President Milanović: We should not entertain the illusion that the EU will become a powerful state governed from a single center of power

“Our policy is one of clean accounts, respect for others – for other religions and other communities – but also an awareness of who we are, what we are, and what is ours. Because when it comes to a nation, that aspect of selfishness is present; otherwise, a nation has no meaning – if you are not aware of what is yours, what belongs to you, and what you are ready to defend,” said today in Slavonski Brod the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanović, speaking at the commemorative ceremony marking the 35^th anniversary of the formation of the 3^rd Guards Brigade of the Croatian Army “Kune.”

President Milanović told Croatian war veterans and members of the Brigade that in the Homeland War, above all, they defended Croatia and helped create a new, better Croatia that had not existed before, and that the European Union “in which we live today is an important aspect of Croatia’s present and its state activity.” “You guarded the house, and that house was defended; it was not destroyed, though they tried to destroy it; it was not set on fire, though they tried to set it on fire. And then we got a façade for that house, and that is the European Union,” President Milanović said, adding that the European Union is a good project and a good idea as a trade union and “that is the framework in which I see the European Union and Croatia within it.”

“Everything beyond that is an integrationist fantasy, some new world in which there is no place for Croatia, because it is a world we do not see and over which we cannot have any influence,” said the President, emphasizing that this is also important for the Croatian Army “because I do not want a crazy head and excessive bureaucratic ambitions to take us somewhere we neither have the resources to go, nor the interest, nor the desire to go and, most importantly, where we do not control events.” Especially since global events are turbulent and unpredictable and “recently depend on the mood of one person or another.”

“In such a system of relations, giving guarantees to someone else or a third party that we will expose ourselves for them in some situation is very problematic, not to say dangerous,” the Croatian President said, emphasizing that we are a small country and nation “which must, like any sensible person, be careful about the signals it sends, what it suggests to whom, and what it promises to whom.” “Our primary and only interest is the defense of Croatia. Everything else, for me, includes loyalty and good faith toward those with whom we have certain alliances – not acting behind their backs, having good intentions, and not being unrealistic in our expectations; being realistic, not entertaining the illusion that the European Union will become one large, powerful state governed from some major center of power,” he added.

At a time when the wildest things are happening in the world, the President believes that Croatia primarily “must put its own house in order and try to regulate its relations with its neighbors – with Serbia and with Bosnia and Herzegovina – as well as the status of the Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” In this context, he also recalled the contribution of the 3^rd Guards Brigade, which fought legally in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992. “It fought honorably, but not to break up Bosnia and Herzegovina and annex parts of it to Croatia; that was never Croatian policy,” President Milanović emphasized, reiterating that without the Croatian Army there would have been no Dayton Agreement, nor Bosnia and Herzegovina in its current form.

Speaking about neighboring countries, President Milanović said that Croatia “does not see anyone as an enemy, and I hope that no one seriously sees us as an enemy either, except those who talk nonsense about Croatia, Albania, and Kosovo preparing to attack Serbia.” “It is difficult to work with such people and build normal and friendly relations, which is what we strive for,” President Milanović added. “We know who we are, we know what we are capable of, we know that we have no enemies, and that we want to build peaceful and civilized relations for mutual and comprehensive benefit,” President Milanović concluded.

In addition to President Milanović, the commemorative ceremony was also addressed by Krešimir Šipoš, President of the Veterans’ Association of the 3^rd Guards Brigade of the Croatian Army “Kune”; Mirko Duspara, Mayor of the City of Slavonski Brod; Danijel Marušić, Prefect of Brod-Posavina County; Mladen Kruljac, wartime commander of the 3^rd Guards Brigade “Kune”; Lieutenant General Tihomir Kundid, Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces; and Tomo Medved, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Croatian Veterans, Envoy of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia.

The marking of the 35^th anniversary of the formation of the 3^rd Guards Brigade of the Croatian Army “Kune” began with the laying of wreaths at the memorial to fallen Croatian war veterans of the Homeland War. The President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces was joined at the wreath-laying by Lieutenant General Tihomir Kundid, Chief of the General Staff; Marijan Mareković, the President’s Adviser for Homeland War Veterans; Brigadier General Željko Marinov, Commander of the Guards Armored-Mechanized Brigade “Kune”; and Major Zoran Sokolović, Commander of the 1^st Tank Battalion of the Guards Armored-Mechanized Brigade “Kune.”

Following the wreath-laying ceremony, incentive awards were presented to members of the Guards Armored-Mechanized Brigade “Kune,” along with the awarding of berets and the ceremonial oath-taking of new members of the Brigade.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek