President Milanović Reiterates Invitation to Prime Minister to Convene National Security Council: The situation in BiH threatens national security
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović today reiterated his invitation to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to convene the National Security Council over developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Several months ago I proposed to Plenković that the National Security Council convenes. After developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, my invitation to Plenković and the HDZ leadership still stands. We need to discuss these topics, for they concern the fate of the Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” President Milanović said in the town of Korčula, where he took part in a special session of the town council on the occasion of Municipal Day.
“The national security system is at risk due to the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yesterday I listened to Bakir Izetbegović, the son of a man whom Franjo Tuđman decorated with the highest national medal for his cooperation with the Croatian Army during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the army that liberated Bihać and half of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and saved thousands of Muslim and Bosniak lives. And that man yesterday threatened to use arms and counted how many Bosniaks there are and how many drones they have. Is that normal?”
President Milanović further commented in this context on the decision of High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt to give up amending the Bosnian electoral law. “We have been listening to the threats coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the hate speech and intolerance in the streets of Sarajevo, about the threats to the High Representative who himself is to be blamed for embarking on small changes of the electoral law and constitution, and even these small changes are too much for the mob that is threatening him, only to retreat under local pressure or pressure from Berlin. We opened Pelješac Bridge in the spirit of good-neighbourly relations and they are making threats there and trying to politically destroy a people,” said President Milanović.
The President of the Republic reminded that the High Representative had the opportunity to intervene and change the electoral law, which, he said, he had invited him to do in his speech at the NATO Summit in Madrid. “He presented draft changes to the electoral law that do more harm than good to the Croats. Then protest rallies began in the streets, the man got startled and pulled back. Or, his bosses in Berlin instructed him to do so. They want to deal with things that are five minutes from the Croatian border. Okay, but we will deal with them as well. And I invite Plenković to do so for the umpteenth time,” said President Milanović.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan