Lendić: Croatia has the possibility to extend the entry ban on Mandić, Knežević and Bečić to all Schengen countries
Lendić says that he will monitor the development of the situation, and that Mandić, Knežević and Bečić are in the border surveillance system, and the measure is of unlimited duration until it is decided otherwise
The spokesman of the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MVEP) Tomislav Lendić announced that Croatia has the possibility to extend the ban on the entry of Andrija Mandić, Milan Knežević and Aleksa Bečić to all countries of the Schengen area.
The day before yesterday, Croatia declared the head of the Montenegrin Parliament Andrija Mandić, the Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Bečić and the leader of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) Milan Knežević as persona non grata due to "systemic actions to undermine good-neighborly relations with the Republic of Croatia and continuous abuse of the Republic of Croatia for internal political purposes", alluding thus to the decision of the Parliament of Montenegro to adopt at the end of June the Resolution on the genocide in Jasenovac and the Dachau and Mauthausen camps.
Lendić told Croatian Nova TV that at the moment the entry ban applies to the territory of Croatia.
"However, we have the possibility, if we deem it opportune, to extend this ban to all countries of the Schengen area," Lendić said.
Lendić says that he will monitor the development of the situation, and that Mandić, Knežević and Bečić are in the border surveillance system, and the measure is of unlimited duration until it is decided otherwise.
To the question, what if Mandić, Knežević and Bečić try to enter Croatia from another European Union (EU) country, Lendić answered: "If they were to try something like that from the countries of the Schengen area, in that situation they would enter the Republic completely illegally Croatia, they come under the Law on Foreigners and it is clear that this would not be recommended to anyone."
At the end of June, 41 members of the parliamentary majority voted for the Resolution on the Genocide in Jasenovac and the Dachau and Mauthausen camps, i.e. representatives of the Europe Now Movement of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, Mandić's NSD, Bečić's Democrats, Knežević's DNP, the Socialist People's Party (SNP) and the Citizens' Alliance CIVIS .
The document was adopted on the initiative of a part of the ruling majority, after the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) voted at the end of May a resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica, including Montenegro, which was opposed by Mandić's and Knežević's parties, which therefore demanded that the Montenegrin parliament determines with a resolution on Jasenovac, which has not yet been published on the parliament's website and in the Official Gazette, nor has Mandić signed it.
The Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlić Radman, said the day before yesterday that it is their sovereign assessment of who they will declare undesirable, and that Mandić, Bečić and Knežević "deserve it because they worsened relations between Montenegro and Croatia".
He said that Montenegro must meet the final benchmarks in order to close the negotiation chapter 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and in that context he mentioned war crimes, the issue of the missing and compensation for the inmates.
Grlić Radman said that the relations between Zagreb and Podgorica had worsened earlier "with the decision to rename the swimming pool in Kotor after the former guard of the Morinj camp, preventing his visit to the school ship 'Jadran' in Tivat and attempts to name streets after Ratko Mladić and Pavlo Bulatović".
The day before yesterday, Mandić said at the parliamentary session that he was surprised by Croatia's decision, saying that Montenegro would not take reciprocal measures.
Bečić announced that there are "obviously no criteria" for why he is on the list of undesirables, given that there are other party leaders who voted for the resolution and are members of the Government, alluding to Spajić and SNP leader Vladimir Joković.
He said that, "as a national Montenegrin and the president of the civil party...", he never divided the victims according to religion and nationality, and that his party always condemned all genocides and crimes," always emphasizing and writing down more than once that the responsibility individual, and that no nation is and cannot be genocidal...".
Knežević said that his grandfather Milan "died in vain on St. George's Day 1945, freeing Karlovac from the Ustashas and Nazis."
( Ne.V. )