"We are all proud" of the wartime Croatian army units, she said, adding that they "liberated Croatia and have, in the meantime, turned from a wartime into a peacetime force which is capable of executing every task set before it. Croatian citizens can be absolutely sure that the Croatian Armed Forces keep Croatia safe."
"It's nearly unbelievable to think that 26 years ago we formed the Croatian Armed Forces and prayed God at the Zagreb Football Club stadium that the only helicopter we had would take off, and here we are, 26 years later, a full member of NATO," Grabar-Kitarovic said.
She said the defence budget was increased 9% this year and that this was not spending but investing in people and the technical equipment necessary to oppose contemporary threats, from illegal migration via arms proliferation, trafficking in drugs and people, to natural disasters, for which she said the Armed Forces were ready.
"I thank them for that, especially all those who gave their life and health in the Homeland War, especially their families. At this moment we also remember the Homeland War civilian victims," the president said.
Asked how to raise the defence budget, she said the Defence Ministry was working on different plans and that it was necessary to further modernise the army, notably the air force.
Asked if he could modernise the army, Defence Minister Damir Krsticevic said he was ambitious and that his task was to see to security and making the army stronger, on which he was working together with the Chief of Staff, General Mirko Sundov, and all soldiers and officers.