Government will also propose a law on homeland security system.
The government on Thursday established commissions to develop a draft law on the homeland security system and to draft a new national security strategy. The commissions will be headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Damir Krstičević, reports Index.hr on November 11, 2016.
Prime Minister Plenković pointed out that these were very important documents for Croatia, given the situation in Europe and the world. “I think that this are very important documents strategically speaking, especially due to the fact that one of these documents, the National Security Strategy, is rather outdated and needs to be adapted in view of Croatia’s membership in the EU and NATO, as well as number of security challenges”, said Plenković.
Krstičević clarified that Croatia would establish a comprehensive, combined and proactive approach of all state institutions in order to reduce vulnerability of the society and implement the concept of homeland security. He added that the current National Security Strategy was adopted in 2002 and was not adapted to current internal and external environment. “The security paradigm has changed significantly. We have new forms of threats. These are various hybrid actions, information activities, terrorism, cyber terrorism, refugee crisis, unemployment, demographic trends, natural disasters…”, continued Krstičević.
Therefore, it is necessary to redefine the concept of national security and related institutions, and define security system which will, “in line with recent internal and external political and economic changes and circumstances, protect vital national interests and promote fundamental values of the Croatian society, protect the integrity of the state, and security of all our citizens”.
“The new security model that we want to build will be based on respect for human rights and freedoms, rule of law, development of democracy, dialogue and tolerance, transparency of the governing system, solidarity and integrative approach. This will change the current security model from reactive to preventive”, added Krstičević.
Defence Minister has been named as the responsible official for development of both documents, and commissions will include representatives of all ministries, a large number of government offices, security services, Croatian National Bank, National Protection and Rescue Authority, and others. The deadline for drafting the strategy and the law is 30 April 2017.
