ZAGREB, Sept 22 (Hina) - The Croatian government sent into regular parliamentary procedure a new draft defence bill Friday, which should be passed by the end of the year, or early next year, when the defence system reform is to start.
The new bill regulates the president's, government's and Sabor's jurisdictions in adopting important defence and internal security decisions. It also prescribes in detail the makeup and functioning of the defence system and command and democratic control of the armed forces. A significant novelty the bill puts forward is the balance between the three highest state institutions - the president, the government, and the parliament - in adopting defence and security decisions. The fundamental conceptual defence document would be Republic of Croatia's Defence Strategy, which would be proposed by the government with the president's agreement, and adopted by the parliament. The two addition
ZAGREB, Sept 22 (Hina) - The Croatian government sent into regular
parliamentary procedure a new draft defence bill Friday, which
should be passed by the end of the year, or early next year, when the
defence system reform is to start.
The new bill regulates the president's, government's and Sabor's
jurisdictions in adopting important defence and internal security
decisions.
It also prescribes in detail the makeup and functioning of the
defence system and command and democratic control of the armed
forces.
A significant novelty the bill puts forward is the balance between
the three highest state institutions - the president, the
government, and the parliament - in adopting defence and security
decisions.
The fundamental conceptual defence document would be Republic of
Croatia's Defence Strategy, which would be proposed by the
government with the president's agreement, and adopted by the
parliament.
The two additional basic documents would be the Military Strategy,
a detailed elaboration of the armed forces' capabilities, adopted
by the president in the function of the commander-in-chief, and the
Defence Plan, which provides for an institution that carried out
defence preparations to plan its own defence effort no matter what
its jurisdiction is.
Under the proposed bill, the Croatian Parliament would control the
functioning of the armed forces, decide on the defence budget,
adopt a long-term armed forces development plan, and declare war.
It would also decide if and when the Croatian armed forces could be
deployed outside of Croatian borders, as well as allow other
countries' armed forces to use Croatian territory.
An important novelty is that, under the proposed bill, the
parliament would have a say in appointing and releasing from duty
the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, even though the final
decision would be the president's.
The president would also have jurisdiction of appointing and
relieving the armed forces' officers in the ranks of brigadier,
general and admiral, declaring general mobilisation, and deciding
on the size of the armed forces.
He would also have a say in appointing the defence minister, who
would be the commander-in-chief's executive officer in commanding
the armed forces in the time of peace. During war time, the
president would be in direct command, issuing orders to the head of
the armed forces' headquarters, while informing the defence
minister of his orders.
The new defence draft bill defines military service, which would
consist of a six-month military conscription and military
reserves, as a duty of all capable citizens.
In time of war, the president has authority to extend military
conscription for an additional 30 days.
(hina) js