28 February, 2022 - Ruling HDZ party whip Branko Bačić said on Monday that there were currently 193 Ukrainian refugees in Croatia and that 3.5 million refugees from that country were expected in the EU if the Russian aggression against Ukraine continued.
The Croatian government will send humanitarian and technical aid to Ukraine, and its health system is preparing for the reception of the wounded, he said.
A special task force will be formed at today's government session to be in charge of the reception of refugees, Bačić told reporters in the parliament after a meeting of the inner cabinet with representatives of the parliamentary majority and opposition parties on the topic of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine.
The meeting, held on Monday morning, was attended by representatives of all opposition parties and there was no dissonance regarding the sending of aid to Ukraine, he said.
The broadest possible consensus was reached by all parliamentary parties on the government's position regarding the Russian military aggression and full support was expressed for Ukraine's struggle for territorial sovereignty and integrity, Bačić said.
Further joint meetings at the level of the ruling coalition for the duration of the aggression were agreed, as were meetings at the level of representatives of opposition parties and the ruling coalition.
It was agreed that PM Andrej Plenković would address MPs in the coming days on the steps taken by the government.
According to information available to Croatia's Ambassador to Ukraine, Ankica Djamić, there are still 35 Croatian nationals in Ukraine and they have been in touch with the embassy the whole time, said Bačić.
Vote on new construction minister possible on Friday
Bačić also said that a special task force would be monitoring Croatia's supply with energy products.
Around 43% of gas for consumption in EU member states comes from Russia and in Croatia the share of Russian gas is 22%.
"The HDZ has welcomed the fact that given the LNG terminal on Krk island, Croatia will not have supply problems either until the end of or after the heating season," said Bačić.
Finance Minister Zdravko Marić informed participants in today's meetings that Fortenova Grupa was not suffering any consequences of the current situation, and that more than 90% of depositors at Sberbank d.d. were protected by the deposit insurance system.
Marić added that the government was closely monitoring the possibility of the crisis spilling over to the southeast, noting that since 1939 there had been no event in Europe that could be compared with the Russian aggression on Ukraine.
As for the appointment of the new construction minister, Marić said that the decision was being prepared and that the parliament might vote on the new minister already on Friday.
Marić declined to comment on potential candidates, saying only that the prime minister had interviewed them.
