Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said on Thursday after receiving a delegation of the Serb People's Party (SNS) that the president of the Serb People's Council (SNV), Milorad Pupovac, wanted to bring dispute over his statement to the Novosti weekly, in which he criticised Pupovac, to the level of a personal conflict, while SNS president Milan Rodic said that Pupovac represented a danger for the Serb community in Croatia and a liability for the Croatian government.
"I am not interested in any scandal involving Mr. Pupovac, I don't deal with that, I deal with problems," Josipovic said, adding that "Pupovac and the team surrounding him" wanted to bring this issue down to a personal level.
"I want Croats and Serbs in Croatia to form good relations, based on the equality of all citizens, as well as on the recognition of the Croatian state and its values. This was the reason why I expected some of the politicians from the minority scene to attend the marking of the anniversary of Operation Storm, and Mr. Pupovac did not want that. That was the cause of this whole story and not some headlines from the Novosti weekly," Josipovic said.
Reporters were also interested in Jospovic's position on the regional policy. "I am confident that time will come for talks with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. I underlined on several occasions that some of his statements were inappropriate, notably those about Vukovar and Srebrenica, but I believe that this will change," Josipovic said.
"When President Nikolic shows that he is a different politician today than he was in the 1990s, there will be no obstacles for us to meet and discuss cooperation between our two countries," Josipovic said.
