The Chairman of the Defence Committee, Arsen Bauk, said on Friday that the Chief of General Staff, Tihomir Kundid, had informed him that, on the instructions of President Zoran Milanovic, he could not attend a Committee meeting to which the majority had invited him as rapporteur on the technical details of the NSATU mission.

When he learnt that Milanovic had again forbidden Kundid from attending the parliamentary Committee meeting and explaining the technical details of the NATO Security Assistance and Training Mission for Ukraine, Bauk told reporters that he had received a letter in which Kundid informed him that he could not attend the Committee meeting on Monday due to the order he was legally obliged to give.

Bauk added that the seven members of the ruling majority, who had invited Kundid as rapporteur, would decide how to proceed.

“The president has issued an order within the scope of his powers”

There is a proposal from the government, there are MPs who want to attend the meeting and there are the proposers – the defence ministry, the minister and two state secretaries – and if they all attend, then the other 12 items on the agenda will be discussed, he said.

Asked whether Milanovic politicised and harassed Kundid, as Defence Minister Ivan Anusic claimed, Bauk said: “Orders are to be obeyed, not commented on.”

“The president issued an order within the scope of his powers, which is in accordance with the constitution and the law. However, I am not sure to what extent it is compatible with parliamentary procedure for the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces to act as a rapporteur on a particular issue, as he is not the head of a government body.”

Bauk said that despite the disputes in the Defence Committee, a plenary discussion on the issue could still take place on Tuesday.