President Milanović warns: the Croatian Army lacks four thousand soldiers, we must invest in the Croatian Army
“We must be aware of what to do to achieve our goals. In order to achieve the goals we are talking about – Croatia as a stable and reliable partner, as a democracy and the rule of law – all those sacred values that we swear by and that we all live by, in order to achieve this we must invest in the Croatian Army. The goal of allocating two percent of GDP for defence purposes is a good thing, but it has a limited reach and in itself means nothing because almost no European country has reached that target, and Croatia will soon. The only important thing is – what are the capabilities, strength and opportunities that we get with this?” said the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanović at the special session held on the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day, Croatian Army Day and the 33rd anniversary of the formation of the Croatian Army.
He welcomed the return of barracks to some Croatian cities, but warned: “In order to house the army in Croatian cities, we have to secure people. There are more PhDs in Croatia than there are soldiers. Croatia has fewer soldiers than NCOs. Soldiers make up barely one third of the total structure of the Croatian Armed Forces. At the moment, the Croatian Army lacks about four thousand soldiers”. In order to ensure a larger number of soldiers, he believes, we must first define the situation in the Armed Forces. “The costs of organizing and putting into operation such a brigade are enormous, they exceed several times the cost of purchasing twelve French fighter aircraft. It is about six billion euros over several years and several defence budgets”, President Milanović explained.
He singled out people, ammunition and artillery as key for the Croatian Army. “War is fought with ammunition, artillery and people. Whenever we talk about these topics, we have to start from what we have and what we can buy with that money. And if we just start from the people, with these four thousand soldiers that we currently lack, our soldiers have nothing to work with. I warned about that and said that we should start procuring some things, but now we can’t because they are unavailable. Even if we had three times more money, we couldn’t buy them because there aren’t any. Because they are needed by others, they are needed by Ukraine, which we help in every possible way, although even there we need to have limits and boundaries and look at our interest and what is happening in our backyard, look at the region, what the neighbours are saying and how many weapons are in the neighbourhood,” President Milanović said.
Furthermore, the President warned that military equipment is sold at high prices in the world today and manufacturers are driven solely by profit, and that’s why “this should be discussed at home, not in Brussels”. “We should be there, participate and make suggestions, but above all draw our own conclusions. I think that this is the only possible way and path of the Croatian Army, the Croatian defence capability, the Croatian defence force and those young women and men who tomorrow, in slightly larger numbers than in recent years, will be lined up in Regional Commands in Croatian barracks and places where training will be conducted”, he said.
Once again President Milanović pointed out the fact that young people do not want to serve in the army and concluded: “We can’t accuse them of cowardice and a lack of patriotism. That’s the system we live in, those are the rules we have set, that’s our Constitution which guarantees the right to appeal to conscience and no law can change this ad hoc. Do we want to change this radically? This is the first question we have to ask ourselves. If we want to, we must agree to change the rules, and if we don’t want to and it we feel it’s too much, then we have to say so. The only way is a strong Croatian Army that is armed and a Croatian Army made up of Croatian soldiers”.
On the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day, Croatian Army Day and the 33rd anniversary of the formation of the Croatian Army in the Home of the Croatian Army “Zvonimir”, President Milanović issued commendations to eight members of the Croatian Armed Forces who achieved above-average results in carrying out assigned tasks: Colonel Ana Hajdić, Colonel Dragan Baturina, Colonel Milan Čorak, Major Ivan Salopek, Master Sergeant Davor Šćuric, Staff Sergeant Josip Pervan, Sergeant Milan Delač and Private First Class Ivica Nerera.
In addition to the commendations issued by the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, twenty members of the Croatian Armed Forces received awards, medals and commendations from Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ivan Anušić as well as fifteen awards, medals and certificates of ranks from the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Tihomir Kundid.
Also speaking at the special session on the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day, Croatian Army Day and the 33rd anniversary of the formation of the Croatian Army apart from President Milanović were the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Tihomir Kundid, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ivan Anušić and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
Accompanying President Milanović were the Head of the Office of the President of the Republic Orsat Miljenić, the Adviser to the President for Defence Ivica Olujić, the Adviser to the President for National Security Dragan Lozančić, the Adviser to the President for Foreign and European Policy Neven Pelicarić, the Adviser to the President for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić, the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković, the Adviser to the President for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković, the Head of the Military Office in the Cabinet for Defence and National Security of the Office of the President of the Republic Brigadier General Ivica Kranjčević, the staff officer for Operational Support in the Military Office of the Cabinet for Defence and National Security in the Office of the President of the Republic Lieutenant Colonel Siniša Marić, staff NCO for IT in the Military Office of the Cabinet for Defence and National Security in the Office of the President of the Republic Sergeant Major Hrvoje Krajačić and Deputy Commander of the Honorary and Protection Battalion Major Alen Harambašić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan