President Milanović and Prime Minister Talk ahead of Special European Council

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović spoke today with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković ahead of the Special European Council dedicated to the war in Ukraine and strengthening European defence.

President Milanović believes that the discussion with the Prime Minister is just the beginning of fulfilling the constitutional obligation of jointly formulating and implementing the foreign policy of the Republic of Croatia. He called on the Prime Minister to continue discussions on Croatia’s positions on foreign policy matters. Likewise, President Milanović reminded the Prime Minister of the urgent need to convene a session of the Defence Council and proposed convening the National Security Council precisely on the topic of the war in Ukraine and the changed security and geopolitical situation in Europe and in the world.

As far as the positions of the Republic of Croatia at the special European Council, President Milanović insisted on the following points in his conversation with the Prime Minister:

1.         Achieving peace in Ukraine is in the interest of the Republic of Croatia and therefore every initiative that contributes to this should be accepted.

2.         Croatian troops will not participate in any activities whatsoever on the territory of Ukraine.

3.         Assistance to Ukraine must not be at the expense of maintaining and developing the capabilities of the Croatian Army.

4.         No financial decision may negatively affect the standard of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia, and this also applies to decisions on sanctions.

5.         In any discussion on strengthening the European military industry and increasing the military budget, it should be ensured that the Croatian industry also participates.