Croatia Rejects Joining EU Support Mission for Ukraine

Dec. 18, 2022 (EIRNS)—Croatian lawmakers narrowly rejected a proposal on Dec. 16 to have the country should join an EU mission in support of the Ukrainian military, after hours of heated debate, reflecting the deep divisions between the premier and the country’s President, reported Reuters. A two-thirds majority was needed to agree to the proposal that would have included allowing up to 100 Ukrainian troops to be trained in Croatia over the next two years, which President Zoran Milanovic, the supreme commander of Croatia’s armed forces, opposed.

Of the 107 who voted in the 151-seat parliament, 97 supported it, 10 voted against. (It seems that the rules require two-thirds vote of the entire parliament, not just of the quorum present and voting.)

According to Reuters, opposition deputies said they did not want to become hostages to the top leaders’ political disagreement—the prime minister is a gung-ho NATO supporter, but President Zoran Milanovic is not. They said the constitution does not envisage parliamentary votes on matters normally approved by the President in agreement with the government