Minister of Defense Signed the Decision on Joint Wreath Laying, Why Was it Never Sent to the Office of the President?

The President of the Republic did not in any way call out the Minister of Defense or the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces yesterday for their actions in regard to the organization of the joint wreath laying to mark All Saints’ Day. For the second time in a week, this time in the form of an official statement from the Ministry of Defense, Minister of Defense Mario Banožić insinuated that the President of the Republic, his Commander in Chief, is making “incorrect and unfounded allegations.” To claim that “the Government of the Republic of Croatia did not request the Honorary and Protection Battalion at 11:00” on 30 October (Friday) to mark All Saints’ Day means either that the Minister of Defense caught himself lying or was forced to lie to protect the Prime Minister. There is no third explanation.

Here is the irrefutable evidence: the documents in our possession confirm that the Minister of Defense made two decisions in regard to marking All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, on the basis of which the Ministry of Defense drafted a program of the ceremony and asked the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces to issue orders regarding the organization and protocol support at the ceremonial wreath laying. We shall first comment on the decision of the Minister of Defense dated 23 October. According to the Minister’s decision, a joint wreath laying by the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia was envisaged. The Ministry of Defense is the body in charge of drafting the wreath laying program in cooperation with the protocols of the President of the Republic, the Croatian Parliament and the Government of the Republic of Croatia. It should be emphasized that the Minister of Defense is the official responsible for signing the decision on the joint wreath laying and for requesting consensus on the program, inter alia, with the Protocol of the President.

But apparently that means nothing: from 23 October till now, no one from the Ministry of Defense has contacted the Office of the President on this matter. The Office of the President, therefore, was not informed that a decision had been made, nor was it sent a draft program for approval. Does this mean that the departments of the Ministry of Defense are not implementing the decisions of the Minister of Defense? In this case, they did not implement them. If so, it is a big problem, above all for the minister, and he must resolve it himself and not shift the responsibility by being untruthful.

Since we were in no way informed about the Minister’s decision and the preparation of the program, on Thursday, 29 October the Office of the President politely invited the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Parliament to agree on a joint wreath laying – clearly not knowing that the Minister’s decision was being implemented ‘behind the back’ of the Office of the President. Unlike the Office of the President, the General Staff received the Minister’s decision and a draft program (we underscore: this was uncoordinated with the Office of the President) – on which the order of the Chief of the General Staff is based – according to which wreaths were to be laid by the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia. By the same order of the Chief of the General Staff – and in a very urgent manner, in order for everything to be prepared on time – the Honorary and Protection Battalion was engaged, which is usually done on such occasions.

Everything was clearly planned for Friday, 30 October with only the possibility of agreeing on specific time slots having been left open. Moreover, the same program envisaged that the delegations of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces lay wreaths on Friday, 30 October at 10:20, which was done. Moreover, the program envisaged the marking of All Saints’ Day also on 2 November and the only date for marking All Saints’ Day that was not mentioned at all in the program of the Ministry of Defense (and neither in the order given by the Chief of the General Staff) is Saturday, 31 October!

When and why, and by whose decision, was the joint wreath laying envisaged by the decision of the Minister of Defense abolished? When and why, and by whose decision was Saturday suddenly inserted as the “planned” day for marking All Saints’ Day for the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia? These questions are subject purely to speculation, while the untruthful claims made by the Minister of Defense – that run contrary to the Minister’s earlier decision and to the written program of the Ministry of Defense – are subject to serious examination in regard to how the Minister of Defense is performing his duty. If he is willing to not abide by his own decisions and to misinterpret programs for which there is written evidence, what else is he willing to do on the orders of “Yutel students” and their bosses?

NOTE:

The Office of the President has the aforementioned documents in its possession, but it will not publish them, so as not to act in the same way as the Ministry of Defense, which readily submits documents and information related to the activities of the President of the Republic. The Office of the President calls on the Minister of Defense to further explain his actions and those of the Ministry of Defense, and we consider the publication of the aforementioned documents to be the best way to establish the facts, from which everything will be clear, especially since these documents are not classified in any way.