Analyst says neither Plenković nor Milanović want to join Trump’s "Board of Peace"

The so-called "Board of Peace" organization established by US President Donald Trump continues to spark discussion in Croatia, which is one of the sixty odd countries invited to join the peace initiative. So far Croatia’s political leadership has not made a decision on joining the body.

Croatia's political leadership is yet to respond to the invitation, with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković saying that Croatia had informed its American partners that it would study the text and analyze the relationship of the Peace Committee to the existing structures of the United Nations, before responding. For his part President Zoran Milanović has invited the Prime Minister to consultations on the "Board of Peace" issue, so as to avoid any potential "unconstitutional" independent action by the government.

Commenting on the issue on Sunday, security expert and former intelligence officer Ante Letica said that parliament will play a big role in determining Croatia's possible membership of the Board: “Personally, I think it is a good thing that we were invited to join, and that this will produce an agreement between the president and prime minister with regard to this issue. And they can initial various international agreements or conferences; however, the final decision is adopted by Croatian Parliament. So, here too, some discussions will have to be held after the entire issue is analyzed from a legal and diplomatic position. Nonetheless, it is good that the invitation was offered.”

Political analyst Žarko Puhovski however, says the invitation has presented Prime Minister Plenković and President Milanović with a major problem: “Their problem is something of a paradox. They are afraid of the fact that they actually agree on this issue. They don't like to agree on issues, but right now they do, because neither of them wants to join this initiative. In my opinion this Board is nonsensical. It would have made sense six months ago, when we could have used the JANAF oil and gas pipeline as leverage. But now that the Prime Minister and President have allowed Croatia to be encircled by the Hungarian Oil company MOL, we have to wait for some functionary in the United States to give us permission to transport oil to the Serbs and now even more so, the Hungarians.”

Twenty of the roughly sixty countries that received an invitation to join the "Board of Peace" have already signing the board's charter, including EU member states Bulgaria and Hungary. Another six countries, including Egypt, Israel and Belarus, have announced plans to accept the invitation; while 26 others have not yet responded. Among these are Russia and China, the latter of which has warned against creating parallel structures that could undermine the role of the United Nations. The largest EU member states, such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain have declines President' Trump's invitation to join the body, while Trump has withdrawn his invitation to Canada.

Source: HRT