PM Milanović: No one has been hired to work in security services over last 2 and 1/2 years

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told Parliament on Wednesday that there had been no hiring for the security services over the last two and a half years while his government was in office.

"Since this government is in office, no one has been hired to work in the security services. Firstly, because we encountered a total mess there, nepotism, too many people working without adequate qualifications, which we see as undermining national security, and secondly, because all the rigorous vetting procedures that were once in place had been deliberately repealed so that some people could do as they pleased," the prime minister said during Question Time.

He said this in response to a question by a Social Democratic Party (SDP) deputy whether citizens could have confidence in the security apparatus.

Milanovic said it was good that the parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs and National Security had set up a task force to review hiring at the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA). "It's good that a task force saw for itself what what had been happening, and not just through the eyes of members of the ruling coalition but also members of the opposition. The matter is now in the hands of other authorities, so they can deal with it as they see fit."

The prime minister said that nowadays no one could be hired for work at the SOA without meeting the highest, precise and verifiable criteria. He said that during the term of the previous government the security services had been used for hiring relatives and friends for work in other state services, which he said was a series violation, "but whether that was a crime or not is not for me to say."

Parliament resumed its session on Wednesday morning after a four-week break, and should remain in session until mid-July. There are about 50 items on the agenda and the proposal to appoint Boris Lalovac as Minister of Finance was included this morning.

(Hina)



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