18. 08. 2005

ILIC SORRY, SAYS BUBALO

BELGRADE, August 18, 2005 – Serbia’s minister for the economy Predrag Bubalo said that capital investment minister Velimir Ilic was sorry if he had insulted a B92 journalist with his comments this week on Kopaonik. Economy Minister Predrag Bubalo said that capital investment minister had informed his Cabinet colleagues with the events on Kopaonik and expressed regret for the incidents before the beginning of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting. He claimed that Ilic had issued a statement in which, among other things, he said that he had not intended to insult journalists. That statement has not been received by B92. Minister Ilic was not present at the press conference held today to give a public statement regarding recent insults. Instead of this, his apology was read by his colleagues, expressing the disagreement with his behavior: “More importantly, all Cabinet members expressed their regret for such minister’s behavior. The politicians can sometimes go too far, but one is for sure – this will never happen again”, Bubalo stated, provoking the laughter in the room. Interior Minister Dragan Jocic took a cautious line on the incident yesterday: “Politician must understand that journalists, in their search for the truth, often ask provocative questions and politicians often have no understanding of this, but journalists must not go too far with this,” he said. Capital investment minister Velimir Ilic refused at the Cabinet meeting to publicly apologize to B92 journalists, Belgrade daily Blic reported on Monday.