First Deputy Prime Minister Radimir Cacic and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic said they were not afraid of the HDZ's shadow government, with Cacic stressing that a government that works has no reason for fear.
A government which does a good job has no reason for fear, everything depends on our work and the results we will achieve in the end, Cacic told reporters ahead of a government session on Friday, briefly commenting on Tomislav Karamarko statement that the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) is forming a shadow government.
Asked if Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic contacted Karamarko concerning an agreement on several important national issues which the media have been speculating about, Cacic said this question should be directed at Milanovic and Karamarko, adding that so far "the HDZ has never, while in the Opposition, showed readiness for understanding national interests."
Cacic said he personally never had problems communicating with Karamarko "not even when we were direct rivals as heads of our election slates in the same constituency."
Minister Pusic also said she did not fear "the shadow government". Asked to comment on Karamarko's stance on the foreign policy, Pusic said Karamarko was yet to announce his position.
Commenting on the interview which Serbian President-Elect Tomislav Nikolic gave to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and in which he distanced himself from his former Greater Serbia ideas, Pusic said: "We shall see."
He advocated different positions in the past and although he does not deny them, he claims in the interview that he has evolved and hints that he could advocate a new set of positions," Pusic said.
She added that one should wait for Nikolic and a new Serbian government to take their positions.
Croatian Veterans Minister Predrag Matic commented on Nikolic's statements about Vukovar that it is a "Serbian town", saying that in the interview Nikolic spoke about dreams which would never come true. "I used to think about Claudia Schiffer, but then I realised those dreams will not come true," the minister said.
He however added that such statements were not good for either Serbs or Croats.
Matic said Croatia would continue to cooperate with Serbia , expressing hope Nikolic would soften his rhetoric.
