At a formal session for the Krapina-Zagorje County, Croatian President Zoran Milanović decided the moment was right for geopolitics. Croatia actually has no enemies - except Serbia, with whom it cannot normalize relations, said Milanović. A formal occasion, a formal statement - only the message wasn't formal at all.

This is not the first time Milanović has taken aim at Belgrade. The Croatian president has long built a reputation as a provocateur who says what other diplomats carefully avoid. Sometimes that is refreshing. Sometimes it is simply destructive. This statement makes the work harder for those in Zagreb who are genuinely trying to improve neighbourly relations.

Croatia and Serbia have unresolved wounds - that is a fact nobody disputes. The question is whether statements like this help close them - or just satisfy a domestic audience at the expense of any progress in bilateral relations. Milanović's political career is complicated. But between the Presidential Palace and the Banski Dvori, Croatia sometimes sends two completely opposite signals to the world - and that split has its own price.