Although it is difficult to cooperate with Serbian authorities, Croatia wants to build relations in good faith, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said in an interview which the BBC aired on Thursday.
Asked if he could cooperate with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Milanovic said: "It was easier to deal with (Boris) Tadic but he is not president anymore. It comes with democracy, and democracy is a tricky beast."
The host of the BBC talk show "Hard Talk", Stephen Sackur, asked Milanovic if he could work with Nikolic when Nikolic had said things about Vukovar that the Croatian people found offensive. "I am no defending them, but I have to work with them," Milanovic said. Asked how he was going forward to build a meaningful and trustworthy relationship with the leadership in Serbia, Milanovic responded "difficult but in good faith on my part."
The journalist pointed to Milanovic's comment following the ICTY acquittal of Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac that 'this is a huge weight off my shoulder', and added that the acquittals really upset the Serbs.
Milanovic said he was pleased with the verdict "because the Croatian state was indicted" and that this was a sign of maturity "we were not overjubilant, we were happy". "People in Serbia might have been distressed, but consider this, one month down the road a Serbian general who positively bears some responsibility for the shelling of Sarajevo and Zadar, when he was acquitted it barely left a trace in Croatia. Nobody reacted. That is also a sign of maturity. Because we didn't react to that," Milanovic said.
Asked if together with Serbs, Croatia would commit to ending legal cases they both launched seeking a genocide claim against the other, Milanovic said: "I am leading the government, I am in a serious business, you know that, and this is something we will have to discuss thoroughly with Serbia. We will work and do anything to resolve that issue."
Milanovic said many Serbs who had fled Croatia after the 1995 liberation operation Storm refused to return. We have invited them to return, but we cannot force them. Many Serbs have opted for Serbia, unfortunately, the PM said underlining that before the arrival of Croatian troops, Knin was an empty town, a ghost town.
