Conditions have not been met for consideration of Minister of Defence’s letter requesting the President’s prior consent for participation of CAF members in EUMAM mission
The President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović has received a letter from the Minister of Defence in which his prior consent is requested on the Draft Proposal of the Decision of the Croatian Parliament on the Participation of Members of the Croatian Armed Forces (CAF) in the EU Military Assistance Mission to Ukraine (EUMAM).
In view of the justifiably great interest of the Croatian public in the announced participation of members of the Croatian Armed Forces in the EU Military Assistance Mission to Ukraine, and at the same time the unclear and unsubstantiated circumstances of the participation of members of the Croatian Armed Forces in that mission, the Office of the President hereby informs the public that it is not suitable for the President of the Republic to take action in conjunction with the minister’s letter, for the following formal and substantive reasons:
- The President of the Republic is being addressed by the Minister of Defence, who is neither authorized by the Constitution nor the Defence Act to seek the prior consent of the President of the Republic. The only subjects envisaged by the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia in making such decisions are the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the President of the Republic and, possibly, the Croatian Parliament.
- The attached Draft Decision does not specify the activities that members of the CAF would carry out abroad, nor the operations and activities that members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces would carry out on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. The only thing provided in the rationale of the Decision is general information about the EUMAM mission itself.
- The received Draft Decision Proposal, in the part concerning the arrival of Ukrainian soldiers on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, is in reference to Article 7, paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, which reads:
“The armed forces of allied states may cross the national border and enter the Republic of Croatia or operate within the national borders thereof as stipulated under ratified international treaties, pursuant to a decision of the Croatian Parliament proposed by the Government of the Republic of Croatia with the prior consent of the President of the Republic of Croatia.”
In order for the application of this provision of the Constitution to be considered at all, the following must be present: a) the armed forces of allied states; b) the entry or operation of such forces in accordance with ratified international treaties.
The letter that was sent to us does not state the legal basis on which it is determined, in the context of this provision of the Constitution, that Ukraine is an allied state (it is not a member of any alliance of which the Republic of Croatia is a member, and there is no membership which obliges Croatia to provide military assistance), nor does it mention the international treaty on the basis of which its armed forces would enter and/or operate on the territory of the Republic of Croatia.
4. It can be deduced from the rationale in the Draft Decision that the Croatian Government plans to train Ukrainian soldiers on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. In that case, the provision of Article 7, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, to which reference is made in the Draft Decision, is inapplicable. Namely, the Constitution explicitly regulates the issue of foreign soldiers crossing the national border for the purpose of conducting exercises and training in Article 7, paragraph 9, which reads:
“The armed forces of allied states may cross the national borders of the Republic of Croatia for the purpose of military exercises and training within the framework of international organisations to which the Republic of Croatia has acceded or is in the process of acceding pursuant to international treaties and for the purpose of rendering humanitarian assistance, pursuant to a decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia with the prior consent of the President of the Republic of Croatia.”
Therefore, in the case of exercises or training of Ukrainian soldiers on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, the only constitutional basis for making a decision on this is the provision under Article 7, paragraph 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, which specifically regulates these issues, and not the general provision under Article 7, paragraph 3 of the Constitution.
The President of the Republic believes, for the aforementioned reasons, that the conditions have not been met to even take into consideration this letter from the Minister of Defence, for the purpose of making a decision on granting or not granting prior consent.