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Zagreb - Neven Šantić's political biography of Furio Radin, the longest-standing member of the Croatian parliament, which provides an overview of the country's multi-party system, was launched on Thursday, with Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković attending.
Jandroković said Radin was the longest-standing Sabor deputy and "a doyen among members of parliament."
"Enduring 32 years in politics and parliament is a big deal, which confirms that he understands politics and its legalities well, but that would also not be so if he didn't have the support of the people who elect him, if they didn't respect him both as a man and as a politician," he added.
Radin is "unique on the Croatian political scene," said Plenković, adding that for the last seven years he has also served as a deputy parliament speaker and that for many years he chaired the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, was president of the Italian Union and a county assembly deputy.
"A man who left a mark on the Croatian political life, who, with his experience, embodies the specific position of Italians in Croatia, who contributed to better Croatia-Italy relations, to a better protection of the Italian minority, who realised, with the support of the Croatian and Italian governments, a series of projects," Plenković said.
Radin is a man of strong principles and sensible political choices, he added.
The author said Radin's contribution as an MP showed how to resolve the ethnic and many other important issues that the Sabor deal with in the last 30 years. The book, he added, also reflects the state of democracy in Croatia since the introduction of the multi-party system.
Radin said the book was excellently written and entitled "Lo giuro, prisežem" ("I swear" in English) "because I was the first in the Sabor who took a bilingual oath, just as we do in Istria."
The launch was also attended by Italian Ambassador Pierfrancesco Sacco, who jokingly suggested that Radin should be a candidate for the tangible and intangible Italian and Croatian cultural heritage, as well as many MPs, ministers and Constitutional Court president Miroslav Šeparović.