Croatian diplomat rejects leader’s Nato threat

Bloomberg

Croatia’s top diplomat rejected President Zoran Milanovic’s threat to veto the accession of Sweden and Finland into Nato, vowing that the government would ensure they were brought into the alliance.
“We won’t be the only nation to defy the principles and values of Nato, which we fought so hard to join,” Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman told reporters in Zagreb before a cabinet meeting.
Milanovic said he would veto the Nordic states’ applications to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) over an issue related to Croats in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina. The threat emerged as part of a heated dispute with the nation’s prime minister, Andrej Plenkovic, who responded earlier this month that the head of state’s position places him on the side of Russia.
Milanovic, himself a former prime minister who remains Croatia’s most popular politician, has condemned Russia’s aggression. But he’s also criticised the premier’s unwavering support of Kyiv as irresponsible in light of the risk of an expanded war with the Kremlin.
Milanovic’s role is largely ceremonial, though he commands the armed forces and plays a role in Croatia’s foreign policy.
Grlic Radman waded into a constitutional dispute over whether the head of state will be able to follow through with such a veto.
Responding to a question of whether the president can
do so, Grlic Radman said Croatia’s parliament will uphold Nato expansion with a simple majority.
The nation’s Nato ambassador — after also consulting with Milanovic — “will make the only reasonable decision,” he said.
Sweden and Finland inched closer to Nato accession Finland’s president and prime minister backed the bid, making a break with a neutral stance that has lasted through the Cold War.
Membership bids need to be ratified by member state parliaments, a process that can take months. Croatia, a nation of 3.9 million, became a Nato member in 2009 and joined the European Union in 2013.