According to the Agency, “Croatia is a safe country”.
Croatia is a safe country and the biggest problems as far as safety aspects are concerned are corruption which is connected with economic crime, organized and cyber crime, and deteriorating demographic composition of the population. Political extremism does exist, but it is so small in numbers and disorganized that it does not pose almost any threat. The only real danger are extremists which belong to football hooligans, as evidenced by the events during the European Football Championships. Foreign secret services are interested in Croatia mainly as a member of NATO and the EU, while economic espionage is limited to major economic projects and new technologies. Energy security should be increased with the Adriatic-Ionic gas pipeline and the construction of an LNG terminal on Krk – these are the main conclusions from the Public Report 2016, which was published on Sunday by the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA), reports Jutarnji List on June 26, 2016.
This is the third annual report that the SOA has presented to citizens, and it is the first which is signed by the new SOA director Daniel Markić. In his opening remarks, Markić puts emphasis on cooperation with international partners, which he believes is extremely important. He states that SAO was active in EU and NATO bodies and within a number of international multilateral security intelligence platforms.
The report consists of several chapters, and the one of the most extensive ones covers terrorism. It contains information about terrorist attacks in France and Belgium and claims there were about 900 people who have left Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia and Albania to take part in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq since 2012. SOA says that there are no jihadist returnees in Croatia, but that there are around 300 of them in neighboring countries.
Under the heading “The Belt of Instability in the European Environment”, the report deals with the area of North Africa, the Middle East, all the way to the Russian-Ukrainian border. The area is marked by crises, armed conflicts, terrorism and the spread of jihadist movements, migrations, extremism and organized crime.
SOA also gives facts and figures about its work. Last year, the Agency sent to President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and the government approximately 300 different analytical documents. Other bodies received around 10,500 different security and intelligence pieces of information. Last year, the Agency delivered 5,670 reports on the security checks of various personnel.
There is also some general information about SOA. Its budget last year was about 324 million kuna, 40 percent of its staff are women, but only 23 percent in managerial positions. Last year, the Office of the National Security Council conducted 12 security checks at SOA, while the Parliamentary Committee on Interior Affairs and National Security conducted five checks.
