At the 31st anniversary of the military-police operation 'Storm', the President emphasized the importance of veterans' testimonies, criticized Serbia's revision of history, and raised questions about rising defense spending.
President Zoran Milanović emphasized on Wednesday, at the 31st anniversary of the military-police operation "Storm," the key role of veterans and the invaluable importance of their testimonies. At the celebration of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian Veterans, held on August 5, 2026, he particularly welcomed the practice, introduced in 2012, of having one of the veterans address the ceremony on behalf of all veterans.
"This practice continues to this day and is very good because it is from the veterans, those who participated in these operations, that we can most accurately and credibly, and with the passage of time, most soberly, hear what happened. All of us others are just a supplement," said Milanović, as reported by Prigorski.
In his speech, the President also referred to Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, emphasizing the inseparable connection in the war. "The Croatian people in BiH, in those war years, fought a shared war with the Croatian people in Croatia. It was unprovoked, imposed, difficult, and without prospects in those years, without help, even without serious verbal assistance, let alone material aid," he stressed.
Commenting on relations with neighbors, he particularly addressed the constant attempts at revision of history coming from Serbia. "All the time we hear the same nonsense and revision of history," said Milanović, adding that one should not react to every provocation. "History is a kind of interpretation that can be more or less honest. I somehow believe that our interpretation of history is honest, but again, I am subjective, I am the President of Croatia, I am a Croat. And it is not necessary that everyone sees history the same way, but I also think we should not react to every verbal nonsense that comes across the Danube; it will keep coming all the time."
Nevertheless, he warned that focus should be on material threats. "When Serbia arms itself with the help and direct assistance of some of our formal or informal allies, we must ask ourselves whether this is a fair game, how much it costs us, and how much more it will cost us," the President emphasized.
In the context of global tensions, such as Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, Milanović spoke about growing demands for military expenditures. He referred to the so-called Ferguson rule, according to which it is time for caution when interest payments on a state's public debt equal defense spending. He noted that the United States, France, Great Britain, and Italy have crossed this threshold, while Germany has not, and Croatia has also crossed it.
He raised the question of what a potential increase in spending from the current two percent to five percent of GDP would mean. "Does that mean I am two and a half times stronger, or that I have just spent that much more money?" he asked. "That money will not go into, and now I will be stereotypical, schools, kindergartens, public consumption, public standards, better universities; it will go into German, French, and American weapons. Why? These are questions we have the right and obligation to ask publicly because they hit our pockets."
Speaking about the future of the Armed Forces, Milanović particularly highlighted the Chief of the General Staff, Tihomir Kundid, as the last in a line of commanders with direct combat experience from the Homeland War. "No Chief of the General Staff of any NATO country has led a battalion in an attack, while our Chief, Tihomir Kundid, has," said the President, adding that is why he has his trust.
"He is the last of his kind. When he retires, by law and the Constitution, the next Chief of the General Staff, more by the force of years and biology, will not be such a man. It will be someone new," Milanović stated. He conveyed that the army, to remain victorious, must turn to the challenges of a new era. "These are not only the systems we all talk about; these are other models, asymmetric, David-versus-Goliath ways of fighting, and here we will not go further only through spending, which should be welcomed because without spending and investment there is nothing, but also through reflection and skepticism," the President concluded.
