Prime Minister Andrej Plenković he made a statement after the session of the HDZ Presidency, at which, as he said, primarily foreign policy topics were discussed, but also a number of important domestic policy issues, ahead of the start of the regular session of the Parliament next week.
At the center of the statements were appointments in the judiciary. Nappiesć confirmed that the HDZ insists that the election of the president of the Supreme Court be carried out together with the election of three judges of the Constitutional Court, according to the model that has worked so far.
“We are also interested in filling three seats on the Constitutional Court, but these appointments will be tied. HDZ’s position is clear. We will enter into that process only in the variant that two candidates are proposed by the majority and one by the opposition. We will talk with the opposition,” said the prime minister.
He added that they wanted to reach a consensus on all appointments, including diplomatic positions.
“We also want diplomatic positions to be filled, but not in the way that the circle of the president’s associates is now representing. We want a consensus to be reached on each individual appointment. None of these people is only from the government or from the president. We are in favor of an agreement, but discussions will be held about each destination and each proposed candidate,” he said.
He also referred to the statements of President Zoran Milanovic, stressing that there is no dilemma about not sending Croatian soldiers to Ukraine, but he criticized his political discourse so far.
“There is no dilemma here about not sending troops, but his position these last four years was close to the Russian narrative and he was opposite to the Croatian positions,” Plenkovi said.
Speaking at the meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris, the Prime Minister emphasized that the goal is a just peace in Ukraine and respect for international law.
“Unfortunately, Russian aggression took a huge number of lives. Russia holds 19.6% of Ukrainian territory, and at one point that percentage rose to 27 percent, the same amount of territory occupied by Croatia in the Homeland War. The goal is to reach a just peace, so that Ukraine de jure does not cede its territory at any moment, because this rewards the aggressor and ignores international law”, he said.
He repeated that Croatia will not send military troops to Ukraine, but will continue to participate in the Coalition of the Willing and provide support to Ukraine.
“Our position is clear; despite the massive misinformation of the public, we never planned to send Croatian soldiers to Ukraine, in the meantime we will continue to provide bilateral support to Ukraine in every way,” he emphasized.
Nappiesć also confirmed that JANAF received a temporary license from the United States of America for the transportation of oil to Pančevo.
He also announced the arrival of NATO Secretary General Marko Rutte and the adoption of a new military aid package at the Government session. He pointed out that in 2025, Croatia allocated one billion and 931 million euros for defense, which is 2.08 percent of GDP, in order to fulfill obligations towards NATO and strengthen the defense capacities of the Croatian Army.