President Zoran Milanovic said on Monday that Croatia, which is marking the 15th anniversary of its membership of NATO, has no say in decision-making in NATO, and that all crucial decisions for the alliance are being made in Washington.

“Those decisions are not mandatory for me in my current capacity as the supreme commander of the army, or tomorrow as the Croatian prime minister,” he said.

Such crucial decisions and far-reaching decisions “are being made without any participation of Croatia, or of Slovenia, Hungary and even Poland. One should be aware of that. Therefore I say that we are loyal… and one should think about that,” Milanovic said.

“A lot of stupid and crazy decisions were made in the run-up to what is now going on in Ukraine,” said said.

“At one moment, NATO stopped being aware of its purpose at all.”

“This triggers off conflicts and one should be very cautious. Croatia is a loyal partner of NATO,… but Croatia should focus on its issues, its armament, said Milanovic.

Procurement of fighter jets – election trick

Commenting on the procurement of Rafale fighter jets, Milanovic said that it was just an election trick of the current government and that the procurement will not solve anything.

He recalled that he had forbidden the flight of a Rafale jet over Zagreb and that he would continue forbidding it as long as he is the president.

The flights will not happen he said adding that such flights would be only for politicians to show off before the electorate.

On the other hand, he said that he had had to do his utmost to make sure that Croatia would procure U.S. Bradley vehicles and that the arrival of 90 Bradley vehicles in Croatia was made possible only owing to his efforts.

He recalled that those Bradley fighting vehicles are being upgraded in the Croatian Đuro Đakovic factory and that this will be enabled for Croatia's army free of charge.

He said that he had made it possible, accusing Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and former defence minister Mario Banozic of irresponsible management of the government and the country.

Milanovic: Hostile treatment of BiH Croats by EU and the USA

Milanovic also accused the European Union and the USA of showing a hostile attitude towards Bosnia and Herzegovina Croats and called out PM Plenkovic for not addressing this issue.

Milanovic went on to say that the treatment of the status of BiH Croats by the EU and the USA “is a matter of  Croatian sovereign pride. It is not a matter of war or peace and this is not something which bothers anyone in Brussels,” reiterating that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovc and his servants “had an easy task” to solve it but that Plenkovic did not want to run afoul with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over that matter.

Milanovc, who was addressing the press in the village of Gradec, while attending local Easter customs, also criticised von der Leyen for being without any election legitimacy and that she became the EC president only because “her friend Angela Merkel, a former German Chancellor, wanted to get rid of her.”

He also criticised the EPP party for being a party of Eurocrats to whom the current model of the functioning of the EU suits.