PRESIDENT MESIC'S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000262

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV HR
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MESIC'S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS



1. Below is the text of President Mesic's inaugural address,
delivered February 18, 2005. At its best, the speech
demonstrates Mesic's strengths -- his ability to unite, to
heal, to reach out to minorities, and to face up to
Croatia's past errors. At times, the speech also echoed
earlier statements, made in the run-up to the Iraq war,
which bore traces of old "non-aligned nations" rhetoric.
Further analysis and commentary will follow.


2. Distinguished high-ranking guests and invitees, ladies
and gentlemen, dear friends,

It is with a great sense of responsibility that I have just
taken the oath of office as President of the Republic of
Croatia for the second time. I am assuming the highest
office in circumstances that are far better than those in
the year 2000, when I first assumed the Presidential Office.

However, this does not mean that the tasks lying ahead of me
are light or easy. On the contrary!

Today, at the outset of my second Presidential term I feel
the need and consider it my duty to address those who
elected me. I also wish to address all citizens of the
Republic of Croatia and would like to address our neighbours
well as the entire international community.

My message to those who cast their ballot for me at the
polls is: you voted for me because you recognised the policy
I have been advocating, you understood that policy and
accepted it as your own. Once again you placed your trust in
me because you judged that my incentives, my initiatives and
my interventions are aimed at improving the quality of life
in Croatia. You share my conviction that Croatia must be a
democratic, civilised and progressive state, a state based
on the rule of law and tolerance, a state where nobody will
be discriminated against and where everybody will be equal
and have equal rights. I pledge to you that I shall insist
on the same principles and strive for the same goals in the
next five years too.

My first and paramount objective was and remains: a
democratic Croatia, a state for all its citizens, I repeat,
for citizens enjoying equal rights.

I dream of a Croatia where people will have a good standard
of living, where people will live from their work and from
the fruits of their labour, a Croatia where skills and
qualifications will be valued rather than stratagem and
deception.

Together with you - I am sure - this dream can come true.

I am addressing all citizens of the Republic of Croatia.
With the oath I have taken, I have become your president.
All citizens to me are equal and it is irrelevant that a
part of you opted for other candidates at the elections. The
elections are behind us. Croatia has one president and that
president is here for all of you. If during the first
Presidential term I did not succeed in convincing you of the
justifiability of my actions, if during the campaign I did
not manage to bring my views closer to you, then I shall
strive to do so now.

I do not wish to divide but to join. I do not wish to rule
but rather to serve - all of you and our homeland.

I am addressing our neighbouring states. In my first term, I
resolutely stood up for the normalisation of relations and
for the development of good-neighbourly co-operation. There
were obstacles on that path and some still remain today.
Some obstacles are on our side, some are on yours. Let us
not look for what takes us further apart, let us find what
enables us to live peacefully and securely side by side and
achieve our interests through co-operation. Let us co-
operate on the path towards a unified Europe because this
path is our common one!

Let us not allow our past frustrate our path to the future.
However, let us not pass over the past in silence. And,
perhaps more important - lest us not falsify the past,
neither that of yesterday nor the recent one. Every fight
against the truth is a priori doomed to fail. And everyone
who does not want to face up to the truth about himself and
his own past - is a coward. Let us summon our courage to
face up to the truth, the truth about ourselves and then
only about others.

To you, our neighbours, I pledge: co-operation in the
region, good and normal relations not only among states but
also their inhabitants will remain among priority goals of
the foreign policy I shall be advocating. We shall share
with you our experience in the process of drawing closer to
the European Union or we shall gladly use the experience of

those who are already in the Union.

I shall keep working on overcoming the burdens left by the
recent wars, which means that I shall continue to advocate
the right of all those who fled the country or were forces
to leave their homes, to return in peace and security.
Equally so, I shall not tire in my efforts to assist in
shedding light on the destiny of those who are still
considered missing today - on all sides.

The region I dream of is a region of open borders where
nobody will feel or will be allowed to feel either
privileged or discriminated against on whatever ground, a
region of peace, security, cooperation and mutual
understanding - in spite of differences.

Together - I am sure - we can make this dream come true.

I am addressing the international community, the world. Over
the past five years my efforts in the field of foreign
policy were focused primarily on pulling Croatia out of its
practical isolation and changing the image of Croatia beyond
its borders. Without false modesty, I may state that I have
succeeded. And I am grateful for the support I enjoyed in
the world. Without your understanding my efforts could not
have borne fruit.

The world we live in today is essentially different from
that of five years ago. The menace of global terrorism hangs
over our present-day world, accompanied by risks stemming
from not always suitable methods being employed in the fight
against this evil of our times.

Croatia was among the first, if not the very first, to call
upon the creation of a global anti-terrorist alliance. Our
dedication to fight against blind terror, wherever and no
matter under what disguise it may appear, cannot be
questioned. However, we have demanded and shall continue to
demand that everything be in line with the United Nations
Charter and under the mandate of the world organisation.
Croatia is entitled to this, Indeed, Croatia as a successor
of one of the founding members of the United Nations is
obliged to that.

To those of you in the world, I pledge: my efforts shall
continue on ensuring that Croatia be an open state, readily
receiving and giving, focused on joining Euro-Atlantic
integrations and deeply committed to the cause of peace and
security on a global scale. I shall stimulate every action,
every initiative that should contribute to the world
accepting us as reliable partners and allies not because our
opinion on all issues would be identical to yours, but
because we advocate unity within diversity.

The world I dream of is a world where war will not be the
rule and peace will not be the exception, a world where
development will not be a privilege, but rather a right, a
world where the great and the mighty will prove their power
by helping the small and the weak instead of dominating
them.

Together - I am sure - we can make this dream come true.

In the end, just one further note: my authorities are set
out by the Constitution, my duties are indicated in the oath
I have taken a moment ago. However, I have also an
obligation and a right not specified in any document. As
President of the Republic namely I am the only official
elected directly by the citizens. It is my right and my
obligation too to be their representative always and
everywhere.

Therefore, I pledge: Always and everywhere I shall speak
about all those matters that interest our citizens, about
all those things that trouble them and of course about all
those things that they approve of, I shall be in the full
and exact sense of the word the representative of citizens,
I shall be - like I have been so far too - a President-
citizen.

You have brought me to this high office, you have entrusted
me with the Presidency of the Republic, I am here for your
sake and I shall work in the next five years for your sake
and for you.

You, citizens, are the source of my strength, and I am your
mainstay in authorities. Together we can achieve
immeasurably much.

I am sure that we can! Let us start on this very day!

Thank you!

FRANK


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