Balkans: Croat, Serb leaders trade barbs
last update: August 21, 11:57
Zagreb, 21 Aug. (AKI) - Croatian president Ivo Josipovic and Serb leader Milorad Pupovac are accusing each other of political profiteering, local media reported on Tuesday.
Pupovac, a university professor, whose Serbian Democratic Independent Party (SDSS) has three deputies in the Croatian parliament, last week accused Josipovic of granting business friends preferential treatment and getting rich.
The text in the weekly Novosti, published by the Serbian National Council, controlled by Pupovac, provoked angry reaction by Josipovic who accused Pupovac of being a false tribune of Serbs in Croatia and of using political power for his own interests.
“When his party formally participated in the government, he did very little for Serbs, but a lot for himself,” Josipovic said. Pupovac used his political position to promote his own “ethnic business”, using government funds allocated for Serb minority, he added.
Instead of working on reconciliation following 1991-1995 war, Pupovac fostered a policy of “low intensity national conflicts” in order to present himself as the “only protector” of minority Serbs, Josipovic said.
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