Politics

ZAGREB, 24 Jan 2022 - President Zoran Milanović on Monday received representatives of the Croatian Earthquake Engineering Centre (HCPI) for talks on the state of buildings damaged in the 2020 earthquakes in Zagreb and the Banovina region. HCPI was established last October and has become one of the fundamental operative forces within the Civil Protection Directorate, the president's office said in a press release. HCPI representatives told the president their engagement is envisaged after major natural disasters when a larger number of structures is damaged and rapid response is required from engineers to professionally inspect the structures and provide a rapid evaluation of…

ZAGREB, 24 Jan 2022 - Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek on Monday held talks with Split-Dalmatia County Prefect Blaženko Boban on cultural projects that the county has prepared for the next multiannual period including the construction of a museum within the fortress on the island of Vis. Addressing the press after the meeting, which was held in Split, Minister Obuljen Koržinek underscored the construction of a new museum in the fortress on Vis Island, the Salona archaeological site, the Archaeological Museum in Split with its focus being on Salona - and the further exploration and presentation of that ancient locality. We also…

ZAGREB, 24 Jan 2022 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović and a delegation of the Croatian Science Foundation said at a meeting on Monday that total investments in science in Croatia are insufficient. The meeting at the Office of the President was prompted by the annual report of the Croatian Science Foundation presenting work and support to research projects in 2021, the president's office said in a statement. The Croatian Science Foundation, which is the country's most important institution financing research projects, was founded in 2001 by the parliament to promote science, higher education and technological development as well as secure…

ZAGREB, 23 Jan 2022 - On Sunday, the Croatian Trade Union of Migrant Workers, whose Croatian acronym is HSRM, accused local tax offices of malpractice and miscalculations in tax returns, claiming that such cases of negligence amount to violations of double tax avoidance agreements. The HSRM says that it has come to this conclusion based on the findings made by its legal experts who analyzed cases of migrant workers whose tax returns were miscalculated. The union issued a press release signed by union leader Franjo Lazar, stating that the state-level tax administration seems to be ignorant of cases of malpractice.…

ZAGREB, 23 Jan 2022 - In 2022, notaries are expected to ease the workload of land registries through the further digitization of some services such as the registration into land registries and online issuance of documents, the head of the Croatian Chamber of Notaries, Zvijezdana Rauš-Klier said in an interview. The continuation of the digitization of notarization services will not be conducted on commercial platforms but in a sort of "a safe virtual room", that is a separate IT system, Rauš-Klier said in the interview published on Sunday. Starting a company online to be possible as of this summer As of…

ZAGREB, 21 Jan 2022 - Serbian media outlets on Friday cited excerpts from a statement by Serbia's ministry of culture and information which insists on the dual heritage of Dubrovnik's literature, with Belgrade interpreting it as something that does not negate the fact that it also belongs to the Croatian heritage. Serbia recently passed a law on cultural heritage which lays claim to the literature created in the 1358 -1808 Republic of Dubrovnik. The adoption of the law was met with condemnation in Croatia. Today, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said that Serbia would suffer in its EU accession negotiations the consequences…

ZAGREB, 21 Jan 2022 - At the end of the third quarter of 2021 the public debt to GDP ratio in the EU and euro area decreased, reflecting an accelerated economic recovery from the corona crisis, and Croatia was among the most successful in lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio, according to the data provided by Eurostat on Friday. Economic activity in the EU and the euro area picked up strongly last summer thanks to intensive vaccination rollout programs coupled with the relaxation of anti-epidemic measures. Governments stepped up borrowing to finance support measures for enterprises and households and accelerated economic recovery resulted in a lower…

ZAGREB, 21 Jan 2022 - European countries should assume greater responsibility for their own security through NATO and the EU given that the United States "is increasingly preoccupied with the Indo-Pacific and China," Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Friday. "Because of all that as well as the fact that we no longer live in stable post-Cold War times, the EU can no longer rely only on soft security instruments, but must develop capabilities for independent crisis management, including military ones," he said in a Conference on the Future of Europe debate in Pula. Still, he added, Croatia "clearly sees NATO as the…

ZAGREB, 21 Jan 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković attended a Croatian Island Product award ceremony for 2020 and 2021 in the town of Pag on Pag island on Friday, saying it was a great example of promoting the economy, cuisine, and farm products. The Croatian Island Product designation is awarded by the Regional Development and EU Funds Ministry. For 2020, it was given to 27 producers for 45 products and for 2021, to 23 producers for 78 products. The designation is given to applied arts and design products, chemical products, foodstuffs, and beverages. To date, the designation has been given to…

ZAGREB, 21 Jan 2022 - The Ministry of Culture and Media has approved HRK 410,000 (€54,600) in support of book stores as part of a call to finance public needs in 2022, the ministry said in a press release on Friday. Ten book stores applied for funding for literary programs and the ministry has decided to co-finance nine beneficiaries. The highest grant of HRK 75,000 (€10,000) )will go to the Giardini2 book club in Pula. The funds are granted to help pay for guest appearances by authors and translators, book signing events, programs to promote reading, workshops, and book clubs. Book…