The President of the Republic wrote a letter on 3 October to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi\u0107 warning him of further unlawful actions by Defence Minister Mario Bano\u017ei\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Defence minister has made a decision to send Member of Parliament Ante Ba\u010di\u0107 to the Ban Josip Jela\u010di\u0107 War College thereby, according to the President of the Republic, unquestionably violating the Law on Service in the Croatian Armed Forces since Ba\u010di\u0107, as a state official, is not entitled to attend the War College. Besides warning the Prime Minister that the Defence minister is repeatedly violating the law, President Milanovi\u0107 indicated that the minister\u2019s decision is causing direct harm to the Croatian Armed Forces and that he is in a blatant conflict of interest by sending a Member of Parliament to the War College who, as an ex officio member of the Defence Committee, supervises the minister\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Plenkovi\u0107 has ignored all these facts, which were clearly argued in President Milanovi\u0107\u2019s letter, and to this day has taken no action whatsoever to prevent violation of the law, favouritism and conflict of interest. The arrogant lack of interest for respect of the law and tolerance for the Defence minister\u2019s actions can only mean that the Prime Minister is an accomplice in violations of the law, favouritism and conflict of interest. Furthermore, the use of party and political connections for realizing such ambitions by members of Parliament is a blunt politicization of the Croatian Armed Forces, which is inadmissible, never seen before and above all dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the Prime Minister has done nothing to prevent further violations of the law, President Milanovi\u0107 reminds that in the Ba\u010di\u0107 case he will have no choice but to take action in accordance with his constitutional powers and duties as Commander in Chief of the CAF, of which he warned the Prime Minister in his letter, which we publish in its entirety:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDear Mr. Prime Minister,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am writing to you to point out to you and warn of further unlawful actions by your Defence minister Mario Bano\u017ei\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By his decision of 1 August 2022 Minister Bano\u017ei\u0107 authorized HDZ Member of Parliament Ante Ba\u010di\u0107 to attend the Ban Josip Jela\u010di\u0107 War College, thereby unquestionably violating the Law on Service in the Croatian Armed Forces, Art. 84, Para(s) 4 and 5, which stipulates that the War College (fourth level of successively increasing officer training) may be attended exclusively by active duty officers (colonels\/captains and lieutenant colonels\/commanders) and civil servants employed for a minimum of ten years in the civil service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Member of Parliament Ba\u010di\u0107 is a state official therefore not an active duty officer nor a civil servant with a minimum of ten years in the civil service. Consequently, according to the above-mentioned law, he is not entitled to attend the War College. I stress that the Law of Service in the Croatian Armed Forces in no way permits state officials to attend the War College, which is evident since to this day in 24 years of operation the War College has not been attended by any state official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A fact proving Minister Bano\u017ei\u0107\u2019s obvious favouritism for his party colleague Ba\u010di\u0107 is that the Ministry of Defence\u2019s Personnel Council \u2013 at its meeting of 15 June \u2013 confirmed a list of 14 candidates for the War College. Accordingly, Minister Bano\u017ei\u0107 reached a decision on 5 July 2022 to send 14 candidates to the War College, but the list did not include Member of Parliament Ba\u010di\u0107. In the case of Mr. Ba\u010di\u0107, a special decision was made by Minister Bano\u017ei\u0107 on 1 August 2022 with no discussion at the level of the Personnel Council, which has the authority to confirm the list of candidates for the War College. In other words, this is exclusively the will of the minister and such behaviour, which is outside the prescribed procedure, indicates favouritism along party lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moreover, the Defence minister\u2019s action is not only unlawful but also harmful for the Croatian Armed Forces, and therefore further unacceptable to me as Commander in Chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to the limited number of admissions to the War College, the Defence minister has deprived and denied the opportunity for the professional development of a member of the CAF since the opportunity was given to a politician, a Member of Parliament and his party colleague, all at the expense of the State budget. Instead of giving the opportunity to a Croatian soldier to attend the War College and gain further knowledge, the Defence minister has made it possible for a HDZ politician to be admitted to a military institution at the expense of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides, by bluntly violating the principles for preventing conflict of interest, since on the one hand a Member of Parliament is receiving something he is not entitled to by law (education at the expense of the State budget), and on the other the Defence minister is \u201crewarding\u201d a Member of Parliament who is an ex officio member of the Defence Committee and supervises the work of the Defence minister and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia. Consequenty, this is not only an evident unlawful and arbitrary action and favouritism to a party colleague but also a prime example of a conflict of interest in which the minister is installing a Member of Parliament in an enviable position to supervise his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Considering that the work of the minister is just your responsibility as Prime Minister and as president of the party whose members are your minister and the Member of Parliament who was unlawfully shown favouritism, I call on you to take urgent action in accordance with your powers so as to put an end to further violations of the law and abuses of power from your minister and a Member of Parliament from your party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Should there be no reaction on your part, I will be forced to act in accordance with my constitutional powers and duties as Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Respectfully yours,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zoran Milanovi\u0107\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The President of the Republic wrote a letter on 3 October to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi\u0107 warning him of further unlawful actions by Defence Minister Mario Bano\u017ei\u0107.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":19404,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-19407","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n