Post by MiG on Feb 18, 2010 0:50:34 GMT -5
New Croatian president to assume office on Thursday
Zagreb - Croatia formally gets its new president at noon on Thursday, when Ivo Josipovic assumes the office from the outgoing Stjepan Mesic.
Josipovic, of the opposition Social Democratic Party, will be inaugurated after winning the two rounds of presidential elections in December and January.
Promising Croats 'new justice' - tackling corruption and improving employment opportunities and social security - he easily defeated his populist rival, the Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic.
Some 1,100 invitations were sent out for the inauguration and at least 10 heads of state, mostly from the region, have confirmed attendance, at the event in Zagreb, the newspaper Vecernji list said.
Organizing the event has not proved simple. There was a row over who should foot the 100,000-euro (140,000 dollars) bill, and regional in-fighting shortened the list of top-rank guests.
The question of expense was settled when it was agreed that the costs of the inauguration would be borne by the presidential office, not the state budget, which has largely been depleted by the financial crisis.
But a diplomatic foul-up has proved more difficult to resolve. This occurred when Serbian President Boris Tadic refused to attend in protest at Zagreb's invitation of Kosovo's head of state, Fatmir Sejdiu.
Serbia continues to fight Kosovo's independence two years after it was declared. Around 65 countries, including the leading Western nations and countries in the region, have recognized it.
Josipovic voiced disappointment over Tadic's decision but said Serbian and Croatian relations should not 'be measured upon relations we have with other countries.'
The new president is due to immediately hold his first bilateral meetings later on Thursday.
Mesic, also a leftist, steps down after serving the maximum two five-year presidential terms. Now 75, he will retire.
'I am the first Croatian state leader to retire. You must know, no Croatian leader has ever gone into retirement,' he told the Jutarnji List last week.
Mesic's predecessor, the nationalist 'father of the nation' Franjo Tudjman, succumbed to cancer in late 1999, shortly before the end of his second term.
Tudjman led Croatia out of the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and through the 1991-95 war with Belgrade-backed Serb insurgents.
Zagreb - Croatia formally gets its new president at noon on Thursday, when Ivo Josipovic assumes the office from the outgoing Stjepan Mesic.
Josipovic, of the opposition Social Democratic Party, will be inaugurated after winning the two rounds of presidential elections in December and January.
Promising Croats 'new justice' - tackling corruption and improving employment opportunities and social security - he easily defeated his populist rival, the Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic.
Some 1,100 invitations were sent out for the inauguration and at least 10 heads of state, mostly from the region, have confirmed attendance, at the event in Zagreb, the newspaper Vecernji list said.
Organizing the event has not proved simple. There was a row over who should foot the 100,000-euro (140,000 dollars) bill, and regional in-fighting shortened the list of top-rank guests.
The question of expense was settled when it was agreed that the costs of the inauguration would be borne by the presidential office, not the state budget, which has largely been depleted by the financial crisis.
But a diplomatic foul-up has proved more difficult to resolve. This occurred when Serbian President Boris Tadic refused to attend in protest at Zagreb's invitation of Kosovo's head of state, Fatmir Sejdiu.
Serbia continues to fight Kosovo's independence two years after it was declared. Around 65 countries, including the leading Western nations and countries in the region, have recognized it.
Josipovic voiced disappointment over Tadic's decision but said Serbian and Croatian relations should not 'be measured upon relations we have with other countries.'
The new president is due to immediately hold his first bilateral meetings later on Thursday.
Mesic, also a leftist, steps down after serving the maximum two five-year presidential terms. Now 75, he will retire.
'I am the first Croatian state leader to retire. You must know, no Croatian leader has ever gone into retirement,' he told the Jutarnji List last week.
Mesic's predecessor, the nationalist 'father of the nation' Franjo Tudjman, succumbed to cancer in late 1999, shortly before the end of his second term.
Tudjman led Croatia out of the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and through the 1991-95 war with Belgrade-backed Serb insurgents.
Source: www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1534156.php/PREVIEW-New-Croatian-president-to-assume-office-on-Thursday