Politics

ZAGREB, 30 Dec 2021 - The government is pausing the buyback of the Hungarian energy group MOL's stake in the INA oil and gas company because of new legal circumstances arising from a Supreme Court verdict and is launching a review of the shareholders' agreement and the gas business agreement, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday. Speaking at the start of the cabinet meeting, Plenković said that proceedings against the first amendment to the INA shareholders' agreement and the gas business agreement were being launched because the government believes that in light of the Supreme Court's final judgment the agreements cannot…

ZAGREB, 30 Dec 2021 - Montenegro and Croatia have agreed to set up a joint commission to deal with the issue of the Jadran training ship, according to a Montenegrin government document on cooperation with neighbors. Croatian officials have said earlier that the sailing ship should be returned to Croatia because its homeport is Split. The vessel left the port in 1991 to be overhauled in the Montenegrin port of Tivat and has remained thereafter the 1991-1995 war. The Jadran training ship was used by the armies of Serbia and Montenegro, becoming an integral part of the Montenegrin Navy in 2006. The Montenegrin government document, issued…

December the 30th, 2021 - Remember the talk around the Croatian national pension idea in which all individuals of the appropriate age would be paid out money from the state? It seems that none of that even touched the results the state had initially hoped for after just one year of it having been in force. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, in the very first year of the Croatian national pension's application, otherwise known as the national benefit for the elderly, failed quite catastrophically in resulting in what was expected by the government. This has been shown by the analysis of…

December the 30th, 2021 - One German financial expert has claimed that Eurozone entry for Croatia, which is due to take place quite soon, is still premature. Is the country ready for the changes? Apparently not, according to Otmar Issing. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, in addition to joining the Schengen area, Croatia's Eurozone entry has been cited as one of the main goals of Croatian foreign policy for years now. This goal should be achieved at the beginning of 2023, for which Croatia has the support of Brussels. That said, there are some economists such as former European Central Bank…

ZAGREB, 29 December, 2021 - Glina deputy mayor Branka Bakšić Mitić said on Wednesday in Majske Poljane, where President Zoran Milanović visited the six-member Bjelajac family, that nothing had been built following a devastating earthquake a year ago today, other than thanks to private donations. "But there too things get stuck because of the paperwork," said Bakšić Mitić, who was elected to the post of deputy mayor designated for ethnic Serb representatives. The Bjelajac family lives in two container offices, she said, adding that the paperwork for the construction of their new house had not arrived yet because of the construction ministry. The…

ZAGREB, 29 Dec 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday he would not allow inspectors to come to his office to check compliance with the COVID certificate mandate. "They can't come in. The army checks who enters and the army is not run by (Prime Minister Andrej) Plenković," he told the press in Glina, saying that the law on the certificates was unconstitutional. Commenting on referendums, the president said the number of signatures required to call a referendum should not be lowered as that would lead to direct democracy and turn into "a trampling of minorities." Milanović also called out Defence…

ZAGREB, 29 Dec 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday post-earthquake reconstruction in Sisak-Moslavina County was slow and that the biggest problem was organisation and crisis management, adding that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was the most responsible for that. "Things are going slowly. If something doesn't change in a couple of months, fine, but a lot should have been completed by now," the president said after visiting Glina. A lot of money has been spent but little is visible, he added. He said Deputy Prime Minister Tomo Medved, who chairs the government's task force in charge of dealing with the consequences…

ZAGREB, 29 Dec 2021 - The first phase of reconstruction of buildings in the Banovina region that suffered minor damage in last year's earthquake will be followed by the reconstruction of severely damaged buildings and tenders for substitute housing, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Petrinja on Wednesday. The reconstruction of buildings that suffered major damage is now ahead of us. This entails structural and comprehensive reconstruction and further tenders for the construction of substitute houses and apartment buildings," Plenković said at a meeting of the task force charged with the post-earthquake reconstruction of Sisak-Moslavina County and two other counties.…

ZAGREB, 29 Dec 2021 - Deputy PM Tomo Medved said in Petrinja on Wednesday, after touring the area hit by a strong earthquake on 29 December 2020, that the government wanted to step up reconstruction more strongly and not only restore the situation to how it was before the quake but fully revitalise the Banovina region. "We aim to even more strongly step up the reconstruction process in the period to come, following activities conducted in 2021 - from the provision of housing for the local population, infrastructure measures and the removal of the most heavily damaged buildings... to road and power and water supply grid repairs,"…

ZAGREB, 29 Dec 2021 - As he was arriving for a memorial service for the victims of the 2020 earthquake in Petrinja on Wednesday, PM Andrej Plenković encountered a large group of local residents who expressed their dissatisfaction with the slow reconstruction of the city and the Banovina region. The protest was organised by the Petrinja Spring civil society group, and the PM and his associates were met with shouts and catcalls, with protesters displaying banners calling for a faster reconstruction process. "Where is our future?", "We are still here, waiting", "You can do better", "Reconstruction has not begun", "I love Petrinja", and "We…