"The contents of the memorandum and preparations for that international agreement were in compliance with law regulating the conclusion of international agreements and the Croatian Defence Law and Constitution," Minister Roncevic told NOVA TV station on Saturday evening commenting on a statement which President Stjepan Mesic gave earlier in the day when he said Minister Roncevic should have informed him, the supreme commander of the Armed Forces, about the memorandum signed in July on cooperation between the Croatian and US armies.
Roncevic responded that the memorandum was "an international agreement of military nature" and that" the government compiled its draft, which was sent into parliamentary procedure to be confirmed".
Commenting on President Mesic's statement that under the new regulations on the chain of command, "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", the defence minister said that "such relations between the head of state and the defence minister have been at work since 2002 when the Defence Law was amended".
Reiterating that he had examined pertinent materials in the defence ministry's archives, Roncevic said that acts of this kind had never been sent to the President of the Republic (as the supreme commander) for previous approval. "Thus, we have acted absolutely in line with law this time, too," Roncevic said.
Commenting on the relations between the President of the Republic who is the Supreme Commander and the Defence Minister, Roncevic said that he "is a minister in the government and he cannot define the pace and frequency of contacts and talks with the President".
"The President is the person who can ask this from me. I told him that I am absolutely willing to inform him of any issue from the scope of activities of the Defence Ministry whenever he calls me. When I stepped in office the practice was regular weekly briefings for the President," Roncevic said.
Commenting on the singing of the US-Croatian memorandum, he added that the document was not unknown in the public.
"The memorandum was concluded in July. the Croatian press reported on the memorandum. Mesic's foreign policy advisor was notified, through one official letter, of the memorandum. Upon my return from Washington when we held annual bilateral consultations in the defence sector with the United States, I complied and signed a note and forwarded it to the office of the President. Therefore, the memorandum and its signing was not unknown in the Office of the President, Roncevic added.