Letter from the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenković
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović sent a letter on the 28th of October 2021 to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenković, personally warning him of the unacceptable and unlawful conduct of the Minister of Defense Mario Banožić and calling on him to take action within his competence in order to enable the normal functioning and development of the Croatian Armed Forces.
Given that even after receiving this warning the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia did not take any measures that would bring the actions of the Minister of Defense back in line with the legal framework and prevent damage to the Croatian Armed Forces, we are publishing the letter from the President of the Republic so as to inform the public of the timely and substantiated approach taken by the President of the Republic.
“Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
I am addressing you in view of the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, namely Article 94, Article 99, paragraph 1 and Article 100, paragraph 1, in connection with the abuse of power by your Minister of Defense stemming from the early retirement of the Commander of the Honorary and Protection Battalion.
This retirement is extremely important because it shows a pattern in the behaviour of your minister, especially in light of the fact that he is a decorated officer, Homeland War volunteer and Commander of the unit in charge of the security of the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces. Without going into the details of the case, I must point out that the proposal to extend the mandate of the Honorary and Protection Battalion Commander was sent to your minister by the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, based on the assessment about the needs of the service. This is a common procedure in which, at least as far as I know, no Minister of Defense has ever withheld his consent. This time, the minister not only withheld his consent, but told the Chief of the General Staff and my Adviser for Defense and National Security that he would never sign anything for the aforementioned officer and that the officer must leave the army, without giving any justified explanation for such a position. Given the unusual behaviour of the minister, I decided to talk to the minister in person, who replied – when I asked him directly to explain why he refuses to give consent and noting that the proposal would be withdrawn if the minister has a serious reason to withhold his consent – that “the colonel is a bad person,” which he repeated several times without any explanation for his claims.
The minister has the right to give or withhold his consent but does not have the right to abuse that power. The minister took exactly that step, which represents an abuse of power, by immediately sending the Commander of the Honorary and Protection Battalion into retirement. He also falsely claimed that he had acted in line with the retirement plan for 2021, while the name of the Commander of the Honorary and Protection Battalion was not on that list with over one hundred officers’ names. Hence, the minister abruptly ended the military career of a decorated officer who received the highest marks for his work, which was not in accordance with the list and retirement plan and was clearly motivated by personal reasons, which I hope were not also political. The minister’s conduct is an act of abuse of powers bestowed upon him by the law and of discrimination of a Croatian Army officer. The question arises: according to which criteria does the minister choose whom he will retire and whom he will not retire, contrary to the proposal of the Chief of the General Staff. It cannot be tolerated for a professional officer to be expelled from the Croatian Army because the minister does not like him. This is an attempt to politicise the Croatian Armed Forces and divide officers into “suitable” and “unsuitable” ones, those whom the minister likes and those he does not like. Neither you, as Prime Minister, nor I, as the President and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, can tolerate that.
At the same time, the Minister of Defense enabled a number of personnel decisions in the Ministry of Defense that are entirely contrary to the law. I will give you a few concrete examples which, unfortunately, represent only the tip of the iceberg. In July this year, the Ministry of Defense issued a decision unlawfully extending the service of an active military person – a colonel in the Independent Sector for Information and Communication Systems of the Ministry of Defense. The decision is unlawful because the said person had to go into retirement by force of law, as determined by the Personnel Council of the Minister of Defense in May 2020, which concluded, I quote, “that there are no legal options for remaining in service” for the said colonel. Your minister has made it possible for that person to remain in service contrary to the law and today he still holds the same position. In April 2021, your minister enabled a major working in the Protocol of the Ministry of Defense not only to be assigned to the organizational position of colonel, but also to be assigned to a position for which he does not have the appropriate degree. Furthermore, your minister has allowed, contrary to the law, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels employed in the personnel service of the Ministry of Defense to remain in positions that require the civil service exam, although for many years they have not fulfilled the obligation to take the civil service exam as ordered by the Ministry of Defense itself. Unfortunately, the number of irregularities points to possible systemic violations of regulations.
Your minister has been warned and informed on a number of occasions about the problems related to the personnel, material situation and equipment level of the Croatian Army, but unfortunately, although this is his fundamental duty, he has not taken any action. That is why I have requested a session of the Defense Council to focus on that topic, so I will not elaborate further on this occasion. The situation is not good and it requires urgent action.
Apart from that, your minister is attending ministerial meetings in NATO and the EU without informing me, as the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, and without obtaining consent for the positions he is presenting there on behalf of the Republic of Croatia. The positions expressed in this way that have not been agreed upon can only represent the positions of your Government, of course if you give your consent, but they cannot be the positions of the Republic of Croatia since I, as President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, did not give my consent. Any commitment made by your minister in this way, which concerns the constitutional powers of the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, is potentially unimplementable. Thanks to your minister, such conduct can also damage the country’s international reputation. Also, Mr. Prime Minister, if your Government continues with such conduct and your minister insists on the politicisation of the Armed Forces, I will, if necessary, resort to paragraph 5, Article 144 of the Constitution in the area of defense, for the purpose of protecting the interests of the Republic of Croatia.
Mr. Prime Minister, you have thus far been warned about the unacceptable conduct of your minister in a number of ways, and with this letter I am addressing you directly. You have installed the minister and you are responsible for him. However, as the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, it is my duty to protect the Armed Forces and I therefore call on you to take measures within your competence in order to enable the normal functioning and development of the Croatian Armed Forces.
Finally, I call on you to rise above partisan and personal motives and to take into account in your conduct the interests of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Armed Forces.”