The two-month saga about the director of the Security Intelligence Agency seems to be coming to the end.
The current director of the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) Dragan Lozančić will leave in an honourable way from his post of the “spy number one” in Croatia. He will reportedly ask to be dismissed, which will enable the President and the Prime Minister to implement their agreement to appoint Daniel Markić as his successor, reports Večernji List on April 1, 2016.
According to sources, Lozančić will immediately get a new job at the Office for Money Laundering Prevention, which is part of the Ministry of Finance. This will be in accordance with Lozančić’s desire to continue working in a state institution and to remain living in Croatia. Even though he is a citizen of the United States as well, Lozančić told the Prime Minister that he wanted to remain in Croatia due to family reasons.
If this plan is implemented, it will be a reasonable solution since serious states take care of people who have been working in such important jobs and do not want them to be left unemployed since it could represent a potential security risk to the state. After President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković finally managed to agree on the name of his successor, it was necessary to find a way to solve the issue with Lozančić.
When the President in early February announced the decision to dismiss Lozančić, she cited as the reason “violation of the Law on Security-Intelligence System”. If that explanation remained, it would mean there should be an investigation against Lozančić. The Prime Minister therefore delayed putting his countersignature to the decision, which was necessary for it to become final. Ranko Ostojić, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Affairs and National Security, also warned that another justification was necessary for the dismissal.
“If they insist on the explanation that he violated a law, then they should also provide some evidence for it”, said Ostojić. “The President and the Prime Minister can agree on new names, but first they must dismiss the current director according to the law, since his term has not expired”, said Ostojić.
Therefore, Markić cannot appear in front of the Committee for a hearing and a non-binding vote until Lozančić is dismissed, but obviously with some other explanation. The news that Lozančić will asked to be dismissed himself means that an agreement was reached about a more benevolent solution which will open the way for Daniel Markić to be named the new SOA director.
