Domovina Urednistvo
On the 25th anniversary of the universally condemned Serb bombing of Dubrovnik, it seems that Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic has what some would call a ‘brain snap’.
The increasingly gaffe-prone president of Croatia has issued a public apology for handing out packages of sweets that included Serbia-made chocolate to children in Dubrovnik, the ancient Adriatic Sea resort attacked and damaged by the Serb-led Yugoslav army in 1991.
“I had to post this on social networks so that you could see what kind of country we live in. My child’s kindergarten went to see the President, and the children received from her hands a chocolate from Serbia. That is really sad – and it all happened on the Day of Defenders of Dubrovnik. Bravo!” wrote one angry parent on Facebook.
The President gave to the children the Mony chocolate with rice, which is produced by Pionir company from Subotica in Serbia.
The story would probably end there if the President did not decide that she should apologize for the “mistake” and announced an investigation about who was responsible for it.
Of course Serb politicians responded with their usual false outrage to her gesture, calling for a boycott of Croatian goods in Serbia. Some even demanded cutting ties between the two neighboring countries.
Grabar Kitarovic said she was “unpleasantly surprised” to learn the packages distributed in Dubrovnik this week included the Serbian chocolate product after the children’s parents complained.
“We will apologize to parents and replace the chocolate with Croatian products,” Grabar Kitarovic said Wednesday. “Products that were not Croatian-made and which are sold in the Croatian market found their way into that package … that will not happen again.”
An investigation has shown the Serbian-made sweets were “planted” inside the treat packages by a Croatian company with a supermarket chain in Serbia, Croatian media reported.
