Annual Report on Defense for 2021 was sent to Parliament in unlawful manner; it is full of omissions, untruths and falsifies the facts

Guided by his constitutional obligation and concern for the regular and coordinated functioning and stability of the national Government, the President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović considers it necessary to point out the illegalities, omissions and falsehoods in the Annual Report on Defense for 2021, which the Croatian Parliament will discuss at its current session.

First of all, President Milanović warns that the Government of the Republic of Croatia did not request a prior opinion of the President of the Republic of Croatia on the Annual Report on Defense, which is contrary to the stipulation under Article 7, Paragraph 1, subparagraph 14 of the Defense Act. Before sending the Annual Report to Parliament for discussion, the Government must, accordingly, seek the prior opinion of the President of the Republic, as it has always done until now, particularly because of his constitutional role in the area of defense and the fact that the President of the Republic is also the Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces.

Apart from the fact that it was sent to the Croatian Parliament in an unlawful manner, President Milanović considers the fact that the Annual Report for 2021 was submitted at least one year late to be damaging. In the time of the security and war crisis in Europe, which has lasted for more than a year, the Government’s Annual Report does not serve its purpose and loses its basic rationale as defined by Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the Defense Act.

Since the President of the Republic, as the Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, is regularly and directly informed about the situation in the defense system, he finds the content of the Annual Report to be problematic, lacking and partly false, because it falsifies facts. The Annual Report makes no mention whatsoever of the problem of systematic lack of equipment and weapons even though that critical state can jeopardize the defense capabilities of the Croatian Armed Forces. By keeping silent about this topic and in fact falsifying the most important topic when it comes to the state of the defense sector, the Government is knowingly misleading MPs who are supposed to discuss and decide on the Annual Report.

Furthermore, in a tendentious and unsubstantiated way the document accuses the leadership of the Croatian Army of issuing orders on the President’s requests for support “without a decision by the Minister of Defense” and claims that regular activities by Croatian Armed Forces members at military ceremonies “can be interpreted exclusively as abuse of the Croatian Army for political purposes.” Those claims were rejected by the Defense Inspectorate, whose report the Government and the Defense Ministry never wanted to make public, and now it is clear why – so they can continue making false accusations against the army leadership, this time even in Parliament. The President of the Republic warns that it is irresponsible of the Government and dangerous for the defense system to accuse, laconically and contrary to established facts, the Croatian Army leadership and its members of violating the law and of politicizing.

In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia and Article 100, which clearly identifies the President of the Republic as the Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, and Article 94, which makes the President responsible for the defense of Croatia’s independence and territorial integrity, President Milanović is doing everything in his power to secure the lawful and normal functioning of the Croatian Armed Forces and protect its members from politicizing. In Articles 7 and 70, the Defense Act also clearly defines the jurisdiction of the President of the Republic and the Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces as an active participant in the command and control process of the defense system.

Hence, the interpretation from the Annual Report, which is an attempt to deny the President of the Republic the constitutional right to participate in the chain of command, constitutes an unprecedented act of political aggression by the Government against the constitutional and legal order and the Croatian Army itself. The President of the Republic does not believe that the Government does not understand the Constitution, laws and chain of command in the Croatian Armed Forces. The criminal interpretation was evidently intentionally included in the Annual Report to justify the incompetence, inability and vindictiveness of the incumbent Minister of Defense who jeopardizes the entire defense system with his actions.

At the same time, the authors maliciously “forgot” to include an explanation in the Annual Report regarding “support to state and other bodies” provided by the Croatian Army under decisions by the Minister of Defense. Under Article 64, Paragraph 1 of the Defense Act, the army can provide assistance to the local community and civil society institutions in exceptional cases. Using his discretion, the Minister of Defense decides whether the costs of such services are charged, and under those decisions the army provided support in hundreds of activities. It did so not in exceptional cases, as defined by the relevant law, but the Minister of Defense continually used military resources for civilian needs, which requires a special inquiry to determine if he had used the army for his and his party’s political benefit.

The President of the Republic has warned the Prime Minister on several occasions about the violation of the Constitution and the law by the Minister of Defense, especially because his actions directly affect the normal and stable functioning of the Croatian Armed Forces. Since the Government sent the Annual Report to Parliament with so many untruths and omissions and ultimately in an unlawful manner, it is clear that nothing should be expected from it. It is up to the MPs to decide whether to accept such a flawed document.