Politics

August the 17th, 2022 - There are more and more foreign workers in Croatia from all over the world. There will soon be more than 100,000, in fact, with employees having come from nearby war-torn Ukraine to all the way from India and beyond. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, RTL talked about the growing number of foreign workers in Croatia, but also how we might work to retain the ''homegrown'' labour force from Croatia, with the CEO of the Croatian Association of Employers (HUP), Damir Zoric. The Republic of Croatia will soon exceed the number of 100,000 work permits having been…

ZAGREB, 16 August, 2022 - Croat Vjekoslav Prebeg has pleaded not guilty to charges of being a mercenary at a court of the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic, while the pro-Russian separatist authorities accuse him of being a Ukrainian mercenary who took part in efforts to oust them, which is why he faces the death penalty. The Slovenian News Agency (STA) said on Tuesday that Prebeg had stated that his activities on the battlefield had been limited to monitoring enemy positions, and he said that he had not been included in armed conflicts against Russian forces. Russian media outlets that are allowed…

August the 16th, 2022 - Numerous adaptations of Croatian laws are coming into force as Eurozone accession draws closer and closer, set to take place on the 1st of January, 2023. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, due to the imminent introduction of the euro as Croatia's official currency, numerous Croatian laws are being adjusted, the changes of which require to be put through at an urgent procedure due to quickly approaching deadlines. Over the coming days, the draft proposal for changes to the Law on Value Added Tax will be publicly discussed, and in addition to the provisions that are being changed…

ZAGREB, 15 August, 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday the government had not adopted energy crisis measures yet and that it would consider the situation and intervene if needed after its summer break, adding that revenue from fiscalised receipts and the tourist season was cause for optimism. Despite all the circumstances, we have a great tourist season, he told the press in Rijeka after attending the Assumption of Mary mass at the Shrine of Trsat. Revenue is great, as is fiscalisation, which is higher than last year, which is a signal for optimism, GDP growth, and the possibility for the government to act in situations…

ZAGREB, 15 August, 2022 - In the year since the law on civilian Homeland War victims came into force, 1,775 applications have been filed for obtaining the status and entitlements of civilian victims, of which 596 have been processed, Večernji List said on Monday. Civilian victims got a law that treats them more justly after 25 years of fighting for the recognition of their suffering in the 1991-95 Homeland War, the paper said. Until last year, their rights were regulated under a law from 1974 which, despite having been amended 12 times, did not cover all civilian war victims, and the rights were not tailored to Homeland War…

ZAGREB, 14 August, 2022 - The 30th anniversary of the biggest POW exchange during the Homeland War was marked in Nemetin, eastern Croatia on Sunday by remembering the torture they suffered and the slow justice for those responsible. Without Serbia's cooperation, it's unlikely the persons who mistreated and killed Croatian POWs in Serb-run camps will be prosecuted, said Zdravko Komšić, president of the Croatian association of former Serb-run camp inmates. There will be no major progress as long as Serbia's current authorities are in office, he said at a monument to the 714 Croatian defenders, women, and civilians exchanged in Nemetin on 14…

August the 14th, 2022 - Is the Croatian socialist past responsible for the big wage gap between the country and other European Union member states which were never part of Yugoslavia? One Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) analysis says an emphatic yes. As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the growth of wages over the last year has been mostly attributed to the chronic lack of workers in Croatia, but calls are regularly heard from the ranks of Croatian businessmen to the government to undertake tax reforms and finally reduce the high burdens due to which workers' wages are low compared to other countries,…

ZAGREB, 10 August, 2022 - Croatia strongly condemns an indictment against Croatian national Vjekoslav Prebeg, who has been detained in the self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MVEP) said on Wednesday. Croatia "rejects the indictment and does not consider it to be legally sound because it is contrary to international law and conventions on the treatment of captured civilians and prisoners of war," the MVEP said in a press release. The Ministry and competent services are in constant contact with the Ukrainian authorities and other partners in order to shed light on the case and have Prebeg released,…

ZAGREB, 10 August, 2022 - Health Minister Vili Beroš on Wednesday denied the claim by the Croatian Association of Hospital Doctors (HUBOL) that Croatian hospitals are running out of a drug used to treat COVID-19 patients, saying that hospitals have sufficient quantities of Remdesivir. The claims by some health workers and medical associations about the shortage of Remdesivir in Croatian hospitals are not true, the health minister said in a statement. HUBOL said on Wednesday that Croatian hospitals currently have only 483 doses of Remdesivir at their disposal, which is enough to treat only 80 COVID-19 patients, while 613 are being…

ZAGREB, 10 August, 2022 - The Social Democrats party sent an open letter to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday demanding he dismisses Health Minister Vili Beroš, whom they consider responsible for the shortage of an antiviral drug used to treat COVID-19. The Social Democrats sent the letter following the death of reporter Vladimir Matijanić, who died as a result of COVID-19. "The reason for his dismissal is his undeniable responsibility for failing to act and his preventing Croatian citizens from using the newest generation antiviral drug, which has been proven to reduce hospitalisation and mortality in a large number of cases for…