Milanović and Plenković continue to clash over Croatia's participation in France's Bastille Day parade

A political standoff between President Zoran Milanović and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković over Croatia's participation in France's Bastille Day parade on July 14 has intensified, with Chief of the General Staff, General Tihomir Kundid, caught in the middle.

President Milanović has ordered that a contingent of 21 Croatian troops not take part in the ceremony. Speaking on Friday, he insisted that General Kundid answers exclusively to the president, as commander-in-chief, and accused the government of trying to pressure the general into defying his order.

"They need to keep their filthy paws off General Kundid. Anyone who mentions his name in this context again is, in my view, acting with criminal intent. The goal is to break a man—a man who did not break under bullets and artillery fire. They want him to say, 'To hell with this, I'm leaving.' But he is never going to resign because he is not loyal to the prime minister. His relationship with the government ended the moment I appointed him to this position. He answers to me!" Milanović said.

Plenković, however, maintains that ceremonial deployments fall under the authority of the defense minister. He also said he was losing confidence in General Kundid over the dispute.

Despite the disagreement, the government has found a way to ensure Croatia is represented at this year's Bastille Day parade, which is being held under the theme of support for the European Union and Ukraine. Instead of a military contingent, Croatia will send a police delegation.

"We have consulted with the French government, and we will be sending a police contingent that can proudly represent Croatia at the parade. We are doing this because the Chief of the General Staff, General Kundid, instead of meeting with us to discuss the matter, chose to comply with President Milanović's order—as if we were at war and the President had to decide on deploying troops, which is simply not the case. However, that is his problem," Plenković said.