A Croatian member of the European Parliament, Karlo Ressler, said on Wednesday that Croatia and Europe were being subjected to hybrid attacks from the East, citing "Serbian claims on Croatian cultural heritage".

“Both Croatia and Europe are being subjected to hybrid assaults from the East. They include instrumentalisation of migrants, pressure on our borders and the external borders of the European Union, anti-European and anti-civilisational propaganda used by the Russian regime to destroy European societies from within, Serbian claims on Croatian cultural heritage, use of energy blackmail as a means of aggression on Europe,” Ressler said at a presentation of the Zagreb Security Forum in Brussels.

The event, organised by Ressler’s office and held in the European Parliament, brought together leading experts on national security, digital security and defence against hybrid attacks, which have intensified with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Our generation will have to defend its freedom. The peace and flourishing of Europe that ensued after the Second World War is is under increasing threat. The Russian aggression against Ukraine has made it clear to us that no one will give us security and prosperity as a gift, we will have to fight for it again. Today we decide on our security tomorrow, on whether we will kneel down in the face of violence and propaganda or whether we will defend our values, our European way of life,” Ressler (HDZ/EPP) said according to a press release from his office.

The Zagreb Security Forum, which has raised many issues in recent years such as the importance of democracy and security in society, was presented, in addition to Ressler, by Gordan Akrap, President of the Hybrid Warfare Research Institute; Holger Haibach, Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Office for Croatia and Slovenia; Lukas Mandl, Austrian member of the European Parliament; Yvan De Mesmaeker, Secretary General of the European Corporate Security Association, and Professor Ulrich Schlie from the University of Bonn. The presentation was moderated by Tihomir Vinkovic, the public broadcaster HRT’s Brussels correspondent.