Croatian President Zoran Milanović and a raft of opposition politicians are strongly opposed to Croatia participating in NATO’s Ukraine support mission (NSATU). A vote on the issue was to have been held on Friday, however the HDZ-led parliamentary majority opted instead to postpone the vote in a bid to buy time and win over some opposition MPs as without the president’s signature the vote will require a two-thirds majority to pass.
The controversy over Croatia’s involvement in NATO’s Ukraine support mission, NSATU, continued on Saturday. After postponing Friday’s vote in Parliament, the HDZ announced plans to hold a new session of the Defense Committee next Wednesday. The HDZ has invited NATO’s Acting Deputy Secretary General, Boris Ruge, to attend and win over MPs opposed to Croatia’s participation. However, the opposition has announced that it will boycott the session. Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ivan Anušić: “When the vote takes place in parliament then we will see how individual MPs see this situation from a political aspect. Obviously, they will face the consequences of how they voted. I don’t mean personal consequences, but they will definitely face the political consequences, because this decision is very similar to some other decisions in history that were very important, when a part of the opposition walked out of parliament or voted against. On such vote is the one that will take place very soon for the NSATU Mission.”
For his part, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Davor Božinović says that vote would have been a non-issue had President Zoran Milanović not publicly opposed the move: “Had the president not voiced the thesis that this mission would mean getting involved in a war, the decision would pass through parliament, and I am convinced that none of the MPs would have brought into question the sending of two officers to Wiesbaden. Some questions have been raised here that are truly nonsense, because for NATO itself, joining the war is a red line. That is out of the question. So I really don’t understand why, even if it is part of the presidential campaign, such falsehoods are being used. Because, I repeat, they are not in the interest of the national security of the Republic of Croatia.”
Meanwhile, the head of parliament’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Dario Hrebak, said that Ruge’s participation in the Defense Committee would put to rest claims that Croatia’s participation in the mission could see it drawn into a foreign conflict: “We have not invited him to come and lecture us, but rather to have our strategic partner present the NSATU mission to us, and to clearly state that not a single Croatian soldier will operate on Ukrainian territory. He didn’t have to visit thirty countries that have no problem with this, but obviously a high ranking NATO official has to come to Croatia to further explain to all those to whom it is still not clear that Croatian soldiers will not participate in military operations.”
Source: HRT