Goal of the re-introduction of military conscription is apparently to make army more popular.
The goal of re-introduction of compulsory military service is popularization of Croatian Army among young people, said Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday during a tour of Colonel Marko Živković Military Barracks at the Pleso near Zagreb, where he visited the newly-built complex of the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence, reports Jutarnji List on January 31, 2017.
After a tour of the complex and demonstration exercise of procedures in the case of an emergency danger for Croatia’s airspace, Plenković told reporters that the Croatian people love the Croatian Army and that the military service would popularize it and make it more attractive to young people and new generations who do not remember the Homeland War, adding that this was one of the ideas which would be discussed in the coming months.
Defence Minister Damir Krstičević has been thinking about it for a long time, he was a member of the Croatian Army and it is an initiative which has exclusively our national dimension, said Plenković, asked if it was a coincidence that both Croatia and Serbia are considering the reintroduction of military service at the same time. Asked how the reintroduction of the military service would fit in the financial capacities of the state, Plenković said that it would not require excessively large funds and was not difficult to implement from a financial point of view.
As for the purchase of new fighter jets, Plenković said that it was Defence Minister's task to prepare technical assessment for the decision to be made, and that the state leadership will make a decision on the basis of the assessment, consultations, needs and financial feasibility. After many years, the government has increased budgetary funds for defence, reminded the Prime Minister and added Croatia was on the right track, particularly through the development of the Homeland and National Security Strategy and the new legislative framework. He announced that in the afternoon a session of the National Security Council would be held, adding that, given the global circumstances, Croatia must be able to meet challenges.
Defence Minister Damir Krstičević said that the fighting squadron of the Croatian Air Force was ready to fulfil any task regarding control of 113,000 square kilometres of Croatian airspace. We need new warplanes, taking into consideration the risks and dangers, and we need to be smart and responsible, said Krstičević and expressed hope that the decision to purchase new fighter jets would be made by the end of the year.
As for the reintroduction of military service, Krstičević said that it was actually a basic military training, not military service, adding that the Croatian Army should expand its base. “We are preparing a project and we will analyze all possible variants. We will be responsible to the state finances and our goal is not to militarise society”, said Krstičević. The state and the society should make the decision on the model, but we want this training in a period of three to four weeks to be attractive and modern for young people and to enable them to react in certain situations.
