National Security Strategy public debate on FPZG

On behalf of the Ministry of Defence, as the holder of the document, the discussion was attended by Minister of Defence Davor Bozinovic and MOD State Secretary Pjer Simunovic. Among the participants were also the President’s Advisor for the Defence Zlatko Gareljic and thirty well-known public servants and employees of the Croatian higher education institutions and scientific and government institutions such as Vlatko Cvrtila, Nenad Zakosek, Tonci Tadic, Miroslav Tudjman, Sinisa Tatalovic, Igor Dekanic, Bozidar Javorovic, Josko Moric and others.
In his opening speech Minister Bozinovic said he was confident that in the Croatian academic community there are a number of experts who could contribute to the development of the Strategy. “The duty of the Ministry of Defence was to put the document to a public hearing to get more advices and suggestions to make the document better”, said the minister and reminded that some of the remarks arising from the public debate have already proved useful. The final part of the discussion, before the draft is submitted to the Parliament, will be round table organized by the Government, announced Bozinovic.
After a short presentation about the Strategy, a discussion followed. All participants praised the fact that the document was given on a public debate, and consistent with their different scientific and professional profiles, presented a number of comments and ideas. The most common suggestions were related to the precise definition of national goals and interests, greater emphasis on the role of individuals and citizens, the role of emigration, the Homeland War as the foundation of the modern Croatian state, the need for document to be more detailed and more analytical, and even to use other methodological approaches in the development of the Strategy.
After discussion, Minister Bozinovic said that the debate clearly showed that science and government institutions must achieve a higher level of cooperation and exchange of opinions. Institutions need to be open to professionals and that is the practice in the world”, said Bozinovic, who believed that only in this way we can get high quality document. From the proposals mentioned during the debate, Minister considers the most interesting greater emphasis on Homeland War as a fundamental value, as well as the role of the individual and the Croatian Diaspora.
Advisor to the President Gareljic said that a draft document was good, adding that there was space for its improvement, “mostly thanks to discussions like this one”.
At the conclusion of debate, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Defence Pjer Simunovic said he heard a number of valuable, meaningful and concrete proposals. He believed that the document must be interdisciplinary, must have practical value and should not be too detailed. A number of issues that we discussed today have been worked out in detail in other strategies, Simunovic concluded.