Ahead of the summit in Dubrovnik the Croatian Government has forwarded to Parliament a decision on the participation of members of the Croatian Armed Forces in NATO’s activities in support of Ukraine. The proposal stipulates that the activities would not be conducted on Ukrainian territory. In recent days the issue has resulted in more disagreement between President Zoran Milanović and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. The president has said that he will not allow Croatian soldiers to be deployed to NATO missions in support of Ukraine, noting that Croatia does not need to be a third party in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, while the prime minister has insisted that no Croatian soldier will be deployed to Ukraine itself.
The president’s unwavering stand on the issue now means that the decision will be made in parliament. However, it will require a two-thirds majority to pass. The issue was commented on in parliament on Tuesday, with independent MP and presidential candidate, Marija Selak Raspudić, saying that MPs do not have enough information to be able to make a decision that would be in Croatia’s best interests. Her former MOST Party colleague, Nikola Grmoja, said that discussing Croatian help for Ukraine on October 8th, the day that the first parliamentary convocation of a democratically elected Croatian Parliament unanimously passed the historic decision to terminate all ties with the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, was in bad taste: “No one helped us. We did not receive billion for our defense. There is a big, big difference.”
To mark the 33rd anniversary of the historic unanimous decision by the first convocation of a democratically elected Croatian Parliament to terminate all state and legal ties between Croatia and the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia a special ceremony was held in parliament today. In his address, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković recalled the tenuous early days of the Homeland War and Croatia’s efforts to fight off the Serbian and Yugoslav People’s Army war of aggression and its bid to achieve independence and international recognition. Jandroković stressed that no one should forget how arduous Croatia’s path to independence and international recognition was. However, he then tied this to the issue of sending Croatian soldiers to participate NATO mission’s in support of Ukraine, arguing that Croatia, as a victim of aggression, must have a special sensitivity towards those who are under attack: “Sending a small number of Croatian officers to Germany would be a symbolic gesture of assistance, that would in no way mean sending our soldiers to Ukraine. At the same time I would like all those who are undecided about making this symbolic gesture to ask themselves; What if we need the alliance’s assistance tomorrow? Will we be able to count on their support if we withheld it when it was needed? This is why we must not send a signal that we are partners only when there are benefits to be had from belonging to some association, but not when there are joint obligations. For me there are no doubts. Withholding help and solidarity should not be Croatia’s path.”
It is worth noting that NATO membership, specifically Article 5 of the NATO treaty, commits each member state to consider an armed attack against one member state, as an attack against them all. As it stands Ukraine is not a member of the NATO alliance.
For her part, Možemo MP and candidate for president, Sandra Benčić, questioned how Croatia had resources for certain things, but not others: “I fail to understand the prime minister who simultaneously argues that Croatia has a deficit in defense capacity, and therefore must re-introduce mandatory military service, but that there is no problem when it comes to forcing one single component, which is aid to Ukraine. Especially, when there as so many other areas that we have plenty of capacity with which to provide aid.”
The aid, according to Benčić, would include assistance in demining, the prosecuting of war crimes, the identification of victims and aid for refugees.
Source: HRT
Source link : https://glashrvatske.hrt.hr/en/politics/croatia-to-host-the-ukraine-southeast-europe-summit-in-dubrovnik-on-wednesday-11798726
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Publish date : 2024-10-08 16:37:28
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