Croatian President Ivo Josipovic has admitted that in the event of Slovenia's failure to ratify Croatia's Treaty of Accession with the European Union soon, Croatia might not enter the Union on 1 July, as scheduled, however, he is sure that both Croatian and Slovenian politicians are aware that such a scenario would be extremely bad for each of their respective countries.
"It is definite that in such case, the relations and the status of Slovenia in the international community would be different, our relations would also be different, but I do not think that this scenario is likely," the Croatian head of state said in his interview with the national radio on Monday.
Asked to comment on the Strategic Investments Bill, Josipovic said that Croatia needed a law of such profile.
"This does not mean that we will agree with any plunder or with claims on public domain. During a public debate it is necessary to collect proposals on whether there is need to incorporate certain safeguarding mechanisms to protect against somebody's self-will, corruption or anything following certain economic relations, and then add it to to the law," Josipovic told the radio.
As for criticism that the proposed bill excludes the local community from decision making on projects, Josipovic said that it would be unacceptable whereby it might be possible for a local small community to put a halt to something of public interest.
As for vociferous debates on health education, notably the module on sex education, the president believes that Croatia is lacking a culture of communication, which is why the boundaries of tolerant conversation are overstepped.
This has not contributed to what is the essence of the discussion, he said.
As for requests to abolish existing legislation on abortion, Josipovic said that "no one advocates abortion, as such, abortion is evil. However, the right to decide on the offspring is in the hands of parents, notably women, when speaking about abortion," the president said.
