The government on Thursday sent to parliament bills on defence and the military service, while Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and Defence Minister Ante Kotromanovic dismissed claims that the bills had caused a conflict between the government and President Ivo Josipovic.
Kotromanovic described media reports about a conflict between the Defence Ministry and the president's office as stupid, saying the ministry has cooperated a long time with Josipovic's office and the Armed Forces General Staff on the defence bill.
He said the current defence and military service laws were ten years old and needed to be brought up to date and aligned with the laws in other NATO countries.
Kotromanovic said Croatia was the only country in the world where the law stipulated an eight-hour's work day for soldiers, adding that under the new law, soldiers would work when and how long it was necessary.
PM Milanovic too said the defence bill was agreed with the president and that he had made some suggestions. "We will consider them along the way. We have time to align the law with the 2010 constitutional changes."
He said the current defence bill was adopted after the constitutional changes in 2000 and 2001 which significantly changed the relationship between the government and the president. He said this law "isn't perfect but it works."
Milanovic said the government did not slash funding for the military in the 2013 budget because it "realises that this is one of the fundamental functions of the state which, because of international commitments and the country's security, can no longer suffer further erosion."
