Croatia president calls for caution amid geopolitical uncertainty

ZAGREB — Croatia’s President Zoran Milanovic called for his country to stick to a cautious diplomatic path amid surging geopolitical uncertainty in Europe, as he was sworn into his second term on Tuesday.

The inauguration coincided with the US and Russia holding talks in Saudi Arabia where they announced they would name teams to negotiate a path to end the war in Ukraine.

Many countries in Europe are reeling from a change of direction from the new US administration and worry that Washington may upend decades of security arrangements in Europe.

“There is no need to hastily push ourselves to the front lines in matters that we cannot significantly influence, cannot change, that we very often do not understand,” said Milanovic.

As a NATO and EU member, Croatia has donated hundreds of millions of euros in aid to help Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, including military helicopters.

The president has been a frequent critic of the military aid and Croatia’s plans to help train Ukrainian troops.

Milanovic took the oath for the largely ceremonial post in the Balkan country of 3.8 million people, after securing a landslide win in January as the left-wing opposition candidate.

His victory was a seen as a serious blow for conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic — Milanovic’s political arch-rival — and his ruling HDZ Party.

Despite the president’s limited powers, Milanovic will serve as the commander-in-chief of Croatia’s armed forces and has a say in its foreign policy.

During the modest ceremony at the presidency, Milanovic stressed that Croatia should follow a “national policy that will contribute the most to our interests in this new world”.

“This is not naivety, this is not a betrayal of the Western political and military alliances, to which we belong... It is simply a fight for one’s own interests,” the 58-year-old stressed.

Milanovic, a former left-wing prime minister, won the presidency for the first time in 2020.

A key figure in the country’s political scene for nearly two decades, he has increasingly employed offensive rhetoric during frequent attacks aimed at EU officials and his domestic political rivals.

Milanovic’s political opponents have frequently accused him of holding “pro-Russian” views and undermining Croatia’s credibility in NATO and the EU.