ZAGREB, January 10, 2019 – President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Wednesday that no non-paper exists warning of any problems concerning the procurement of Israeli F-16 fighter jets and that valuable time has been lost, adding that at the moment she doesn’t see that anyone in Croatia is to blame for the problem in the procurement procedure.
“These days a lot of dust has been lifted. No non-paper exists to warn that there are problems with regard to Israel’s or anyone else’s bid. I and my office did not participate in the evaluation or reading of those bids but instead convened a meeting of the National Security Council where the expert commission presented all the offers and the best offer was selected, which was the Israeli one. A transcript of that meeting exists. If anyone has any doubts, I hereby approve declassification of the transcript to show that all the questions concerning any possible doubts were raised,” the president said in the northwestern town of Čakovec.
“Together, with my colleagues, I raised all the relevant questions and proposed that, for the sake of transparency of the process, all the details of all four bids be made public and that citizens know what is involved. Considering that the countries involved requested that the details of the bids should not be made public, at least that’s what I was told, they weren’t made public. As such, this was the best bid,” Grabar-Kitarović said.
She reiterated that she did not participate in the negotiations, except for general talks with her Israeli counterpart and with US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and his assistant.
She underscored that there were no indications of any problems and that everyone knew that it would be necessary to obtain approval for the transfer of the technology to a third party and that Israel undertook to do so while US officials assured that they wanted to confirm that there would not be any hidden costs for Croatia.
“I found out about the problems in November, but until then no one relevant had spoken about any problems regarding the transfer. Croatia cannot influence the disputes between the USA and Israel. I have been informed of everything by Minister Krstičević, who told me that an Israeli delegation is arriving on Thursday when Israel’s decision will be known,” she said.
The President emphasised that valuable time had been lost during the procurement process and that the Croatian Air Force was down to three MiG-21 jets. “The overhaul conducted in 2013 was an absolute failure. These are the reasons and questions we need to consider. Now, the most important thing is not only whether this deal will be concluded but also what we will do if it is not concluded. Obviously, we will have to launch a procurement procedure, depending on what we hear tomorrow. Croatia wants to keep its Air Force. We will have to launch a new procedure. There is no time. The MiGs are in a much worse state than they should have been. We’ll have to be creative,” Grabar-Kitarović said.
She added that at the moment she doesn’t see that anyone in Croatia is to blame for these problems, adding that “we have to be realistic” and that “we cannot afford new, expensive jets.”
“I trust that all this won’t have any repercussions for our strategic relations and friendship with either of these countries,” she said.
More news on the acquisition of F-16 fighter jets can be found in our Politics section.
