"Under new legislation the defence minister is part of the chain of command, and if someone should have informed the supreme commander about (the memorandum), it's the minister," Mesic told the press commenting on Roncevic's claim that it was not him, but the military chief of staff who should have informed the president .
"The memorandum has been signed, and if someone from the military led the negotiations, I should have been informed. That's all," said Mesic, adding the memorandum referred to essential issues such as Croatia-US military cooperation. "I am in favour of cooperation, but I should know the terms and why something is being agreed."
Mesic said someone could not excuse themselves by claiming that before, things were different because the defence minister was not part of the chain of command. Asked if he would ask for Roncevic's resignation, he said, "We'll see. I'm just stating the facts. I'm not ruling anything out".
Roncevic said yesterday the chain of command had not been violated and that before, documents such as the memorandum in question had never been submitted to the president for approval. He added that the military chief of staff, Josip Lucic, who has weekly briefings with Mesic, had been fully informed of the memorandum.
Speaking of the content of the memorandum, Mesic said it could be checked and certainly corrected.
The press asked if he would demand the resignation of Counterintelligence Agency (POA) chief Josko Podbevsek in the wake of the case of journalist Helena Puljiz, who lodged a complaint claiming that POA had interrogated and blackmailed her while asking questions about her work and a former presidential aide.
Mesic said he had received information to the effect that POA agents were asking questions about some events and the work of his office in general. "Until the Helena Puljiz case I thought it wasn't that important, that it was a case of some employees' clumsiness."
Mesic said he was not convinced that everything was done legally after Puljiz "came out with her truth," given that she was "called to POA's official premises, was brought to a wired room for five hours, but no minutes were made of this."
He underlined that he was speaking based on what he read in the media, but added he received a report from Podbevsek which said that everything had been done properly. Asked if he believed Podbevsek, Mesic said he would see after receiving the final report.
Asked to comment on press allegations that the collecting of signatures for the presidential candidate of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Jadranka Kosor, had begun, Mesic said that if this was correct the collecting was not in line with the law. "If someone thinks they will win more votes because they will collect signatures (for the candidacy) sooner, they are deluding themselves."