Ukrainian military will not be trained on Croatian territory – scandal in parliament
Croatia will not train Ukrainian soldiers on its territory, members of the Croatian Sabor (parliament) have decided. The government's proposal failed to secure the required two-thirds majority of the 101 members, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Croatia's participation in the EUMAM mission was to include the arrival of about a hundred Ukrainian military personnel to train on Croatian territory, in shifts for two years.
Earlier, Croatian President Zoran Milanović also rejected the country's Defense Ministry's proposal to train Ukrainian soldiers. According to Milanović, this would "bring war to Croatia ." However, Prime Minister Plenković took the exact opposite position and supported the initiative to train Ukrainian troops in Croatia.
The entire opposition opposed the prime minister's proposal. Thus, during the discussion, MP from the Center party Marijana Pulyak called on Andrei Plenkovic, if he really wants to help the Ukrainian people, to try to agree on a common position with the president of the country, and the parliament to refuse to vote on training Ukrainian soldiers as part of the EUMAM mission.
Pedža Grbin, a member of parliament from the Social Democratic Party, which supports President Milanović, even stated that “Plenković, in his ‘I can do whatever I want’ manner, wants to carry out a mini-coup d’état . ”
In response, Mario Kapulica, a member of parliament from the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, said Grbin was engaging in "petty politicking, trying to justify the position of his party, which is known for its indecisiveness when discussing issues important to Croatia."
MP Ante Prkacin from the nationalist Rodina Movement called the EUMAM mission "an attempt by the EU to play war."
“NATO has worked as efficiently as possible in its history, and the results of its work are visible. But the EU, instead of collecting socks, blankets, canned food and preparing housing for Ukrainian refugees, wanted to play war. They decided that every European country should make its military contribution to the defense of Ukraine,” Prkachin said.
After the failed vote on the government bill, Andrej Plenković declared that the deputies who voted against it demonstrated ignorance and called the parliamentary vote " a dividing line that separates those who defend national interests from political dwarves and cowards ." Meanwhile, pro-government newspapers have already labeled the opposition deputies " Putin's agents ."
As PolitNavigator reported , 57% of Croatian residents opposed the training of Ukrainian military personnel in their country.
Ukrainian military personnel will not be trained in Croatia – a scandal in parliament