President Milanović Sends Letter to Prime Minister: Your Defence Minister is hiding from the public Defence Inspectorate conclusions confirming Chief of General Staff did not break law
After the Defence Inspectorate established and concluded that the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces and the Chief of the General Staff Admiral Robert Hranj did not act against the law either in implementing a decision by the Defence Minister or in providing support to the Office of the President, on 17 January 2022 the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović sent a letter to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenković, in which he once again warned him of the unacceptable conduct of Defence Minister Mario Banožić that is harmful to the Croatian Armed Forces.
Given that the findings of the Defence Inspectorate have confirmed that the Defence Minister has falsely accused the military leadership of breaking the law, thereby causing harm to the Armed Forces and the Republic of Croatia, the President of the Republic called on the Prime Minister in his letter to urgently order the declassification of the Defence Inspectorate’s findings that are classified as “restricted,” because these findings of the inspection, which confirm that the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces did not act against the law, are thereby being hidden from the public.
We are publishing the full letter from the President of the Republic to the Prime Minister:
“Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
After receiving the minutes of the Defense Inspectorate from 10 January 2022, I decided to address you and warn you once again about the unacceptable conduct of your Defence Minister Mario Banožić that is harmful to the Croatian Armed Forces. In the minutes of the Defence Inspectorate on the extraordinary inspection that was conducted, it was unequivocally established and concluded that the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces and the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Admiral Robert Hranj did not act against the law either in implementing a decision by the Defence Minister or in providing support to the Office of the President.
I remind you that on the orders of the Defence Minister, an extraordinary inspection was carried out into the General Staff’s actions in implementing a decision of the Defence Minister on the holding of a swearing-in ceremony for the 32nd generation of soldiers enrolled in voluntary military training and in providing support of the Armed Forces to the Office of the President in 2021.
The Defence Inspectorate has established that the actions of the General Staff and the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces were in accordance with the legal regulations of the Republic of Croatia. This conclusion has confirmed that the Defence Minister falsely accused the military leadership of breaking the law, thereby causing harm to the Armed Forces and the Republic of Croatia. I hereby note that in 2021 your Defence Minister sent more than 190 official letters in which he falsely claimed that the General Staff was breaking the law by providing support to the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces.
The way in which the Defence Minister requested the inspection, accusing publicly the General Staff and Admiral Hranj of breaking the law and publicly asking Admiral Hranj to resign, confirms that it is your Defence Minister who is continuously abusing his powers. Such ill-intentioned and wrong interpretations of legal provisions by the Defence Minister confirm his complete lack of understanding of the system of command in the Croatian Armed Forces. In an unprecedented way, by his decisions the Defence Minister is practically contesting the constitutional and legal position and powers of the President as the Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces.
Worst of all is that although he received the Defence Inspectorate’s minutes ten days ago, your Defence Minister has not only not informed the public of the inspection’s findings, but the findings have been classified as “restricted,” thus preventing the possibility of them being made public. Your minister has publicly called out the military leadership for breaking the law, launched a public campaign against the Chief of the General Staff and publicly gave orders to the Defence Inspectorate, with an instruction on which kind of finding he expects. Following the Defence Inspectorate’s findings that have unequivocally established and concluded that the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces and the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Admiral Robert Hranj did not act against the law either in implementing a decision by the Defence Minister or in providing support to the Office of the President, your minister – instead of acting in the same way, i.e. by publicly lifting suspicion from the military leadership – is keeping quiet and hiding from the public the inspection’s findings, thereby additionally disrupting the work of the Chief of the General Staff and weakening the system of command in the Armed Forces. Moreover, the soldiers who have been illegally denied per diems by the minister are being denied protection of their rights. Since the Defence Inspectorate also answers to the Government, I call on you to urgently order the declassification of the inspection’s findings and thereby stop the Defence Minister from further abusing his powers.
The unsubstantiated calling out and accusation of the Croatian Armed Forces leadership for violating the law, which has now been confirmed by the Defence Inspectorate, is not the only abuse of power by your Defence Minister. After introducing into his actions elements of strategic abuse of the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces – which I also warned you about earlier – your Defence Minister continued to abuse Croatian soldiers who are members of the Honorary and Protection Battalion. By selectively blocking the payment of per diems to active military personnel for the performance of their regular and statutory duties, the Defence Minister grossly violated and denied to Croatian soldiers the rights belonging to them under the Constitution and the law. I have already informed you about all this several times, but there has been no reaction.
Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
Although you have repeatedly and publicly said that any criticism of the Defence Minister will only strengthen his position in your Government, I urge you to carefully read the Defence Inspectorate’s minutes and act in the interest of the Croatian Armed Forces and the Republic of Croatia. The legal action by the Defence Minister and his understanding of the defence system are required for the orderly and stable functioning and development of the Croatian Armed Forces, and for their modernisation. The Defence Minister’s conduct so far – e.g. the strategic abuse of the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, early retirement of senior officers, denial of legal rights to active military personnel, abuse of power, lack of knowledge of the command system in the Croatian Armed Forces, omissions in equipping and modernising the Croatian Army, etc. – unequivocally indicates that he is unfit for his demanding office.
Of course, the Defence Minister’s performance is solely your responsibility, but because of all of the above, I see no possibility of any cooperation with Mario Banožić.
Finally, I remind you that this letter is just one in a series of letters I sent you, to which, unfortunately, I have never received a reply. However, in the interest of the Croatian Armed Forces and the Republic of Croatia, in accordance with your and my constitutional powers, I am always ready for talks with you.”