George W. Bush had certain sympathies towards Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who failed to win the re-election to the position of the President of Croatia last week, which is why she was named Croatia's Ambassador to NATO in the Brussels, said former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic Wednesday, in an interview with N1's Amir Zukic.

 “She worked in the Foreign Ministry's administration. (Ivo) Sanader named her as the European Integration Minister but the Croatian Democratic Party's (HDZ) leadership was dissatisfied with her, asking him to sack her,” Mesic said, talking about the post-election atmosphere in Croatia.

He said he then asked the then Prime Minister if he would send her to the Brussels because they both saw that former US President George W. Bush had a liking for her and that she would be successful as Croatia's Ambassador to NATO because of that.

Croatia held a presidential election last week where Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic failed to ensure her re-election, losing to the Social Democratic Party's (SDP) Zoran Milanovic.

This can be an indicator for the parliamentary election, but not necessarily. The question now is – who will offer a better programme. The easiest thing is to promise impossible things. Like when the president said Croatia would be the richest and most prosperous country if she was re-elected. This wouldn't happen in her first, second or 101st mandate. One shouldn't promise something they can't make happen,” Mesic told N1.

In one of his election campaign speeches, Milanovic said jihadists are a real problem because many Muslims live in Bosnia, to which Mesic said people in Bosnia were right to be angry with Milanovic.

“I don't want to get into the context of the statement, but there is no danger of the Islamic State in Bosnia”, Mesic pointed out.

When asked if Croatia would change its approach to Bosnia and Serbia, now that Milanovic was elected President, Mesic said “he must do this if he is a serious politician.”

“Croatia mustn't approach Bosnia as it does now. If Croatia hands all the cards to the HDZ BiH or the part situated in Herzegovina – then that's not good. We need to realise that Croats living in Bosnia are a constituent factor in that country. Croatia can help as much as it can, but I also used to send such a message – your homeland is Bosnia, your capital is Sarajevo, create your politics with the other two peoples,” Mesic recalled.

Commenting the outgoing President Grabar-Kitarovic's statements that Croats have two homelands, Croatia and Bosnia, he said that politicians like her say they support Bosnia's territorial integrity, but then they respect and support everything the Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik does.

Bosnia's Serb Presidency member and Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik is known for his secessionist threats, saying that the Serb-dominated part of Bosnia – Republika Srpska (RS) would secede from the country if it does not like the way it is treated and that they would join Serbia.

“Croatia says it supports the territorial integrity and everything else, but they support Dragan Covic. Dragan Covic is Milorad Dodik's twin brother who wants to destroy Bosnia,” he added.

In conclusion, Mesic noted that both Serbia and Croatia must realise that when they start sending different messages to Bosnia, then Serbs, Croats Nd Bosniaks will agree on how to live in Bosnia because Bosnia is undoubtedly their homeland.