Croatian President Ivo Josipovic has said that based on relevant information, he believes that Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor acquired her flat in line with the law, adding that that question should be separated from the question of whether in Croatia's past there had been people who were treated inappropriately, and that the state should give satisfaction to such people in some way.
Josipovic made the statement in the Croatian Radio programme "A Coffee with the President" on Monday, when asked to comment on a story in the Croatian Television (HTV) talk show "Nedjeljom u dva" about the Drobac family, who in the 1990s were left without their apartment in Zagreb. Jadranka Kosor later moved into that apartment, buying it from a Croatian war veteran.
Josipovic said that with regard to that story, one should distinguish between two issues and discuss them separately "because in their origin they are not related".
"The one issue is whether there were people like Mr. Drobac, who were treated in an inappropriate way and obviously harassed at a time when there was no rule of law in Croatia. I believe that Croatia should decide what to do with such cases and give people satisfaction in some way," Josipovic said, adding that the question of whether PM Kosor had acquired her flat legally was a different issue.
"The question of whether PM Kosor acquired her flat in line with the law is a different matter. I believe that all relevant information shows that she did and in a way, that puts an end to that topic for me," he said.
A story about Momir Drobac and his brother was aired last Friday in the HTV programme "Hrvatska uzivo", after which the programme's host discussed it with guests Drago Pilsel and Zoran Pusic. The government's office for public relations responded by issuing a statement saying that PM Kosor had acquired her flat legally.
On Sunday, Kosor issued a statement via a law firm in response to the HTV programme "Nedjeljom u dva" aired earlier in the day in which Drago Pilsel was the guest and which focused on the Drobac family and the PM's flat.
The statement said that by making false and slanderous statements, which had been repeatedly denied, the programme's host Aleksandar Stankovic intended to harm PM Kosor's reputation.
When asked to comment on reports that the PM had telephoned the HTV over the programme and if he considered it an act of pressure, Josipovic said he could not comment on something he had not heard about.
Government spokesman Zlatko Mehun and HTV News Programme acting editor-in-chief Renato Kunic today dismissed reports that Kosor had telephoned the HTV over the "Nedjeljom u dva" programme.
