"Statements made by Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovac in his interview for the daily newspaper "Dnevni Avaz" on 22 August are typical and patently obvious examples of a red herring, directing criticism at the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia for accusing Croatia of reviving the Ustasha ideology, "which is indicative of Belgrade's continued policy".

Therefore it follows that it is not a problem that vicar of the ISC Aloysius Stepinac has been rehabilitated by the Croatian judiciary, that streets in Croatia are named after Ustasha minister Mile Budak, that a monument honouring Ustasha terrorist and assassin Miro Baresic was formally unveiled in the presence of two incumbent Croatian Cabinet Ministers, that the verdict against Branimir Glavas was overturned and an initiative for the legalisation of the Ustasha salute "Za dom spremni" ("For Home Ready") has been launched. Apparently, the problem is the Serbian Government which has brought to the attention of Croatia and the whole civilised world how unacceptable this brand of politics is in the 21st century.

The sole fact that Minister Kovac uses the phrases such as "cutting out Serbian eyes" and "cutting off Serbian ears and noses" as metaphors is indicative of the lack of a minimal level of respect for the Serbian victims killed in the Croatian territory in World War II and the struggles fought during the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, as well as of the conscious suppression and denial of historical facts.

Croatia's threats of preventing Serbia's accession to the EU, along with the lecturing about European values, European rhetoric and European conduct sound more than a bit tragicomic and grotesque, coming from the Minister of a country whose politics is currently the highest disgrace of the EU itself", Minister Dacic stated.