The President of Croatia, Zoran Milanovićhas indicated that he will order the Croatian ambassador to NATO, Mario Nobilo, to vote against the accession of Sweden and Finland to the alliance. The president seeks to condition the croatia vote to be modified electoral law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“It would not be an act against Finland and Sweden, but for Croatia. In that case, an incredible interest in Croatia and its problems would be born at the same time,” he said in a statement published on Wednesday.
Milanovic has said that the decision was made after the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković did not accept his invitation to convene national security and discuss “Croatia’s position and what must be done to protect the rights of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
Milanovic has assured that he will consider “traitors” to all those who give their approval to the enlargement of NATO with the entry of Sweden and Finland, without having previously reformed the electoral law in the Bosnian country.
However, the mess is served, since the position of the president of Croatia is contrary to that of the Government of the country. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has been adamant about the possibility of addressing the entry of Sweden and Finland. “The position against the expansion of NATO is pro-Russian. A very damaging catastrophe for Croatia,” said the leader of the Croatian Executive.
In the same sense, the Foreign Minister, Gordan Grlic Radman, who has assured that the Croatian representative in NATO has his instructions to accept the requests from Finland and Sweden. “The entry of both countries is welcome,” the minister reiterated on Wednesday on regional television N1.
It must be remembered that the Croatian law states that foreign policy is developed jointly by the government and the presidentwho as head of state plays an essentially protocol role.
Despite this, President Milanovic insists that the entry of Finland and Sweden must be vetoed, an opinion that the Executive censors, since it accuses him of being pro-Russian and related to Vladimir Putin. “It is anti-European to propose this type of blackmail. The president damages the country’s prestige on the international scene with his statements,” Radman commented yesterday.
The key dates of accession
During the Summit of the Atlantic Alliance to be held on June 29 and 30 in Madrid, the allies could acknowledge receipt of the accession applications of Finland and Sweden and formally invite them to join the organization to become the member states 31 and 32.
The Secretary General of NATO, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, has publicly stated that accession to the Stockholm and Helsinki Alliance could take place relatively quickly. “I can’t say how long it will take, but you can go fast if you want,” he said last month.
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