After President Zoran Milanovic refused to consider Defence Minister Mario Banozic's request for the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia, the minister said he believed there was a two-thirds majority in the parliament that would adopt a decision to that effect, but MPs are not unanimous on the matter.

Arsen Bauk (centre-left SDP party) said on Wednesday he would have to file a criminal report for subversion of the constitutional order if such a request was forwarded to the parliament.

“That request cannot be forwarded to the parliament because it is not within the parliament’s remit. Article 7, paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Constitution say clearly, unambiguously and without the possibility of creative interpretation, that the government, with the president’s consent, is authorised to decide on the deployment of Croatian soldiers for the purpose of exercises and training and on the arrival of other countries’ soldiers in Croatia for the purpose of exercises and training,” Bauk said.

“There is no mention of the parliament here. Let the prime minister and the president agree on the matter. In his letter to the president, the defence minister refers to a wrong article of the Constitution, to paragraph 3, which concerns peace missions,” Bauk said.

Franko Vidovic (centre-left Social Democrats) said the ministers of foreign affairs and defence had gone to Brussels without having consulted with the president even though the president should create, together with the government, the country’s foreign and defence policy, and the two ministers assumed obligations on Croatia’s behalf for which at that moment they were not authorised.

“I believe that the president’s refusal of the minister’s request is therefore completely justified,” Vidovic said.

“Now the government’s request will evidently be forwarded to the parliament. Our group will wait to see an explanation as to what it is about, after which we will take a stand. This is a serious matter in which unfortunately not all EU or NATO countries are involved, but only 14, and I call on all MPs to vote on the matter solely in line with their conscience,” Vidovic said.

Marijan Pavlicek (right-wing Croatian Sovereignists) said that he would not support the initiative for the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia because it would jeopardise national security.

“Realistically, in that case we become a legitimate target for Russia because our army would be involved in the armed conflict,” he said.

“Ukraine should be helped with humanitarian assistance and a much larger number of refugees should be taken in rather than limiting the number to 20,000. We should take in more refugees but military training on Croatian territory is out of the question,” Pavlicek said.

Prime Minister Plenkovic does not care for the security of Croatian citizens in his efforts to curry favour with Brussels. He should not count on our hands, this has nothing to do with Milanovic but is a matter of common sense, Pavliček said.

Nikola Grmoja (conservative populist Most party) warned that there was still no information on whether training referred to mine removal experts, technical staff or something else.

“If all EU and NATO countries were to be involved, we would naturally support it. But if Croatia is in the company of just a few other countries, then it makes no sense. Then it’s just about Plenkovic flexing muscles in the EU. We will certainly not agree to that,” said Grmoja.

Marijana Puljak (Centre) said that the quarrel between the president and the government, who should be co-creators of Croatia’s foreign policy, makes Croatia look frivolous in international circles and that this should finally stop.

“We absolutely support Ukraine and we are helping it to stop the war. When a decision on the training of Ukrainian soldiers arrives in the parliament, we will first have to see how it is formulated, because there are disagreements between ministers themselves as to the form of assistance. After that, we will take a definite position,” Puljak said.

“We have taken a clear stand by siding with Ukraine and we will provide any possible assistance for the war to come to an end as soon as possible and for peace to finally come to Europe,” said Marin Lerotic (IDS).

“We are not against the Croatian army training Ukrainian soldiers but there should be a consensus between the government and the president and we should show unity in the current situation of war, energy crisis and inflation. If a proposal to that effect is submitted to the parliament, the IDS will vote in favour,” said Lerotic.

Kreso Beljak (HSS) said that his was a peace-making party but that Croatia was too small a country to become involved in any way in the war of the biggest country in the world and Europe.

“Croatia is exposing itself in that conflict for no reason and this is evidently about Plenkovic’s higher ambitions. I will definitely be against any possibility of the war escalating in Croatia’s territory. If we help more than we need to, and this is about helping more than we need to, it becomes dangerous for us,” he said.

Gordan Bosanac (Green-Left Bloc) said that his group would try to resolve the impasse between the defence minister and the president by proposing that Croatia participate in the training of Ukrainian soldiers with regard to the civilian component of the war.

“That means that we would use our knowledge and capacity in demining, coping with the consequences of war such as PTSD, as well as war crimes investigations. We will propose that we join the EU initiative by providing that kind of training to Ukraine and we believe our proposal could be supported by both the president and the minister,” said Bosanac.