President Milanović: Actions by Minister of Defense have repercussions for national security

“I can discuss these matters only with the leader of the HDZ and not with Banožić anymore. This has become serious and has repercussions for national security and relations with neighbours. Because people who don’t know the difference between the truth and lies, and are doing such a delicate job, are dangerous for Croatia,” the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović said today in Vukovar before the press, commenting on the actions of the Minister of Defense Mario Banožić who accused the President and Commander in Chief of violating the constitution and the law.

“It is known who the Commander in Chief is,” said President Milanović, adding that he expected the Prime Minister to resolve the problem. He considers the forthcoming session of the Defense Council to be more important than the National Security Council session “because the Croatian Army is facing a serious material crisis, since its needs have been totally ignored, the ground forces in particular and partially the Navy – and these are things that I cannot resolve because I do not manage the budget, and the material conditions in the Croatian Army are worse than bad.”

“It’s another extremely irresponsible and alarming statement by a Prime Minister who could explain what that means, but given that he is a creeping nut crusher, I expect him to constrain (the minister) and remove him,” President Milanović commented on the statement by the Prime Minister that he is carrying out a creeping coup.

“Banožić has become a problem for the state. He arrived totally unprepared, ignorant and is a terribly aggressive person who leads one of the most delicate systems in the country and who is supposed to work with the Commander in Chief and be at his service, and he is doing just the opposite. He criminally retired the Commander of the Honorary and Protection Battalion and this has to be reversed. At the same time, he is threatening the Chief of the General Staff with a military inspection, which is an independent body, telling them they have to find this and that. For me, this is a crime, as if you are ordering the State Attorney’s Office to do something. Of course, the military inspection does not have such authority, it is a kind of audit, and there is no authority over the Chief of the General Staff. There is political pressure from several HDZ members, including Minister Medved, who disappointed me a bit because I thought he would protect the defenders and his friends who are being grossly harassed,” said the President, replying to a question about the announced inspection in the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces.

The President once again warned of illegal actions by the Minister of Defense in the case of Colonel Burčul’s retirement. “We were in favour of treating Colonel Burčul in a civilized way as a Croatian defender, as the Commander of the unit that is most closely associated with the President of the Republic,” he said, warning that the defense minister had signed a consent for a brigade Commander from Delnice a week later, who was dismissed in August due to a cocaine incident. “I would expect the Minister to retire him. However, this did not happen, and a few days ago the Minister’s consent arrived at my desk, calling for the service of the Commander, who will soon go into retirement by force of law if he is not assigned to a post, to be extended for two years as Colonel, not General. How is it possible for a man with an unstained record to be arbitrarily forced into retirement with a false explanation – to write that he is on the dismissal list, and he is not, which is a crime, this is not for the military inspection, this is for the police – and for another Commander, one rank higher, who found himself in trouble and whom we want to give a second chance, to be treated as if nothing happened?,” President Milanović asked, adding that such actions by the Minister of Defense show what type of person he is.

When the President was asked what the Memorial Procession in Vukovar would look like if Colonel Burčul did not return to duty, he replied: “I will come. The part of the Army that comes will come with me, not with Banožić and Plenković.” He then repeated that what the Minister of Defense was saying about sending the Army to Bosnia and Herzegovina was an “irresponsible lie.” “As Commander in Chief, I can forbid the Army to leave the country, not give my consent, say that the Honorary and Protection Battalion will never attend ceremonies abroad. They were returned from Bleiburg once. I think that the Army has no place in such formations abroad and I will act like that in the future. And this idea with Bugojno was actually wrong. But I did not sign it, the Minister did. He did not prevent anything, and when the Chief of the General Staff refutes you so meticulously, mathematically and soldierly in every element of the lie, such a person should step down. A politician can do that, a soldier cannot,” said the President.

“I will never dismiss Admiral Hranj. He is a great asset for Croatia,” President Milanović replied when asked about the future of the Chief of the General Staff. “Does the Croatian Army have better? No! He is a man who, when he goes to Brussels, represents a small Army and a small country, but he gives the impression that we are three times bigger and twice as well armed,” said the President, adding that Minister Banožić’s representation of Croatia in Brussels does not look as professional.

President Milanović recalled that he had easily agreed with Prime Minister Plenković on the appointment of Admiral Hranj as the Chief of the General Staff and said that the Prime Minister “knew that I would not accept anyone else.” He also explained why it was important to him who the Chief of the General Staff was: “Unlike the President of the Supreme Court, who is proposed by me and appointed by the Parliament, and with whom all relations with me end at that moment and we no longer have a functional connection for he is completely independent, the Chief of the General Staff is fully accountable to the Commander in Chief. And that’s why this can’t be resolved without an agreement. After all, Plenković knows who Hranj is.”

President Milanović further said that he spoke with Croatian Army officers in a strictly hierarchical manner, “which means that I never invite a General to meetings and briefings without the Chief of the General Staff being present or informed.” The Army can only function according to the principle of strict hierarchy, the President said, and when asked whether the authority of Admiral Hranj was undermined, who, according to journalists, was caught “in the crossfire,” the President replied: “He is not in the crossfire. Banožić is not a fire, he is a cigarette butt. There is no quarrel between me and the Prime Minister, the creeping nut crusher is simply not resolving anything.”

President Milanović commented on the nomination process for Croatian ambassadors, namely that Minister Gordan Grlić Radman had made public the names of individual candidates. “You’ve seen that the Foreign Minister revealed some names. Some are made up, some aren’t relevant. He commented that one candidate is a Serb while another one had Tito’s portrait in his office. I don’t recommend it, but why take away someone’s right when Tuđman had kept Tito’s bust in his office for ten years. I don’t recommend either. This is very mean and shows that they are treating people like objects. The problem is that this whole group of people Minister Grlić took to Orsat Miljenić are now in an impossible position. They are furious because in order to spite someone who kept Tito’s picture, the nomination of Stier, who was formerly editor of an Ustasha newspaper, is now in question. When I was his superior in the Foreign Ministry, I never asked him about his past or who his grandfather was. Then Grlić, whose father was a notorious communist, lectures on Tito. That kind of hypocrisy is destroying this society and nation. These people think that they can do anything they want to. They can’t and I oppose this and will oppose it in a rude way if I have to”, President Milanović said.

Journalists asked President Milanović to comment on the announced inspection in the General Staff. “He sent an inspection, announces their findings. It is a case of gross abuse of power, an inspection is independent, they cannot talk to the Chief of the General Staff because he is higher in rank. This has never occurred before and shall never occur. The man is threatening with repression with no tools at his disposal. Let that inspection read how the commander of the Honorary and Protection Battalion was forced to retire and the justification for it. This is a case of gross abuse of power aimed at causing moral and material damage. He imagined the colonel being on the retirement list, yet isn’t and this can easily be established. Minister Banožić forced an excellent Croatian Army officer and Chief of the General Staff to state his view twice because of the damage caused by the Minister’s childish outbursts against Croatia. This with Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina is the latest example. This man is a minor danger because he has no great significance, a minor danger and problem for the Croatian national security, diplomacy and relations with the neighbours. People in Sarajevo are wondering which Croatian forces the President wanted to send to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It turns out that the President and Commander in Chief did not send anyone but the Minister obstructed it up to the last minute. The army was waiting, it would not cross the border, it would return to the barracks. It was a wreath-laying ceremony for four fallen and killed Croatian Defense Council (HVO) members near Bugojno. It was a funeral attended not only by General Mareković but also by HDZ Minister Grlić Radman. It was about him too. Banožić questioned the dignity of his associates in the Government too. I didn’t take part in this, and in the end I realized that he is manipulating with the issue of the departure of four officers plus one saber. No rifles – that’s an army”, President Milanović explained.

President Milanović was asked by the press if he discussed this year’s Memorial Procession with Vukovar’s mayor, he replied: “Yes, and also about the terror he is subjected to by the local HDZ. He won the election. I told him I expect him to work on normalizing relations and reconciliation here in the town in addition to the economy. He, from his position and what he did earlier, has a special responsibility, but I am not his mentor. We’re not like-minded, remember the Cyrillic issue in Vukovar. I consider even further that I had to implement the Croatian laws adopted by the HDZ. Tensions have lowered quite a bit and now he sees how it is to cooperate with HDZ members who consider they own the state”.

President Milanović noted that for a year now he has been watching how the Croatian ground forces are greatly lacking equipment. “This is a threat to national security. That’s why I suggested convening a meeting of the Defense Council and Plenković immediately added the National Security Council to purport some activity. There will be talk of both but in this way we shall not mask the state of affairs in the army, that’s crucial”, he said. And in terms of national security, President Milanović says that he has a question for the Prime Minister and the need to coordinate the policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina and the status of the Croats there. “Because when I listen to his statements in Brussels, I wonder if it was the Croatian Prime Minister and President of the HDZ talking or someone working in the third echelon in the Office of the High Representative who says what a few bureaucrats in Brussels want to hear. Listen to his statement in Brussels of a week ago – whom did he criticize, whom did he point the finger at as being the main problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina? Dodik! Let people do their jobs – they’re working for themselves, and I’m working for Croatia. We have a problem, and that problem is Plenković who isn’t solving the Banožić issue”, President Milanović said in his conclusion.