Croatian president criticizes govt. over handling of crisis

Croatian president criticizes govt. over handling of crisis

"We can agree or disagree with the policies of neighboring countries, still the way this has been resolved was out of order. I think we should talk, we should be reaching agreements on how that refugee wave will go."

She told Nova TV that German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently invited refugees to come to Germany.

"These days she pulled the handbrake and said that Germany cannot accept all of these economic migrants. She did this, without really being aware that, in a crowd of so many cars she, by pulling the handbrake, has created the chaos on the road and that chaos now needs to be solved," Grabar Kitraovic said.

Commenting on Croatian government's "plan B" announced last week, she said it was "a reaction to plan A - that did not exist."

"All summer I insisted to talk, it was clear that migrants would sooner or later begin to enter Croatia. A proper assessment and simulation should have been made, the neighbors and the EU had to be talked to about how many refugees, that is, migrants it was ready to accept, and how Croatia would react to it. Plan B is actually the chaos of transferring refugees to neighboring countries," Grabar Kitarovic is convinced.

She also warned that it was "unclear what will happen in the coming days if the neighboring countries close their borders."

"It is up to us to get organized and to finally make solid plans, to move to protect national interests and security of citizens," said she.

"I firmly insist that during the session of the European Council to be held in Brussels on Wednesday, Prime Minister Milanovic, that is, the Croatian government, should firmly step forward with some demands," said Grabar Kitarovic.

According her, it should first be defined how many migrants Europe can receive, which should be followed "by solidarity, who will pay for all of that, how Croatia will be helped, how to invest in those countries that are the first to accept (migrants), such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, as to secure the border between Turkey and Greece, which is in fact the first border of acceptance, and in the end how to secure the Croatian border, to seek help from the EU to ensure that the Croatian border is not crossed illegally."