"I wasn't informed of Croatia's position or of what was being agreed with the Americans," Mesic told the press while visiting Ingra company.
He underlined that it was not enough to say that his advisor could have informed him if he knew anything, or the military chief of staff, who knew something. "In the military the question is not who could have but who should have done something."
Mesic said the defence minister should have informed him of what was being negotiated because he was next in the chain of command after the supreme commander of the armed forces.
"If military exercises involving depleted uranium will be held in Croatia, we have to know it, the Croatian public has to know it. If all soldiers who might do something illegal will be exempted, or if they cause a car accident in which people are killed, and they aren't within our jurisdiction, we have to know this, we have to know why we are agreeing to it."
Mesic said Croatia had to know if its roads were going to be used free of charge.
"We have to know these things, just like we did before when we made similar arrangements because we wanted the war in Bosnia to end as soon as possible," he said, adding that in the early 1990s the situation was different than it is today because the war in Bosnia encumbered Croatia very much.
Mesic said he was not claiming that the memorandum signed with the United States was bad, but added that its signing had not followed the usual procedure.