2006 Agreement Between Two Countries: Of 10,009 HVO Members, 7,000 Already Use Their Rights in Croatia

The agreement between the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on cooperation in the area of rights of war victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were members of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and their family members, is an international agreement signed on July 1, 2006, reports the Patria agency.

Under this agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia financially supports 100% disabled veterans and families of fallen HVO members by paying them the difference between the compensation they receive in BiH and the amounts received in Croatia.

A new law was recently announced that would equate HVO members with veterans of the Croatian War of Independence in terms of rights.

A whole range of rights available to veterans of the Croatian War of Independence was also mentioned, from housing, preferential pensions, vehicles, and advantages in employment...

According to some Croatian media, the law was also announced by the Prime Minister of the Croatian Government, Andrej Plenković. The matter immediately began to cool down gradually.

Many interpreted these moves from Croatia as another blow to sovereignty and interference in the internal affairs of BiH. Croatia interfered in BiH when it adopted a Constitution that violated BiH's sovereignty under the guise of alleged concern for Croats. Even during the war, Croatia allocated huge funds to the HVO and alleged defense. During the aggression against BiH, the HVO cost Croatia about 10 billion German marks at the time.

What kind of defense this was, everyone knows. Nacional published on December 1, 1995, that over 2,200 defenders and a thousand civilians were killed in Posavina, and there were about eight thousand disabled veterans. Nowhere, except in Posavina, did the HVO fight against Karadžić's Chetniks.

On the contrary, after the fall of Posavina, the cooperation between Karadžić's Chetniks and Boban's HVO was exceptional at all contact points. The HVO fought exclusively against the Army of RBiH, which was the regular force of the Government in Sarajevo. The casualties of that war were many times higher than the casualties in Posavina.

According to some estimates, this new legislative measure would cost the Croatian budget around 50 million KM. However, it was difficult to believe such a small sum. Former Minister of Veterans Affairs Bojan Glavašević stated a larger and more realistic figure, claiming it would cost the Croatian budget over 550 million KM annually. It all resembled ordinary propaganda and an attempt to gain cheap political points.

Another former Minister of Veterans Affairs, Predrag Matić, was completely definitive and labeled such a law as pure populism:

"Because it costs a lot. The budget is like a perfect crime; everything works until one item is removed, then everything collapses. They are promising something here that costs tens of billions of kuna (at least 1.4 billion KM) and persistently pretend to be ignorant and say it only costs a hundred million kuna (40 million KM)," Matić said.

He rendered all these promises irrelevant by stating the fact that out of 10,009 HVO members, 7,000 are already using their rights in the Republic of Croatia.

"There is no HVO member who will stay in Mostar, with a pension of two to three thousand kuna (500 to 750 KM), if they have the opportunity to go to Croatia and receive a pension of six to seven thousand kuna (1500 to 1800 KM)," said Matić.