations with the neighbours moves us far from solving those problems," he said, adding that it was also Serbia's interest to settle the relations with Croatia.
I hope that we on both sides of the border understand how important our bilateral relations are and that we will do our best not to strain them only because of the current election fever," the Croatian president said.
Asked about the greetings to Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, who received non-final guilty verdicts at the UN tribunal in The Hague, Josipovic said that the greetings harmed both Croatia and the generals.
He recalled that in compliance with international law and its international commitments, the Croatian government did everything to see to it that the generals were extradited to the Hague-based tribunal, which he described as a right move. However "it is hypocritical to now use them (the generals) to score cheap political points," he added.
