Government and Coordinating Committee for Homeland Security System Not in Compliance with Laws and Regulations
According to an official statement issued by the Government of the Republic of Croatia on Thursday, 5 November 2020, the Government “took note of the Report of the Coordinating Committee for the Homeland Security System on the proposed measures for a comprehensive, systematic and effective approach to preventing radicalization in Croatian society.”
Thereby, the unlawful and improper conduct of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Coordinating Committee for the Homeland Security System, which started with the adoption of the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia of 22 October 2020, is continuing.
1. The Government of the Republic of Croatia does not have a legal basis for assigning tasks to the Coordinating Committee for the Homeland Security System
With the Decision of 22 October 2020, the Government of the Republic of Croatia assigned the Coordinating Committee for the Homeland Security System with proposing measures for a comprehensive, systematic and effective approach to preventing radicalization in Croatian society, while according to the Security and Intelligence System Act the Government of the Republic of Croatia has no legal basis for instructing the Coordinating Committee to adopt any measures. The central body of the Homeland Security System is the National Security Council, which, pursuant to Articles 8 and 9 of the Security and Intelligence System Act, can only approve the work plan of the Coordinating Committee.
2. The Coordinating Committee for the Homeland Security System is obliged to inform the President of the Republic about its decisions, and it did not do so.
After the Government of the Republic of Croatia instructed the Coordinating Committee to propose measures, which was against the law, the Coordinating Committee continued to take actions that were against the law because it submitted its Report, together with the Decisions, to the Government of the Republic of Croatia, but not also to the President of the Republic. The law prescribes that the Coordinating Committee is obliged to inform the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia and the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament about the decisions from its sessions. To date, the Coordinating Committee has not informed the President of the Republic about its decisions.
3. The Adviser to the President of the Republic for Defense and National Security was not allowed to comment on the minutes from the Coordinating Committee meeting
Likewise, the rules of procedure of the Coordinating Committee were violated. As prescribed by the rules of procedure, the minutes of the session must be submitted for comment to all participants in the session who are given a period of eight days to comment on the minutes and the opportunity to give their objections. Only after all members of the Coordinating Committee have submitted their comments, the minutes can be adopted and the Session Report for the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia can be prepared. To date, the President’s Adviser for Defense and National Security, who participated in the session of the Coordinating Committee as its member, has not received the minutes from the session and could therefore not comment on the minutes. This means that the prescribed procedure for issuing the Report was not followed.
It follows that the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Coordinating Committee for the Homeland Security System are not in compliance with the laws and regulations governing the operations of the Homeland Security system, because with their actions they have bypassed the National Security Council (which is by law the central body of the Homeland Security system) and the President of the Republic (who, in line with the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, directs the work of security services jointly with the Government of the Republic of Croatia).