ZAGREB, April 23 (Hina) - The Office of President Stjepan Mesic on Friday issued a statement on Thursday's parliamentary debate on a bill on changes to the Law on Service in the Armed Forces in which it said that it did not want to
make judgements about the views presented in the debate but "react to some clearly malicious allegations and incorrect facts".
ZAGREB, April 23 (Hina) - The Office of President Stjepan Mesic on
Friday issued a statement on Thursday's parliamentary debate on a bill
on changes to the Law on Service in the Armed Forces in which it said
that it did not want to make judgements about the views presented in
the debate but "react to some clearly malicious allegations and
incorrect facts".#L#
The Office quoted media reports about Croatian Party of Rights MP Pero
Kovacevic saying during the debate that it was no wonder that the
situation in the Armed Forces was unsatisfactory considering the fact
that the Defence Law and the Law on the Armed Forces lacked by-laws.
President Stjepan Mesic failed to pass six such regulations from
within his jurisdiction, the defence minister as many as 17 and the
government five, Kovacevic said, criticising the government for
failing to propose a long-term plan for the development of the Armed
Forces, a defence plan, and the army's war-time structure.
The statement from the Office of the President reads that the Law on
Service in the Armed Forces does define the rules of conduct in the
Armed Forces which are adopted by the President of the Republic.
"However, we are confident that as a long-standing employee of the
Defence Ministry Kovacevic knows very well that those laws already
exist. Those are the so-called general rules of conduct in the Armed
Forces," the Office said recalling that under Article 201 of the Law
on Service in the Armed Forces all regulations (cited in the
statement) were in force.
(Hina) rml