Emergency address by Milanović: Plenković is attacking the constitutional order

(Patria) - Croatian President Zoran Milanović held an emergency address to the public tonight in which he accused Prime Minister Andrej Plenković of an attack on the constitutional order.

"I have decided to warn the Croatian public of a serious threat to the constitutional-legal and democratic order being prepared by the government of Andrej Plenković. Yesterday I was informed that the government, contrary to the Constitution, intends to place the Military Security and Intelligence Agency under the direct management of the Ministry of Defense.

Instead of respecting the constitutional procedure for appointing the director of the Military Security and Intelligence Agency and contrary to established democratic practice, the government has prepared an unconstitutional solution according to which the temporary head of the agency would be appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Defense.

I want to be clear: this is a political coup by Andrej Plenković against the constitutional order and democracy, which returns Croatia to the era when intelligence services were under the direct control of the ruling party.

The HDZ government now wants, once again, party control over the Military Security and Intelligence Agency, which would in that case be completely exempt from democratic and civilian oversight.

As President of the Republic and also Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia, I call on the government not to do this, because I will be forced to react in accordance with my powers.

I have called before, and today I have again called on the Prime Minister, to talk and agree on a candidate for the new director of the military agency. He must be appointed as provided for by the Croatian Constitution: through agreement between the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, with the prior opinion of the Croatian Parliament.

Anything outside that constitutional procedure represents political violence that threatens the democratic order in the country.

I remind you, one of the foundations of the modern Croatian republic was placing the intelligence-security system under democratic control. This was done by separating the civilian intelligence service from the Ministry of the Interior and the military intelligence service from the Ministry of Defense.

Both services were placed under civilian oversight and management by the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, officials with the greatest democratic electoral legitimacy. In this way, the politicization of intelligence services was largely suppressed and the abuse of services by political parties in power was prevented.

Although I expected reason and responsibility towards the state to prevail in the Prime Minister, after his statement today I fear that he has long been planning a party coup against the Military Security and Intelligence Agency.

As is known, I proposed to the Prime Minister the dismissal of the current director of the agency back in September last year. I did so after receiving the results of an extraordinary oversight by the Office of the National Security Council, which confirmed suspicions of illegality in the work of that agency.

The Prime Minister also received the same finding, but he did not accept my initiative to dismiss the director.

The Prime Minister refused any discussion about a new director and to this day has not considered it necessary to agree on the name of the new director of the agency, although he is obliged to do so by the Constitution.

Instead of reaching an agreement, we witnessed blackmail by the Prime Minister who - through the Minister of Defense - independently proposed a candidate and demands that I accept him.

There is no candidate for director of the agency until the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister reach an agreement. This must also be known to all officers who have or will have the ambition to perform that job.

I am convinced that Croatian soldiers are honorable and responsible people who perform their duties professionally and lawfully and that they will not participate in the government's attacks on the constitutional order.

Nevertheless, it is my duty to warn that I will take all measures within the authority of the Supreme Commander against military personnel who would agree to participate in subordinating the Military Security and Intelligence Agency to political oversight and management by any political party.

And I call on the Prime Minister to stop the politicization of the military and the military agency that he obviously plans to carry out through the Ministry of Defense.

If the government succeeds in its intention to place one of the security agencies under party control, the same model threatens other institutions that are still under democratic control.

The now continuous actions and activities of the Prime Minister indicate that this is a plan to take over party control over all state institutions.

And not only over institutions, but strategic economic entities, such as the Croatian Electricity Company, have also been or are being subjugated in order to control the flow of money.

Suspicious and evident gas resale - which has been going on for days without any coherent explanation from the government - warns that everything can be covered up without sanctions if state institutions are run by one man. And if regulations are passed only to carry out his will or hide his failures, as in this case.

The Croatian public is mature enough to recognize the dangers posed by such actions, but I considered it my patriotic duty and obligation to also warn about this in this way," Milanović said.