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20260808 070000 UTC
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[00:00:07] Welcome back, as we announced at the very beginning
[00:00:11] of the show, today we have a conversation with the Minister
[00:00:14] of Environmental Protection and Green Transition, Ms. Marija
[00:00:18] Vučković. Ms. Vučković, good morning and welcome to
[00:00:22] N1 Television. Good morning, thank you for the invitation, greetings to all
[00:00:26] viewers, and thank you for waiting for us given these...
[00:00:30] streams of press conferences.
[00:00:32] You're welcome. Let's start, then, with this ecological
[00:00:36] catastrophe in Gospić and all
[00:00:39] its dimensions that are slowly
[00:00:43] unfolding since yesterday. USKOK (Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime) has therefore published the expert's
[00:00:47] finding, which confirms this serious environmental
[00:00:49] pollution. Does this finding change
[00:00:53] the plan of your ministry for remediation,
[00:00:57] or does it remain the same?
[00:00:59] Well... I wouldn't say that the extent of the ecological
[00:01:03] has only been revealed since yesterday. In fact, since the first
[00:01:06] USKOK statement,
[00:01:09] we have practically always been talking about a crime against the environment,
[00:01:13] a criminal offense against the environment, about pollution
[00:01:16] and its consequences for soil, air, and water.
[00:01:20] Likewise, all initiated procurement procedures of the Ministry
[00:01:23] of Environmental Protection and Green Transition have stated
[00:01:26] that it is hazardous waste. When
[00:01:30] we talk about hazardous waste, we know what properties approximately
[00:01:34] make it hazardous waste. Of course, this report is much
[00:01:37] more detailed. It was practically about setting up
[00:01:40] boreholes in order to determine
[00:01:44] the depth, scope,
[00:01:47] and as much information as possible about the composition
[00:01:50] of this very heterogeneous waste. Every such
[00:01:54] request, such a job
[00:01:57] requires a lot of time, and it helps
[00:02:00] us further in remediation. Now, as far
[00:02:03] as we are concerned, we currently have two open public procurement procedures
[00:02:06] underway. One deals with hazardous waste, and it concerns
[00:02:10] approximately 4 and a half thousand tons of waste, which
[00:02:13] is called the so-called "black pile", and
[00:02:17] a smaller one for 650 tons which is characterized as
[00:02:20] non-hazardous. That's how I read this comprehensive report
[00:02:24] from the Geotechnical Faculty. That's how it's stated in this
[00:02:28] report. The permanent and
[00:02:31] most significant topic of all discussions
[00:02:34] and inquiries from the media and the public
[00:02:38] is the waste that we call phase
[00:02:42] three, which is this buried waste
[00:02:44] which, according to the report of the Geotechnical
[00:02:48] Faculty, is approximately 32,000
[00:02:52] tons, if we are talking about tons. We will see what the summation shows. It is a very complex
[00:02:55] and difficult process. Ms. Vučković, what about
[00:02:59] the presence of these PFAS, if
[00:03:02] I read it correctly, compounds? These are those eternal
[00:03:05] chemicals, which also cause great
[00:03:09] concern in the public. That's why I'm
[00:03:11] asking you, what can all of this affect? Is it
[00:03:15] groundwater, sources of drinking water that this can
[00:03:19] affect, and how will you as the ministry then
[00:03:22] deal with it? What will be the plan, how will you even
[00:03:26] approach this? I think,
[00:03:28] I think that it's primarily
[00:03:33] waste, to invite them to a question for experts who have determined it. It's not good for me to
[00:03:35] interpret those findings. What I could see is
[00:03:39] that the researchers from the Geotechnical
[00:03:43] Faculty were examining the potential
[00:03:46] potential presence of several
[00:03:48] PFAS
[00:03:51] substances, and that one was identified, it seems to me, but I
[00:03:54] wouldn't want to make a mistake, it's very easy to make a mistake here, and experts
[00:03:58] need to discuss this. As for the work
[00:04:01] of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Green Fund for Environmental
[00:04:06] remediation. This means at the place Protection, we are adhering to remediation, we want it to be as
[00:04:10] fast as possible. We openly asked, uh,
[00:04:13] we openly asked if there really is an urgent
[00:04:16] urgent remediation procedure for such
[00:04:20] heterogeneous waste. There isn't. Initially, it was communicated
[00:04:24] that an urgent negotiated procedure was needed, so when we
[00:04:27] asked what it would bring, it... it can bring 15 or
[00:04:31] 30 days, but what does it bring in the process
[00:04:34] of disposing of hazardous heterogeneous waste, which usually
[00:04:37] takes much much longer? We did not
[00:04:41] get an answer to that question. More participants
[00:04:44] in such a conversation can confirm this. So, as far as we are concerned,
[00:04:48] we have, we have already in the latest inquiries regarding
[00:04:52] only Storm, but also buried waste, gone with a conservative method,
[00:04:54] and to everyone we sent a market research
[00:04:57] inquiry due to the principle
[00:05:00] of precaution, we wrote that we assume the waste
[00:05:03] is ecotoxic. So we have already included
[00:05:07] that possibility in the market research even before
[00:05:11] this announcement. Here we have archival
[00:05:14] footage that is now playing, I don't know if you could see it, but it's not
[00:05:18] that important. But we see the citizens of Gospić who had
[00:05:21] protested this issue earlier. What
[00:05:24] I want to ask you is, the Chief State Attorney Ivan Turudić said that
[00:05:28] the public should have been truly
[00:05:31] correctly informed about the extent of the pollution.
[00:05:34] Uh, do you think that the citizens of Gospić were adequately
[00:05:38] informed at all about the
[00:05:41] extent of the danger that was
[00:05:44] so close to them and still is?
[00:05:47] Well, as the Chief State Attorney
[00:05:51] said, citizens always deserve full
[00:05:53] information. As for us and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and
[00:05:57] Green Transition, we published the analyses
[00:06:01] available to us in procurement procedures. Likewise, at the
[00:06:05] request of citizens, who blamed us for why such analyses
[00:06:09] would be in a procurement procedure, even though they were available in market research
[00:06:12] procedures, and ultimately everyone said they had
[00:06:16] read them, at their request, we also
[00:06:19] published them separately on the websites of the Environmental Protection Fund and
[00:06:22] the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green
[00:06:26] Transition. So we have constantly acted on these
[00:06:29] requests. For certain analyses, time was also needed.
[00:06:32] If we have read the report of the Geotechnical Faculty, even though I
[00:06:36] am not an expert and should not
[00:06:40] go into detail about it because it's very easy... very easy
[00:06:43] to make a mistake, I understood that a basic report was published.
[00:06:47] It's about research, geotechnical works,
[00:06:50] setting up boreholes, boreholes, testing
[00:06:53] various samples. But additional research was done,
[00:06:56] so these findings could not be published
[00:07:00] before they were finished. And if we look at how such
[00:07:04] procedures are done in other countries, it is
[00:07:08] difficult for me to notice significant differences, and I am aware that
[00:07:11] citizens want it to be removed as soon as possible. However, we owe it to them
[00:07:15] to tell the truth and try to reach them with this
[00:07:19] truth. We immediately started all procedures that were possible
[00:07:22] at that time. It must be said now
[00:07:25] openly that in Croatia there is no
[00:07:28] hazardous waste landfill, that there is no energy plant. That is why
[00:07:32] our previous activities through
[00:07:35] market research are significantly directed towards the international
[00:07:39] market. We send inquiries to entities abroad.
[00:07:42] "We constantly conduct consultations with our
[00:07:45] legal entities that have appropriate permits,
[00:07:48] and we hope that we will succeed in doing this as soon as possible.
[00:07:52] But when I ask what urgent
[00:07:55] remediation is, there is no answer. There is no urgent
[00:07:58] remediation for such a heterogeneous composition of waste. There is a negotiated
[00:08:02] procedure, and now after all these analyses, we can
[00:08:05] consider what we said at the meeting with citizens
[00:08:08] at the end of July. But, uh, it will be difficult for anyone."
[00:08:12] to say, it is difficult for anyone to explain what "urgent remediation" is, which
[00:08:16] began to be used as a term, and in
[00:08:19] doing so, citizens are justifiably concerned. It is, as I said,
[00:08:23] a serious criminal offense against the environment with long-term
[00:08:26] consequences, and we will do everything to
[00:08:29] thoroughly, for us to thoroughly
[00:08:33] remediate it, and we will listen to the request of citizens that
[00:08:36] before the start of official open procedures, we are now
[00:08:40] researching the market for this third phase, which is that buried
[00:08:45] a meeting, present all possible
[00:08:48] variants, and argue for the variant that we
[00:08:52] advocate for. We can also say today what the possible
[00:08:55] variants are if you, well, consider it necessary.
[00:08:59] You can, go ahead, go ahead.
[00:09:02] So, the variant that citizens are not inclined to, but there
[00:09:06] are experts, there
[00:09:08] are experts who consider it necessary
[00:09:12] to analyze is the so-called technical in-situ
[00:09:15] in-situ
[00:09:19] where it was. Citizens are full of distrust towards that,
[00:09:23] and we are not inclined to consider that
[00:09:26] variant in more detail, although
[00:09:30] there are experts who consider it necessary to
[00:09:33] consider. The next variants are disposal at hazardous waste
[00:09:37] landfills abroad. We have sent, I am now talking about buried
[00:09:40] waste, this waste which is called the so-called black pile, and
[00:09:44] waste which is non-hazardous waste in so-called big bags
[00:09:48] is in official procurement procedures that last until
[00:09:51] July 10th with a probable extension until August
[00:09:54] 10th with a probable extension until August 25th. So we have
[00:09:58] contacted 11 official hazardous waste landfills
[00:10:01] abroad, and we have sent inquiries to
[00:10:05] four former salt mines that are now authorized to
[00:10:09] receive such waste. Of course, we are in contact... with
[00:10:12] incinerators. Likewise, legal entities
[00:10:16] that have, that have shown a certain
[00:10:19] economic interest, were in contact with potential
[00:10:23] partners abroad. Samples, those incinerators
[00:10:26] were analyzed. In this way, we also came up with new
[00:10:30] procedures, that is, given the subsequently
[00:10:34] shown increased chlorine content, to an increase in procurement
[00:10:37] prices and an extension of the implementation time. Minister
[00:10:41] Vučković, this case which is now,
[00:10:44] and you rightly corrected me, is not only
[00:10:48] from now, but has been warning
[00:10:51] about the danger of this illegal landfill in
[00:10:55] Gospić for some time now. Can this case serve
[00:10:58] as a kind of alarm so that
[00:11:02] stricter controls and
[00:11:05] supervision can be introduced to prevent
[00:11:08] such cases of potential landfills
[00:11:11] in the future?
[00:11:14] prevent them.
[00:11:17] Well, first it must be said that the Ministry of Environmental Protection Fund is currently
[00:11:20] dealing with several black spots and several
[00:11:24] locations.
[00:11:28] waste-contaminated situations. For all of them, we decided
[00:11:31] to find money, to promise remediation, to take over that
[00:11:35] remediation given the insufficient financial and technical
[00:11:38] capacities. We must take all of them equally into account.
[00:11:42] There are some other black spots that are in the official plan, which
[00:11:45] also have potentially a very
[00:11:49] severe, very severe, very great danger to groundwater.
[00:11:53] It is also about areas, and we
[00:11:56] are trying to do all of this. We publish
[00:11:59] procurements, we implement remediation procedures. We see what
[00:12:03] happened with Biljane Donje, the Varaždin bales have been remediated,
[00:12:07] we have received offers
[00:12:10] for Pazin.
[00:12:12] Excuse me, for Samobor, for Pazin, no. There, a remediation
[00:12:16] plan has been made. We are repeating part of the procurement for
[00:12:19] Sovijak, unfortunately due to certain actions which
[00:12:22] according to the processes were not in accordance with the law, we
[00:12:26] are dealing with this very seriously and have taken over
[00:12:29] additional points. Secondly, it must be said that in the Waste Management
[00:12:33] Act, all stakeholders have some responsibility.
[00:12:36] The communal inspection should inspect, local government units
[00:12:40] should adopt decisions on preventing
[00:12:43] illegal waste disposal, they should fence off the
[00:12:47] area where it is discovered. In this case, for example, the city of
[00:12:51] Gospić recently requested our financial assistance, and we confirmed it. I
[00:12:55] don't know what, uh, what they, uh, took
[00:12:58] action on after that. For example, the area is partly in the ecological
[00:13:02] network. Public institutions for the management of protected natural areas, their
[00:13:05] rangers, especially the chief park ranger should also inspect the location,
[00:13:09] issue decisions. The environmental
[00:13:11] protection inspection has its responsibility. In this case,
[00:13:15] in 2024, there was an inspection, which ended
[00:13:18] with the revocation of the permit, and then unfortunately, with some
[00:13:21] renewed, as far as I understood, issuance. The Ministry
[00:13:24] of Environmental Protection and Green Transition believes that it is obviously
[00:13:27] necessary to further tighten measures. That is why we
[00:13:30] urgently started last year amending the Waste Management Act.
[00:13:34] We recently presented it in the second
[00:13:38] public consultation, given how important that law is,
[00:13:41] how much we will tighten certain measures,
[00:13:44] we planned to additionally introduce additional expert
[00:13:48] supervisions in other laws, namely the new Environmental Protection Act,
[00:13:52] from the Ministry, because it is
[00:13:56] evident that it is necessary. We have prepared
[00:13:58] a draft agreement with the Customs Administration and the State
[00:14:02] Inspectorate of the Republic of Croatia in order to further
[00:14:05] improve cooperation in the field of transboundary waste
[00:14:09] movements. We have prescribed additional obligations to local self-government
[00:14:13] units. They have their responsibilities, for example, in all
[00:14:16] these cases, and in Poznanovec,
[00:14:19] in Pazin, in
[00:14:22] Gospić, and in all just. "In all
[00:14:25] cases, unfortunately, well, without wanting to point fingers at anyone,
[00:14:29] it was not about permits issued by the Ministry of Environmental
[00:14:32] Protection and Green Transition. So we are changing
[00:14:35] the law. We constantly, uh, although
[00:14:38] the inspection should be independent, since we are currently using geo
[00:14:42] portals and reviewing suspicious locations, we are requesting additional
[00:14:46] written procedures from the inspection. We have prepared
[00:14:49] a draft agreement which I am confident
[00:14:53] will be signed, and I am truly striving"
[00:14:55] to prevent such cases from recurring, or rather, to
[00:14:59] reduce the possibility of their
[00:15:02] recurrence. And Ms. Ms.
[00:15:05] Vučković, thank you very much for this report,
[00:15:09] waiting, and these messages to
[00:15:13] the public. We hope that remediation will truly happen
[00:15:16] as soon as possible. This was Minister Marija
[00:15:20] Vušković,
[00:15:21] Vučković.
[00:15:42] For a weekend full of fresh air, head to Plodine.
[00:15:46] Plodine butchery, fresh ćevapčići, a kilogram for
[00:15:49] 5.29. Siriko 100g,
[00:15:52] only 1 euro 39. Domestic eggs 10 pieces,
[00:15:56] excellent value 1 euro 49 sweet
[00:15:58] apricots, only 1 euro 49. Plodine
[00:16:02] always on
[00:16:03] sale.
[00:16:24] We are now going to Dubrovnik where Mr. Marinko Krešić, President
[00:16:28] of the Croatian Generals' Assembly, is waiting for us.
[00:16:31] Mr. Krešić, welcome to N1 Television.
[00:16:34] Good to find you. Good
[00:16:38] day. Let's start, perhaps, we've
[00:16:41] heard a lot today about Operation Storm,
[00:16:44] but we are also interested in your perspective: when
[00:16:48] did it become clear that the Croatian Army was
[00:16:51] ready for this final
[00:16:54] operation?
[00:16:57] The Croatian Army had preparations from the very beginning
[00:17:00] of the Log Revolution, where it carried out
[00:17:04] thorough restructuring of the army.
[00:17:08] With the establishment of the Guard Brigades, we gained strength
[00:17:12] and unity, where the Guard Brigades carried out preparations through the first
[00:17:16] actions that you probably heard about from
[00:17:19] '92 and '93. It showed its true strength
[00:17:22] three months before Storm, in an operation called
[00:17:26] Flash, where in that action, within
[00:17:29] 42 hours, we liberated the main
[00:17:33] route that went from Zagreb towards Vukovar.
[00:17:36] That was an action
[00:17:40] of the army and the Croatian police limited only to that
[00:17:43] area. At that time, the Croatian army showed its
[00:17:47] strength. We continued to train and work, and even
[00:17:50] before Operation Storm itself, it was important that
[00:17:53] the Croatian army, especially, was
[00:17:56] engaged, uh, by the Split Military District led by
[00:17:59] Ante Gotovina, where
[00:18:03] the Split Military District Command had great
[00:18:06] successes since... from
[00:18:08] 1994,
[00:18:11] when an operation called Winter was conducted, and later Jump One, Jump
[00:18:14] Two, so that in the summer of '95, almost at the end of July,
[00:18:18] where I myself was a participant,
[00:18:20] Knin was, let's say, comprehensively liberated,
[00:18:24] so that such a magnificent operation Storm could be carried out
[00:18:28] and written down for all time in the history of the Croatian
[00:18:31] people. What was the most difficult in preparing
[00:18:35] for Storm itself?
[00:18:38] Well, the most difficult part was
[00:18:41] to, uh,
[00:18:44] to collect enough weapons that the Croatian army did
[00:18:48] not have. We needed time. At the same time, we
[00:18:51] followed the peace initiatives that were being conducted
[00:18:55] by the presidency and actually President Franjo Tuđman, where we hoped
[00:18:58] that with the entry of UNPROFOR,
[00:19:01] international forces, we might not even
[00:19:05] need to have a clash. Such
[00:19:08] actions, however, as time passed, it became clear
[00:19:12] that we had to prepare, that actually all the offered
[00:19:15] options to the rebellious Serbs were
[00:19:18] extended hands in principle. If they had accepted
[00:19:22] Plan Z4, Croatia would have had another
[00:19:25] state within Croatia. For that
[00:19:28] reason, the third last chance before
[00:19:31] Storm, negotiations were held in Geneva, and truly
[00:19:34] the greatest responsibility must be attributed to the Serbian
[00:19:38] side for not accepting peace. If they had accepted peace,
[00:19:42] there would have been no Storm, there would have been a state within a state,
[00:19:45] there would have been Croatia, but there would have been communications and
[00:19:49] coexistence. Thus, we were forced,
[00:19:52] the only way to
[00:19:55] carry out Operation Storm was to establish
[00:19:58] communications, road routes, and everything else that was
[00:20:02] blocked by the rebellious, well,
[00:20:05] Serbs. Unfortunately, no war
[00:20:08] brought good to anyone, not even this Homeland War. We suffered great
[00:20:11] losses, so we are grateful, as you heard,
[00:20:15] 245 of our soldiers
[00:20:18] and police officers died, 1450 were
[00:20:21] wounded, and many more fell ill
[00:20:24] as a result of that military action, not
[00:20:29] the complete four years of the Homeland War throughout
[00:20:32] Croatia, from Vukovar all the way to Dubrovnik.
[00:20:36] The Croatian Army prepared through the Guard
[00:20:40] Brigades, conducting exercises that were
[00:20:43] indeed demanding, and where we worked with a lot
[00:20:46] of energy and strength under an embargo.
[00:20:50] "The import of weapons. These were capable teams that one needs to
[00:20:53] know about. If three or four MiGs transferred
[00:20:57] from the JNA, how did Croatia have 26 MiGs
[00:21:00] during Operation Storm that were actually in the sky at
[00:21:04] 5:00 AM and started
[00:21:08] to hit the command centers
[00:21:10] and telecommunication centers in order to, in order to
[00:21:14] disable telecommunication, that is, to establish
[00:21:17] connections between the enemy? It was intended
[00:21:20] to be done quickly, fiercely, to have
[00:21:23] as few casualties as possible. In relation to 1/3
[00:21:27] of Croatia being liberated, we must
[00:21:30] admit that the casualties were indeed, thank God,
[00:21:33] small, we can say on both sides. In
[00:21:36] such actions and such conflicts, which you can follow today
[00:21:40] and see, the casualties are indeed greater
[00:21:43] and more violent. For us, the command was to have as few
[00:21:47] as possible, as few as possible, to have, well, as I would say,
[00:21:50] casualties, and we are grateful to all those
[00:21:54] who listened to the voice of reason. Mr.
[00:21:58] Krešić, you spoke just now, and you also mentioned the embargo
[00:22:02] on arms imports. On the other hand, you spoke about the
[00:22:05] assistance that Croatia received and the ways in which
[00:22:08] it managed, especially in this period towards
[00:22:11] the end of the war itself. We haven't discussed the
[00:22:15] United States today until now. The role of
[00:22:18] American strategists in Operation Storm is often discussed,
[00:22:22] and it seems to us that a lot of it is mystified. Was
[00:22:25] it about technological assistance, military, or military
[00:22:29] training by American companies to the Croatian
[00:22:32] army? What was the actual role of the United
[00:22:36] States of America in
[00:22:36] Operation Storm?
[00:22:40] Yes, you framed the question well. There were many
[00:22:43] theses in the media, thank you for the question, where
[00:22:47] actually, when our air force
[00:22:50] performed its task so well at 5:00
[00:22:53] AM on the main communication
[00:22:56] hubs, on the command posts where
[00:23:00] actually the initial enemy positions
[00:23:04] were destroyed, the story appeared that American
[00:23:07] forces had done it. Well, that's incredible, American forces
[00:23:11] did nothing there, but they asked when Operation Storm began,
[00:23:15] General Vono, General Griffith and others, to actually
[00:23:19] be observers. "Not even in the headquarters where I was, if they could
[00:23:22] follow the course of events. They
[00:23:26] came as a company that helped in the training
[00:23:30] of the Croatian army later with their vision and experience,
[00:23:33] and before that they also helped in the Croatian
[00:23:36] military academy, just as they help other countries. So we are
[00:23:40] ready to help anyone to train an army so that it never
[00:23:44] uses it, but that it can guarantee the security of the country
[00:23:47] from which it comes. So, there is no doubt that the
[00:23:51] United States of America. We were partners, we were not in
[00:23:55] NATO, but there was no military aid, except
[00:23:59] that we had, I don't know, a couple of technical things that we
[00:24:02] imported, where we could, let's say, better,
[00:24:05] have drones. At that time, in real
[00:24:09] space, they gave us real signals
[00:24:12] to the enemy, where we knew the data, and where electronic
[00:24:15] warfare in the Homeland War, especially Storm,
[00:24:18] was worthy of all praise." to say that the devices were still from
[00:24:22] the Vietnam War era, you can imagine, but our
[00:24:26] capable people trained everything. We had
[00:24:29] real footage of the situation on the ground so that we
[00:24:32] could avoid casualties, so that
[00:24:35] we wouldn't excessively shell where
[00:24:38] there are civilian civilian objects and actually where there are
[00:24:41] civilians. General Krešić, given
[00:24:44] today's technology
[00:24:49] and the ways of war we are witnessing,
[00:24:52] would Operation Storm be equally
[00:24:56] equally successful in today's context,
[00:25:00] so to speak, or how much more complex would it be given all
[00:25:03] the technologies that are now available to the
[00:25:07] army?
[00:25:11] I'll explain this briefly. I am of the opinion,
[00:25:14] and it's very
[00:25:15] simple.
[00:25:20] Excuse me for some interference. It is very simple to say that
[00:25:23] actually, without the human factor, which is
[00:25:27] man, we won with people.
[00:25:30] Technology, the way we have modern wars today where
[00:25:34] where where actually you see drones
[00:25:38] and actually technology has gone very
[00:25:42] far, which the Croatian army also follows, surely this kind of
[00:25:45] approach is for the study of future young
[00:25:48] generations, but... I believe that without
[00:25:51] the human factor, without a trained soldier, without
[00:25:55] the human factor, there is no victory. This is proven now in
[00:25:59] according to me, here's what Russia and Ukraine are doing, it's...
[00:26:02] the issue of the Middle East, everything is fine, everything is,
[00:26:06] unfortunately there are great human losses, but where a human
[00:26:09] boot disappears, meaning a soldier, there is no freedom there, there is no
[00:26:13] peace, therefore, we stepped into every
[00:26:17] city and established order and discipline
[00:26:19] and a large part during the action itself, no
[00:26:23] damage, no harm was done,
[00:26:26] however, it is possible that there were sporadic events later
[00:26:30] that we could not control, but in... the operation
[00:26:33] Storm we had everything under
[00:26:36] control, Mr. Krešić,
[00:26:39] today there was really no need to deal with
[00:26:42] incidents, because there were none at this
[00:26:45] commemoration in Knin, when we talk
[00:26:48] about daily politics and the state leadership in the Republic
[00:26:51] of Croatia, however, it seems that the story continued
[00:26:55] that culminated relatively recently
[00:26:59] with the parade in France, here we are talking about... the relationship
[00:27:02] between the president of the state and the prime minister, i.e. Zoran Milanović
[00:27:06] and Andrej Plenković, how do you comment on the fact that
[00:27:10] at the ceremony, at the celebration in Knin,
[00:27:13] they sat with one person between them,
[00:27:17] Mr. General Pua it was, how much is that,
[00:27:20] how do you see it, how dangerous is that or
[00:27:23] not, especially in the days of commemorating this
[00:27:26] event?
[00:27:31] Well, it's sad. I, like most veterans,
[00:27:35] Croatian veterans fought for the Croatian state and the Croatian people and
[00:27:38] all citizens, we wanted and brought peace,
[00:27:42] we want today's government, which
[00:27:45] was elected, of course, to work for the common good
[00:27:48] of the Croatian people and all its citizens, I don't see it
[00:27:52] well that any, that
[00:27:55] not to say, well, uh
[00:27:59] arguing or not on good terms, certainly...
[00:28:02] no, the two of them must meet and
[00:28:05] agree, because it's not time for any
[00:28:08] discussions, who is right or not, but for Croatia to move
[00:28:12] forward, since we know that we are in NATO, since we know that we are in the European
[00:28:16] Union and some common things that the issue of
[00:28:19] the army must be resolved, it cannot be resolved without
[00:28:22] the prime minister, but it cannot be resolved without
[00:28:25] the president of the state either, I think that
[00:28:28] they will finally understand, that they will offer a hand so that...
[00:28:32] actually private, if there are some things, let them
[00:28:36] clear them up, and actually it's not good that
[00:28:39] anyone contradicts anything, especially
[00:28:42] the victorious Croatian army, bringing into question
[00:28:46] the Croatian army, bringing into question Operation Storm, bringing all
[00:28:49] the actions of us veterans into question, I think that no one has the right to argue
[00:28:53] over veterans and over those who created and defended this
[00:28:57] country, whether he is called the president of the republic or the parliament
[00:29:00] or anyone else. "I think the message is that
[00:29:04] it's time for them to sit down and actually discuss
[00:29:08] possible things, just like the Pope is elected, until they let out smoke, let them
[00:29:11] close the discussions, the public doesn't even need to know, let them say later that
[00:29:15] there will be no more unnecessary disputes, it is possible that
[00:29:18] they need to clear things up, I will emphasize this again,
[00:29:22] the contentious points that are in question
[00:29:25] of the supreme commander and the prime minister, if such
[00:29:29] points exist, let them be discussed and why not change those provisions
[00:29:32] by unity, so that the demarcation is known
[00:29:35] for who is responsible for what, because
[00:29:39] in principle, both General Kundid and
[00:29:42] the command that leads the army
[00:29:45] must do the job that is normal for the supreme commander, but of course
[00:29:49] also submit accounts to those who elected him, that is the prime minister, that
[00:29:53] is the parliament, they had the opportunity today
[00:29:56] for the two of them to shake hands, well they didn't do it,
[00:30:00] we won't go into their uh... reasons, however
[00:30:03] here, you touched on General Kundid, how do
[00:30:07] you see the situation in which two
[00:30:11] mountains, two men actually argue
[00:30:15] over General
[00:30:16] Kundid's back?
[00:30:19] Well, I don't see it well, my opinion is that if I were in his
[00:30:23] place, I am not a corporal or
[00:30:26] a sergeant that someone will call me, come up here little one, he is the commander
[00:30:29] of the Croatian army certainly... "Without those
[00:30:33] arguments, General Kundid would have definitely come, of course, submitted
[00:30:36] accounts to both the Parliament and the government regarding the state of the
[00:30:40] Croatian army, and of course to the supreme commander, the president
[00:30:44] of the state. I think it is not good that
[00:30:47] such an uh, how shall I say, for the future
[00:30:51] of the Croatian army, that anyone is in disfavor
[00:30:55] and cannot do their job.
[00:30:58] General Kundid is from'.