As far as the government is concerned, things will remain the same at the Croatian National Bank (HNB) after the departure of Zeljko Rohatinski as HNB Governor, and the HNB's policy is decided by the HNB and its Council anyway and the government's influence is limited, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
Speaking of comments on the government's decision that Vice-Governor Boris Vujcic would succeed Rohatinski at the helm of the central bank, Milanovic called on "all those who are involved in that process and who make statements" to act responsibly, because it was affecting the markets and the kuna exchange rate.
Milanovic also commented on news from Sisak where the local steel mill had recently been bought by the Italian company ABS and was about to resume operation, saying that it was a good example of what the government could do in reality. He said that the government could promote and adopt measures and laws and advocate Croatian interests where it made sense, citing the European Commission.
We have been doing that since our first day in office in January, calling for the abolition of pointless anti-dumping customs duties and taxes on the steel mill's products which prompted the former owners to pull out, the prime minister said.
Milanovic mentioned "local politicians from other parties" who had attacked the government over its plan to connect the Dubrovnik area with the rest of the country by building a road corridor via the Bosnian town of Neum, and appealed to them to be responsible and not to speak nonsense.
"We are working on it seriously, both with our neighbours and with Brussels, to see how to deal with the issue of the corridor above Neum and its relation to the Schengen regime. No one before us has dealt with these matters," Milanovic said.
"It is a very delicate issue because it requires harmonisation of the views of the European Commission, the EU member states and our neighbour, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but we will resolve the problem in a good and affordable way, and not by telling fairy tales," he said, adding that "there is talk down there that people will protest because the government is not dealing with the problem."
"If you cannot help us resolve the problem we are actively working on, then don't disturb people, don't speak untruths and don't deal with things that you haven't been able to deal with in the last five years. It's unfair," Milanovic said in his message to the "local politicians".
