The Croatian government on Thursday adopted a decision to make up to eight members of the Croatian Armed Forces available to an EU battlegroup led by Poland, to be on full alert in the period from 1 January to 30 June 2023.

The battlegroup was formed by the Visegrad Group countries – Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, and by participating in it Croatia is continuing to contribute to the common security and defence policy and strengthen bilateral relations with the participating countries, the government said.

A plan for the recruitment of military personnel for this year, which the government adopted today together with a plan changing the existing personnel categories, covers 1,150 candidates.

The plan envisages the recruitment of up to 814 persons from the labour market, while 336 members of military personnel will see their status change under the plan changing the existing personnel categories.

Most of the plan refers to the recruitment of 610 Navy members, who will sign a contract on military service for a period of two years, after which they will have the possibility to sign a permanent work contract, Defence Minister Mario Banozic said.