Croatia's anemic PM explains he was unfit for army service

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has revealed that he suffers from congenital anemia and that this was the reason he was exempt from army service.

Izvor: Beta

Tuesday, 07.02.2017.

11:37

Croatia's anemic PM explains he was unfit for army service
Andrej Plenkovic (Getty Images, file)

Croatia's anemic PM explains he was unfit for army service

Plenkovic said that although his "Mediterranean anemia" is "generally speaking a private matter" - but that he decided to speak about it "in order to clarify the situation before Croatia's public."

Plenkovic's health came into focus last week when the government - amid a debate about reinstating compulsory military service - confirmed the prime minister himself was not drafted because of his anemia.

Plenkovic now told the weekly that he was exempt from army service while in high school, 30 years ago, and that the specific cause was thalassemia minor - a blood disorder that "rarely presents any symptoms."

Last week, local media reported that Croatia plans to bring back compulsory military service, frozen in 2008.

Plenkovic then told reporters that "the Croatian people love the Croatian army," while the idea to once again make service compulsory had the goal of "making the army popular and attractive to young people and to new generations, who do not remember the times of the Homeland War (of the 1990s)."

Croatian Defense Minister Damir Krsticevic explained the idea was to reintroduce "basic military training" that would last three to four weeks, rather than reinstate army service.

The Croatian Center for Peace Studies (CMS) condemned the idea and urged the government to spend money on education, and on creating jobs for young people.

The NGO noted that before 2008, 54 percent of conscripts refused to serve as conscientious objectors - "a good indicator for those who now want to impose military training on the young."

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