Regarding the article published on 6 December in Večernji List...

Regarding the article published on 6 December in Večernji List, entitled “Račan stopped appointing of ambassadors during government change”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to state that the ministry officials mentioned in the article will be appointed to their diplomatic or consular posts abroad as a part of the rotation process and filling up vacancies, so there could be no mention of “preventing a scandal”.

Mr Hrvoje Cvitanović has been appointed Consul General at the Croatian CG to Trieste, bearing in mind that this proposition is yet to go through the standard procedure that includes statements by the Croatian government, parliament and the President. Mr Cvitanović is a professional diplomat who has been working for the MFA since 1994. In 2000, after returning from his term of office at the Croatian Embassy to Bern, he spent the last 4 years working in the Division for Multilateral Affairs, the Secretariat, and as Head of the Deputy Minister’s Office and Heads of the Minister’s Cabinet.

Mrs Blaženka Babić is also a professional diplomat and has been working for the MFA since 1992. From 1993 until leaving for a term of office in London 1995, she worked in the Office of the then Minister. Having returned from London, Mrs Babić worked at the Department for Culture, and later again at the Minister’s Office.

As a professional diplomat, Mrs Natalija Bukovec worked at the Minister’s Office and also as the Acting Spokesperson. By the end of this year, there will be a vacancy opened at the Croatia’s Consulate General to Los Angeles, to be filled by Mrs Bukovec.

The assigning of diplomats who are not heads of diplomatic and consular offices falls within the immediate jurisdiction of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. During 2003, the Minister signed some 40 odd decisions on appointments to offices abroad for diplomats of various ranks, some 30 odd decisions for administrative and technical staff, and 20 proposals for the appointment of ambassadors and 10 for consuls.

It is obvious that the author of the article and/or the editor, through fact manipulation and sensationalism, wanted to misrepresent the situation in the Ministry, only revealing their political malice and insufficient familiarity with the subject.

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