President Milanović Confirms He Will Call a Meeting of the Defense Council due to the State of the Armed Forces

“I have nothing more to say to the Minister. The Minister is down-and-out, Plenković was well informed but did not want to prevent it. He has made it possible for one of his pocket ministers to humiliate a colonel, unfortunately just a colonel, with a notable career, who had to retire allegedly due to the retirement plan. That is written in the decision signed by Banožić who is babbling about the Constitution, who knows nothing about it, who does not know when a law was passed. Therefore, he is constantly telling untruths, he is not an interlocutor, and cannot be, I have nothing to do with him”, President Milanović said in Rome when asked by a journalist to comment on the Defense Ministry’s press release stating that Minister Banožić did not give his consent to the appointment of colonel Burčul, and that the President of the Republic made a decision to extend his term contrary to the Constitution and the Defense Act.

“The colonel was retired by force, in a personal vendetta, which they don’t want to talk about. It will cost them dearly,” the President announced, and warned that colonel Burčul’s name was not even on the retirement list. “The retirement plan is a regulation establishing automated criteria for the retirement of personnel of a certain age. Therefore, for this year, 2021, the colonel’s name is not on the list because he is not 58. Contrary to practice he was retired without agreement with the General Staff. I see people such as Tomo Medved a fellow combatant and friend of his. This man presented the flag to President Tuđman, served honourably, and there is no way this will pass like this and that he will not be reinstated. And let Plenković talk about the south wind. When you’re on a ship, there’s the south wind and the bora, you’re the captain and there’s no south wind. Let him quote these erroneous proverbs from Dubrovnik elsewhere. Therefore, let him solve this problem”, President Milanović said.

“I will always make decisions and implement practices and decisions that are in the interest of the protection of the Armed Forces, prevent the harassment of all officers, not only wartime officers. That is the only criterion and topic we can discuss. The minister has retired a man out of a personal vendetta, citing the retirement plan for 2021. Do you want me to make this public to show that the colonel’s name is not there, the colonel who was proposed by the General Staff to the pocket minister for the needs of the military. That document has been seen. How is it possible that the Chief of the General Staff proposes a man who is designated for retirement, how is this possible? Therefore, the minister went against everything, against regulations, cites false circumstances in the decision. This is a matter of political responsibility! This is not just an issue about a colonel, this is an issue of the political responsibility of that man. False legal foundations. A man who is 58 years old who should not have gone into retirement this year. This can always be carried out by force, a lie to conceal the real motive. The motive is a vendetta, Plenković must decide on this, no one else. I would like to know what the people who fought in the war with him think. As far as I’m concerned, this will not happen to anyone in the army, whoever is doing their job honestly, they’ll retire when all legal conditions are met, especially this wartime generation. No one will be harassed. Tomorrow I send thirty people into retirement and what have I accomplished? Humiliated people, their families, their loyal service to the country. This is a catastrophe, that guy was collecting Pokémons while these people were defending Croatia and that’s the problem. I’m not saying that everyone should and could have been in the war, we’re talking about two totally different categories of people, the minister can polish his boots”, the President said.

Asked if he will call a Defense Council meeting, President Milanović said he will. “I will, the topic – the dreadful material state of the Armed Forces which is a matter of concern for the defense security of the state. It is Plenković’s responsibility since the pocket minister hasn’t undertaken anything. And I have been talking about this discretely – not publicly – for months. I have been warned by many levels, from the top military people”, President Milanović stated.