Tonino Picula visited Kyiv last week, where he met with Andrii Yermak, head of the office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, Mayor of Kyiv Vitaly Klitschko and other Ukrainian officials. In an interview with Večernji list, the Croatian representative with perhaps the greatest foreign policy experience has no doubts that his colleagues in the Croatian Parliament should support Croatia's participation in the European military training mission for Ukrainian soldiers, EUMAM UA. The parliamentary vote on this is scheduled for December 15.
- I can only repeat my position, which I am even more convinced is correct after my visit to Kyiv, where I spoke with the Ukrainians about the current situation with the delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on Defense and Security. And that is that Ukraine really needs all kinds of help. First of all, military aid. Not only weapons, but to train Ukrainian soldiers to use weapons as efficiently as possible against the Russian aggressor. I fully understand that there are political disagreements about this in Croatia, they are justified in democracies. In Russia, no one protests about anything, but in countries with developed democracy, and Croatia as a member of the EU, that is or should be, it is natural that polemics arise about these issues. However, due to their sensitivity, some topics must help to overcome the political differences that arise. It would be good if the Croatian Parliament supported this mission to help Ukraine. All the more so since it would not be about anything revolutionary in Croatian politics, but about some kind of upgrade, because we decided from the very beginning that Ukraine should be helped. It is difficult for me to say at this moment how the Parliament will position itself in the vote, but it should show a kind of patience, as, for example, the ruling party and the opposition are showing with regard to the story surrounding the Constitution. Many things are being discussed in the Croatian Parliament at the same time, and it seems to me that one contaminates the other. This is perhaps one of the reasons why a number of MPs are hesitant to support this type of aid to Ukraine.
• Are you talking to SDP representatives? You are still a heavyweight in foreign policy within that party. Do you exchange opinions? and how do you predict that the SDP MPs will vote?
- SDP is certainly a party that tries to articulate its own position. It seems to me that this proposal that we sent to the authorities together with our colleagues from Mozemo is a good one. To simply get out of those trenches that were unnecessarily dug around the Ukrainian issue. That all of this should be repackaged into a segmentation of that aid, that it should be clearly stated what it is about, in order to remove any doubts that someone is claiming that Croatia is drawing a target for itself and unnecessarily getting involved in the war, which is not true. If I were a member of parliament, I would vote for this type of cooperation with Ukraine, along with all the other 18 countries participating in this aid program. I talked to the Ukrainians, and this is still information that can only be conveyed by someone who was there, on the ground, and I can say that they are extremely grateful to the European Union for this project, which has its material, but much more security-defense segment. This is support for an idea within the EU, which for a long time was completely passive in this matter, however, when aggression occurred in the immediate neighborhood, the EU gradually overcomes these internal differences when it comes to common security and defense policy. And Ukrainians are grateful to the European Union for that, to all the countries that participate in it. It would be absurd if Croatia could not overcome some internal political differences when it needs to help a victim of aggression, and it itself was a victim of brutal aggression about 30 years ago. That's my position. And it is difficult for me to say how fellow members of parliament will be appointed.
• When you say that some claim that Croatia is getting involved in war, it's not really "some", but the President of the Republic. He presents arguments that are essentially against Croatia's participation in that mission. How do you comment on that?
- It is, of course, a problem that has its own constitutional-legal and security dimension, but in my opinion it is a political issue. Croatia has previously participated in similar missions in non-NATO countries. There were no problems and the cooperation between the then presidents, the then prime ministers and the Parliament was in principle unquestionable. A question arose here. We now have, like many other countries, a Russian problem in the country. As far as I'm concerned, there shouldn't be any obstacles for Croatia to join this program. And here everyone is now positioning themselves with regard to their relationship with the government or some other political competitors. The Homeland Movement says that it is against it, that it is targeting the Croatian people, it seems to me that Most, as well as the president of the country. I don't agree with all that. I think that this is really an opportunity for Croatia to assert itself in the defense of an order that is threatened by authoritarian regimes in different parts of the world. Regardless of whether it is about China and their ambitions, Russia, or some other countries. This is an opportunity for us to position ourselves in that process. And the experience and the army that has active war experience on its territory, that is something that should be used politically. And that when it's most important.
