ZAGREB, Jan 29 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament on Thursday discussed a draft decision on a multilateral military exercise to be held on the "Eugen Kvaternik" Training Ground near Slunj, about 100km south of Zagreb, from 15 to 30
June.
ZAGREB, Jan 29 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament on Thursday discussed a
draft decision on a multilateral military exercise to be held on the
"Eugen Kvaternik" Training Ground near Slunj, about 100km south of
Zagreb, from 15 to 30 June.#L#
Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic said that the exercise would
involve engineer forces from Croatia, the United States, Albania,
Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania and Turkey, and that its
purpose would be to train ground forces and build infrastructure on
the army range and a water pipeline in nearby villages.
The exercise would be organised as part of international military
cooperation and would cost nearly 14 million kuna (nearly two million
euros), of which the US would provide about 4.5 million kuna, while
the rest would be secured from the Croatian national budget.
Former Defence Minister Zeljka Antunovic of the Social Democratic
Party announced her party's support for the exercise, saying that
military cooperation was very important in the process of Croatia's
admission into NATO.
Antunovic recalled that this proposal had been sent to parliament by
the former government, but that its adoption had been obstructed by
the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which was in opposition at the
time. The HDZ later accused the government of trying to keep Croatia
away from the North Atlantic alliance.
The draft decision was opposed by Tonci Tadic of the Croatian Party of
Rights (HSP), who said that the exercise was too expensive and that
compensation for any damage that might be caused by the exercise was
not regulated by law.
(Hina) vm sb