President Milanović: I call on the Prime Minister to agree on new VSOA director, this is an attempt to breach constitutional and legal rules

“The situation is serious and whoever treats it as a question of ego is being irresponsible towards the state. This is a serious attempt to breach constitutional and legal regulations. I am saying this as a former Prime Minister and now as President of the Republic, as someone who was personally involved in this type of personnel issues such as appointing the director of the Military Security and Intelligence Agency (VSOA), which is one of three agencies whose heads are appointed based on a consensus between the President and the Prime Minister,” the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović told a news conference on the situation in VSOA, whose director General Ivica Kinder stepped down and whose term expires on 10 July. There is still no agreement between the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister on the candidate for the new director.

President Milanović once again called on Prime Minister Andrej Plenković “to a discussion and an agreement” on the appointment of the new VSOA director, on filling other important positions in the army, and on solving systemic problems in the VSOA that have lasted for years. He reminded that he had already proposed to the Prime Minister last September to relieve the VSOA director of his duties after both the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister received a Report from the Office of the National Security Council on the extraordinary immediate professional supervision of the Military Security and Intelligence Agency (VSOA). Furthermore, President Milanović confirmed he initiated the holding of a session of the Council for the Coordination of Security and Intelligence Agencies, which should be held in the coming days. “It is my initiative for them to find a solution so the service can somehow function, so that people get paid, so that they can do something”, he explained.

Commenting on the situation in the VSOA, he said: “How many months have passed since I contacted the Prime Minister and told him that this can no longer go this way, the system is not working, previously established wrongdoings are continuing, the law is being violated. Not only did I demand that the director be relieved of his duties – which I cannot do on my own because the Prime Minister needs to co-sign it – but I suggested that the Prime Minister and I sit down and talk. I sent him a letter last December and did not receive any reply. Therefore, there is no will”.

He called the Defence Minister’s proposal for the appointment of the new director “blackmail through the media”. “I should agree to that? These people should be held accountable for violating the Constitution, they are doing it systematically in an attempt to restrict the Constitutional powers of the President of the Republic”, President Milanović noted. He would not speculate on names for the VSOA director. “He who allows himself to be manipulated in such a travesty cannot be a candidate”.

Asked whether the candidate or the procedure is contentious, President Milanović replied: “It can’t be like this. Even if it were St. Peter, it can’t be. This is blackmail and extortion. That is how cartels behave. Why did they wait several months to propose a candidate, why wasn’t one proposed in September? Because by my decision that man was appointed in August to a position in the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces. So he would have to immediately leave that position in order to satisfy some HDZ ambitions. This is a message to all soldiers not to get involved in such matters because, after that, they are no longer candidates”.

President Milanović warned that the issue in this case is not just the head of the VSOA, but a need for systematic changes. “Nobody else besides the two of us can discuss this topic”, he said referring to the Prime Minister. In the President’s view, the director of the VSOA “does not necessarily have to come from the military, but must be competent”. President Milanović repeated that “there is no candidate because there is no consensus”.

He was asked by journalists whether national security is in jeopardy on account of the situation in the VSOA. “National security is compromised because for months the Prime Minister has refused to call a meeting of the National Security Council, and refuses to sit down with the Commander in chief and President of the Republic. Yes, that has repercussions on national security”, he replied.

Chronology of events related to the procedure for appointing the Director of VSOA

•          The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović initiated a procedure for the dismissal of Major General Ivica Kinder as VSOA (Military Security and Intelligence Agency) Director as early as 22 September 2022 in a letter to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. He initiated the procedure for dismissal in accordance with Art. 66, Para. 5. of the Law on the Security and Intelligence System of the Republic of Croatia whereby ‘the procedure for the dismissal of the director of security and intelligence agencies can be initiated by the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Croatian Parliament’, after receiving a Report from the Office of the National Security Council on the extraordinary immediate professional supervision of the Military Security and Intelligence Agency (VSOA) dated 19 September 2022.

•          Prime Minister Plenković did not respond in writing to the President of the Republic’s letter, nor did he consent as prescribed by law to the procedure for dismissal of the VSOA director launched by the President of the Republic. Rather, on 26 September 2022 he informed the public that the “dismissal will come into force on the day they will agree on the person who shall replace him”, adding that “this has to be a person for which there is agreement between the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic, on the proposal of the Defence Minister”. Therefore, the Prime Minister himself was aware that there must be agreement between the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic for the appointment of a new VSOA director.

•          In the situation when he no longer enjoys the confidence of the President of the Republic, General Kinder himself asked to be dismissed by the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister in a letter dated 30 September 2022. But, not even this action of his prompted the Prime Minister to proceed with the dismissal of the VSOA director in a legal manner. Rather, on 3 October 2022 the Prime Minister announces that General Kinder will further carry out the duty of VSOA director. He demonstrated no will whatsoever to agree with the President of the Republic, which is the only way to solve this problem.

•          After it became clear that the Prime Minister is not willing and is not interested in solving accumulated problems in the defence system – including a number of unfilled command positions in the Croatian Armed Forces – President Milanović sent another letter on 22 December 2022 to Prime Minister Plenković inviting him to a meeting at which they would solve at least the burning issues, including the position of VSOA director. “Since you are ignoring the situation in the VSOA, we haven’t even started discussion on the appointment of a new director, and the outgoing director is being kept in his position despite his responsibility as head of the institution”, President Milanović wrote the Prime Minister.

•          This was three months after the President of the Republic initiated a procedure for dismissal of the VSOA director, three months in which the Prime Minister did not consider it important and necessary to discuss and agree with the President of the Republic on the appointment of a new VSOA director or even discuss and agree on all other positions in the Croatian Armed Forces that should be filled for the orderly functioning of the defence system. Prime Minister Plenković did not reply to the proposal, indeed he continued ignoring the problems for months after that.

•          Instead of discussions and agreements as prescribed by law, the Prime Minister delegated his Defence Minister to make an announcement to the media on the names of so-called candidates for VSOA director, thereby causing harm and moving them farther away from the legal appointment procedure. And then, on 1 February 2023, the Defence Minister proposed General Mijo Validžić as new VSOA director, without, we emphasize, any previous discussions and agreements between the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister. Not abiding by the law or the procedure used to appoint all previous VSOA directors.

•          After that, the President of the Republic repeatedly stated clearly that he cannot accept any illegal appointment procedure, without discussion and agreement, thereby additionally compromising the situation in the military and security service, and in the entire defence system. On 10 February 2023, the Office of the President of the Republic replied to the Defence Minister that President Milanović will not consider proposals that have not been agree upon, but recent statements indicate clearly that the Prime Minister and his minister intend to further violate the laws and obstruct not only the selection of a new VSOA director but also the filling of all other command positions in the CAF.

•          After all, it is obvious that the Prime Minister deliberately ignored and obstructed the resolution of the problem from the beginning i.e. from the initiation of the dismissal procedure of General Kinder, in order to bring the VSOA into a situation in which he is bringing other state institutions with his attacks, making them non-operable or subjecting them to his will. His persistence on the illegal appointment of the VSOA director will not succeed, because the President of the Republic in this case too will protect the Croatian Constitution and laws, which is his duty and obligation.

•          In order to avoid an unwanted situation since on 10 July 2023 the outgoing director’s term ends, and since a candidate has yet to be agreed upon for the new VSOA director, the Adviser to the President of the Republic for National Security Dragan Lozančić – as vice-president of the Council for the Coordination of Security and Intelligence Agencies – proposed last week that an urgent session of the Council for the Coordination of Security and Intelligence Agencies be held.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan