NSATU has become topical since President Zoran Milanovic declined to give his consent to Croatia’s engagement, therefore,  the parliament should now vote on this, and the decision needs two-thirds majority support in order to be valid.

The committee’s session was suspended last Thursday after MPs from the ruling majority walked out of it since President Milanovic did not allow the armed forces chief of staff General Tihomir Kundid to attend it. General Kundid should have been a part of the delegation of the defence ministry.

In the meantime, Kundid has been invited by the ruling majority as a rapporteur to the session, set for Monday, but the president again forbade him from coming.

According to announcements made by Defence Minister Ivan Anusic, the session on Monday will be held so that the topic of Croatia’s participation in NSATU can be tabled to the agenda of the Sabor which is then supposed to vote on that item on Friday, 25 October.

President Milanovic has said that he will withhold his consent to the Croatian participation in the mission claiming that “through the NSATU mission, NATO is entering operational planning of the war in Ukraine” and that it would mean dragging NATO into that conflict and sending Croatian soldiers to Ukraine.

The ruling HDZ party responds that Milanovicc abuses his powers and is misleading the public.

Furthermore, such behaviour by the president harms Croatia’s image and credibility aboard,  the ruling majority says, calling on Opposition MPs not to follow the President’s position during the vote on the NSATU.

Sabor Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic said last Thursday that it was a first-rate political scandal because the president prevented the Chief-of-Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces from explaining to the MPs the activities of the mission to which Croatian officers were supposed to be sent.

He noted that Milanovic was doing this in order not to reveal the truth that Croatian soldiers were not going to Ukraine, nor was Croatia getting involved in the war in any way.