Plenković arrives in Paris for a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing

The meeting closely follows as meeting of the NATO alliance in Ankara Turkey, where leaders also discussed the wars in Ukraine and Iran and where they agreed to strengthen military industrial output, and continued support for Kiev.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is in Paris where French President Emmanuel Macron has gathered the thirty odd leaders of the informal 'Coalition of the Willing'. The focus of discussion is on security guarantees for Ukraine. The meeting comes ahead of tomorrow's Bastille Day military parade; featuring some seven thousand soldiers from France and abroad. Croatia is being represented by members of Croatia's Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit, which falls under the Interior Ministry and Police and not the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces. This compromise solution was adopted by Prime Minister Plenković, after President Zoran Milanović - who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, blocked government's decision to send representatives of the Croatian Armed Forces to Paris.

Here’s what the Prime Minister had to say while visiting the members of the Lučko unit on Monday: “I am particularly pleased that members of the Lučko unit, who together with the unit from Rakitje were practically the nucleus of the nascent Croatian armed forces in the Homeland War, will be part of the Bastille Day parade on the Champs-Élysées tomorrow. The French sent two Rafales to Croatia for our Statehood Day 44 days ago, and you are for tomorrow's parade. In this way we are strengthening our strategic partnership with France, and demonstrating where we belong, and that is the western circle of countries. A circle we have been working towards all these years, meaning the EU and NATO. So our absence tomorrow would have been a big mistake, but the government is here to prevent mistakes, and you are here to represent Croatia, just as you do every day, protecting order and contributing to the security of the entire country.”

In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that Moscow is keeping a watchful eye on the meeting in Paris: “In question is a coalition of war mongers, a group of countries that do not want peace but rather a continuation of war under the misguided belief that they can strategically defeat our country. Given that these countries are making unfriendly moves against us, we will follow the situation very closely.”

Meanwhile, the ministers of foreign affairs of the European Union are discussing a new 21st package of sanctions against Russia.

Source: HRT