‘Unpleasantly Surprised’ President Seeks Explanation for OECD Entry Block in Hungary Tomorrow

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will be on a working visit to Hungary on Tuesday, just a few days after the official Budapest, together with Slovenia, halted Croatia’s desire to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Slovenia blocked Croatia’s access to the OECD because Croatia does not want to accept the contaminated arbitration decision regarding the border, and Hungary due to the “state of MOL’s investments in Croatia and Croatia’s treatment of MOL’s CEO Zsolt Hernadi.”

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Croatia has initiated legal proceedings against Hernadi, accusing him of bribing former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who is currently on trial for this, with 10 million euros during the sale of INA shares.

– I am unpleasantly surprised by Hungary’s stance, and I will discuss this with Prime Minister (Viktor) Orban and President (Janos) Ader. I will put this issue on the table for a deeper discussion, said Grabar-Kitarović in an interview for N1 on Sunday.

– There are open issues that are not easily resolvable, such as INA and MOL. I believe there is a way for us, as mature democratic states, to approach resolving all of this, she added.

The OECD currently has 35 member states, the most economically developed countries in the world, and Croatia expressed its intention to join this organization in a letter at the beginning of the year.

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In addition to talks with Ader and Orban, the president will also visit the Danube Commission, which is considered one of the oldest intergovernmental international organizations in the world. Currently, the president of the Danube Commission is Ambassador Gordan Grlić-Radman, and the main director of its Secretariat is Captain Petar Margić.

At Corvinus University, the Croatian president will receive an honorary doctorate and will lecture on the topic “A Stronger Central Europe is a Guarantee of a Stronger European Union and Transatlantic Community: Croatia’s Contribution to Our Cohesion and Resilience.”