Kovac: We Don't Want a Neighbor Threatening a Second Half

The exchange of sharp messages between Zagreb and Belgrade gained a new chapter on Wednesday, after former Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovac openly declared that his country must arm itself because, in his words, Serbia is already doing so. For Belgrade, this is not merely a domestic Croatian debate but a signal that a neighboring state intends to speed up its own rearmament, citing assessments it claims are shared by both the United States and Germany.

The trigger was a statement by Croatian parliament speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, who on August 25, addressing a conference of Croatian ambassadors, consuls and military attaches, warned that Europe must take its own security more seriously after decades of relying on American protection. He also called for strengthening NATO’s European pillar. On that occasion, Jandrokovic said the following about Serbia.

“Serbia is arming itself not only with defensive weapons, but with offensive, attack weapons as well. And that needs to be said to our Western allies. We should not run from that.”

The parliament speaker added that new political elites in Western capitals often fail to understand the former Yugoslav space or do not sufficiently remember the region’s aggressive politics of the 1990s, meaning Croatia, in his view, has to explain the risks in its neighborhood on its own.

Who said the same before Jandrokovic

Speaking as a guest on N1’s talk show Novi dan on August 26 at 3:33 p.m., hosted by Nina Kljenak, Miro Kovac said Jandrokovic’s assessment was not an isolated view. He recalled that Defense Minister Ivan Anusic and President Zoran Milanovic had said similar things earlier, including at the NATO summit in Istanbul.

Kovac does not believe this reflects a coordinated alignment between different political camps in Croatia, but rather a conclusion drawn from intelligence Croatian services possess. He said he trusts the country’s own institutions, and that their findings show Serbia possesses offensive weaponry. He added that this is no secret to Croatia’s major allies either.

He said both the Americans and the Germans know Serbia has a serious arms industry, noting that Belgrade did not host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky without reason, and claiming Serbia has for years been exporting weapons to Ukraine through third countries. From this, he concludes that Croatia should follow the example of Washington and Berlin, both of which are moving toward greater self-reliance in defense.

Kovac’s sharpest line came as he explained why, in his view, Croatia cannot afford to wait.

“We don’t want to have a neighbor who threatens us with a second half, who talks about tractors and ambassadors. We are sorry that Serbia wants to arm itself with offensive weapons and threaten us. The lesson is that we obviously also have to arm ourselves, no crying, be ready, be alert.”

He said it was not enough for Croatia merely to issue warnings. “It is not enough to warn,” he said, adding that the country must build up its own defense industry, including drone production, and that the money for this, in his view, exists and must be found.

Why Kovac believes his own claim

Kovac stressed that what lends credibility to the claim about Serbia’s rearmament, in his view, is precisely the fact that it comes from opposing political camps in Croatia. He pointed out that Jandrokovic and Anusic belong to the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), while Milanovic comes from the ranks of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and that the two parties are not in coalition together. When figures from both sides reach the same conclusion, he said, the takeaway for Croatia is simple: rely on yourself.

Jandrokovic’s statement was publicly backed in Zagreb by Minister Ante Susnjar, while the response from Belgrade came quickly. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had already responded to earlier statements from Croatian officials, adding a new round to an exchange between the two capitals that has now been running for days.

For the region, the message from Zagreb carries weight because it comes amid a broader hardening of rhetoric in the Balkans, at a moment when the European Union, as EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said at the same conference of Croatian diplomats, treats the accession process as a matter of geopolitical stability rather than simply a candidate’s technical progress. Whether the exchange of accusations over arming stays at the level of statements or spills into concrete moves on the ground remains an open question for the weeks ahead.