President Milanović: NATO proposes a five percent allocation of GDP for arms, Croatia would have to spend five billion dollars
“Europe is going crazy, is waging a war, is arming itself, and no responsible statesman can and should not be against his country arming itself in order to defend itself. Without it, there is no state. While here we are talking about the glorious past, initiatives are under way to spend five percent of the GDP on arms and defence in a few years”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović stated today at a formal session marking the 80th anniversary of Victory over Fascism and Liberation Day of Zagreb, where he spoke, among other things, about the current situation in Europe and defence investment.
He explained that the initiative to invest five percent of GDP in defence is a NATO initiative for the next summit, which will be held in a month. “The public must know this. These are not military secrets, these are political facts – that five percent of the GDP is spent on arms, on defence,” the President said, adding that at the moment Croatia is spending one billion and four hundred million dollars on defence, and that according to NATO projections, it should be spending five billion dollars.
“This means that Europe will be heavily armed. From whom, where and how will they buy arms and what will we get for that amount of money? These are topics for reflection because it leads to irreparable harm and ruin. In this way, we will not build a happy Europe, there will be no peace and cooperation between nations, there will be nothing for which Europe was founded. A Europe that is nevertheless a great and successful peace project in which liberal democracies, with all their shortcomings, cooperate and do not wage wars”, President Milanović warned.
The President of the Republic further spoke of the events of eighty years ago, saying that the Second World War should be put in a historical context so that it is not repeated. “War in these areas was a social, economic, national, existential disaster for the groups that were formed in these areas, a national disaster in terms of demographic losses and human suffering that is unrepeatable. That must never happen again“, President Milanović noted.
He also referred to relations between Croats and Serbs, emphasizing that they fought together in that war and “were not counted by religion, nationality, or ethnicity.” “The regime they fought against is a unique synthesis of evil in human society. In order to see more clearly, we need to think in broader terms and learn the lessons of history and see that some things are not completely determined and are sometimes the result of chance. Mass murders and deportations – all of this was not written in our culture and history, yet it happened. I pay tribute to those brave people who chose that path in 1941 and 1942, the first fighters, the people who were the organizers of the uprising, today’s unimaginably brave people, and I wish them eternal glory,” President Milanović said at a formal session marking the 80th anniversary of Victory over Fascism Day and Liberation of Zagreb Day, which was organized by the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Zagreb, under the patronage of the President of the Republic, in Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall.
Also speaking at the formal session besides President Milanović were the president of the Association of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of Zagreb County and the City of Zagreb, Vilim Matula, the president of the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Fighters and Anti-Fascists of the Republic of Croatia, Franjo Habulin, and the mayor of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević.
Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan