"Ten years ago I took over a country that was in a very 'poor condition' and now, I am giving Croatia over to my successor who will lead a NATO member and an EU candidate, a country who is crisscrossed with highways and is a powerful tourism industry destination," Mesic said at one of his last public lectures.
"Pre deset godina preuzeo sam zemlju koja je bila u veoma lošem stanju, a danas predajem Hrvatsku svom nasledniku koji će predvoditi članicu NATO i kandidata za EU, zemlju koja je isprepletana autoputevima i koja predstavlja moćnu turističku destinaciju", rekao je Mesić na jednom od svojih poslednjih javnih predavanja.