{"id":30584,"date":"2024-05-28T15:33:40","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T13:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/?post_type=news&p=30584"},"modified":"2024-05-29T09:14:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T07:14:49","slug":"president-milanovic-warns-the-croatian-army-lacks-four-thousand-soldiers-we-must-invest-in-the-croatian-army","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/en\/news\/president-milanovic-warns-the-croatian-army-lacks-four-thousand-soldiers-we-must-invest-in-the-croatian-army\/","title":{"rendered":"President Milanovi\u0107 warns: the Croatian Army lacks four thousand soldiers, we must invest in the Croatian Army"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 \u201cWe must be aware of what to do to achieve our goals. In order to achieve the goals we are talking about \u2013 Croatia as a stable and reliable partner, as a democracy and the rule of law \u2013 all those sacred values that we swear by and that we all live by, in order to achieve this we must invest in the Croatian Army. The goal of allocating two percent of GDP for defence purposes is a good thing, but it has a limited reach and in itself means nothing because almost no European country has reached that target, and Croatia will soon. The only important thing is \u2013 what are the capabilities, strength and opportunities that we get with this?” said the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanovi\u0107 at the special session held on the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day, Croatian Army Day and the 33rd<\/sup> anniversary of the formation of the Croatian Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He welcomed the return of barracks to some Croatian cities, but warned: “In order to house the army in Croatian cities, we have to secure people. There are more PhDs in Croatia than there are soldiers. Croatia has fewer soldiers than NCOs. Soldiers make up barely one third of the total structure of the Croatian Armed Forces. At the moment, the Croatian Army lacks about four thousand soldiers”. In order to ensure a larger number of soldiers, he believes, we must first define the situation in the Armed Forces. “The costs of organizing and putting into operation such a brigade are enormous, they exceed several times the cost of purchasing twelve French fighter aircraft. It is about six billion euros over several years and several defence budgets”, President Milanovi\u0107 explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He singled out people, ammunition and artillery as key for the Croatian Army. “War is fought with ammunition, artillery and people. Whenever we talk about these topics, we have to start from what we have and what we can buy with that money. And if we just start from the people, with these four thousand soldiers that we currently lack, our soldiers have nothing to work with. I warned about that and said that we should start procuring some things, but now we can’t because they are unavailable. Even if we had three times more money, we couldn’t buy them because there aren’t any. Because they are needed by others, they are needed by Ukraine, which we help in every possible way, although even there we need to have limits and boundaries and look at our interest and what is happening in our backyard, look at the region, what the neighbours are saying and how many weapons are in the neighbourhood,” President Milanovi\u0107 said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the President warned that military equipment is sold at high prices in the world today and manufacturers are driven solely by profit, and that’s why “this should be discussed at home, not in Brussels”. “We should be there, participate and make suggestions, but above all draw our own conclusions. I think that this is the only possible way and path of the Croatian Army, the Croatian defence capability, the Croatian defence force and those young women and men who tomorrow, in slightly larger numbers than in recent years, will be lined up in Regional Commands in Croatian barracks and places where training will be conducted”, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again President Milanovi\u0107 pointed out the fact that young people do not want to serve in the army and concluded: \u201cWe can\u2019t accuse them of cowardice and a lack of patriotism. That\u2019s the system we live in, those are the rules we have set, that\u2019s our Constitution which guarantees the right to appeal to conscience and no law can change this ad hoc.  Do we want to change this radically? This is the first question we have to ask ourselves. If we want to, we must agree to change the rules, and if we don\u2019t want to and it we feel it\u2019s too much, then we have to say so. The only way is a strong Croatian Army that is armed and a Croatian Army made up of Croatian soldiers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day, Croatian Army Day and the 33rd<\/sup> anniversary of the formation of the Croatian Army in the Home of the Croatian Army \u201cZvonimir\u201d, President Milanovi\u0107 issued commendations to eight members of the Croatian Armed Forces who achieved above-average results in carrying out assigned tasks: Colonel Ana Hajdi\u0107, Colonel Dragan Baturina, Colonel Milan \u010corak, Major Ivan Salopek, Master Sergeant Davor \u0160\u0107uric, Staff Sergeant Josip Pervan, Sergeant Milan Dela\u010d and Private First Class Ivica Nerera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the commendations issued by the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, twenty members of the Croatian Armed Forces received awards, medals and commendations from Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ivan Anu\u0161i\u0107 as well as fifteen awards, medals and certificates of ranks from the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Tihomir Kundid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also speaking at the special session on the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day, Croatian Army Day and the 33rd<\/sup> anniversary of the formation of the Croatian Army apart from President Milanovi\u0107 were the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Tihomir Kundid, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ivan Anu\u0161i\u0107 and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accompanying President Milanovi\u0107 were the Head of the Office of the President of the Republic Orsat Miljeni\u0107, the Adviser to the President for Defence Ivica Oluji\u0107, the Adviser to the President for National Security Dragan Lozan\u010di\u0107, the Adviser to the President for Foreign and European Policy Neven Pelicari\u0107, the Adviser to the President for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Muli\u0107, the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka \u017darkovi\u0107, the Adviser to the President for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Marekovi\u0107, the Head of the Military Office in the Cabinet for Defence and National Security of the Office of the President of the Republic Brigadier General Ivica Kranj\u010devi\u0107, the staff officer for Operational Support in the Military Office of the Cabinet for Defence and National Security in the Office of the President of the Republic Lieutenant Colonel Sini\u0161a Mari\u0107, staff NCO for IT in the Military Office of the Cabinet for Defence and National Security in the Office of the President of the Republic Sergeant Major Hrvoje Kraja\u010di\u0107 and Deputy Commander of the Honorary and Protection Battalion Major Alen Haramba\u0161i\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia \/ Marko Beljan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cWe must be aware of what to do to achieve our goals. In order to achieve the goals we are talking about \u2013 Croatia as a stable and reliable partner, as a democracy and the rule of law \u2013 all those sacred values that we swear by and that we all live by, in order to achieve this we must invest in the Croatian Army. The goal of allocating two percent of GDP for defence purposes is a good thing, but it has a limited reach and in itself means nothing because almost no European country has reached that target, and Croatia will soon. The only important thing is \u2013 what are the capabilities, strength and opportunities that we get with this?” said the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanovi\u0107 at the special session held on the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day, Croatian Army Day and the 33rd anniversary of the formation of the Croatian Army.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":30576,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-30584","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Milanovi\u0107 warns: the Croatian Army lacks four thousand soldiers, we must invest in the Croatian Army - President of the Republic of Croatia - Zoran Milanovi\u0107<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/en\/news\/president-milanovic-warns-the-croatian-army-lacks-four-thousand-soldiers-we-must-invest-in-the-croatian-army\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Milanovi\u0107 warns: the Croatian Army lacks four thousand soldiers, we must invest in the Croatian Army - President of the Republic of Croatia - Zoran Milanovi\u0107\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u201cWe must be aware of what to do to achieve our goals. In order to achieve the goals we are talking about \u2013 Croatia as a stable and reliable partner, as a democracy and the rule of law \u2013 all those sacred values that we swear by and that we all live by, in order to achieve this we must invest in the Croatian Army. The goal of allocating two percent of GDP for defence purposes is a good thing, but it has a limited reach and in itself means nothing because almost no European country has reached that target, and Croatia will soon. The only important thing is \u2013 what are the capabilities, strength and opportunities that we get with this?" said the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanovi\u0107 at the special session held on the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day, Croatian Army Day and the 33rd anniversary of the formation of the Croatian Army.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/en\/news\/president-milanovic-warns-the-croatian-army-lacks-four-thousand-soldiers-we-must-invest-in-the-croatian-army\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"President of the Republic of Croatia - Zoran Milanovi\u0107\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-29T07:14:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/DSC_3133.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2588\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1456\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.predsjednik.hr\\\/en\\\/news\\\/president-milanovic-warns-the-croatian-army-lacks-four-thousand-soldiers-we-must-invest-in-the-croatian-army\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.predsjednik.hr\\\/en\\\/news\\\/president-milanovic-warns-the-croatian-army-lacks-four-thousand-soldiers-we-must-invest-in-the-croatian-army\\\/\",\"name\":\"President Milanovi\u0107 warns: the Croatian Army lacks four thousand soldiers, we must invest in the Croatian Army - 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