Politics

ZAGREB, 28 December, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday he would be satisfied with the work of the security services only after he got a broader picture of the shooting incident that had occurred outside the government headquarters in Zagreb last year. "I, as the prime minister, want to know where the gun came from, I don't know that, who taught the gunman to shoot and why. When I hear the answers to these questions or get a broader picture of how all that happened, I will be satisfied. As long as I don't know that, I will not…

ZAGREB, 28 December, 2021 - A HRK 15.2 billion development agreement for the north of Croatia was signed in Varaždin on Monday, with speakers at the event saying that support to investments in the country's north was unprecedented, underlining its regional and national development dimension in the next decade. The agreement was signed at the proposal of Varaždin, Međimurje, Krapina-Zagorje, Bjelovar-Bilogora and Koprivnica-Križevci counties. Of the HRK 15.2 billion, to be used for the implementation of 38 projects in the five counties, common infrastructure projects amount to HRK 9.2 billion, while the total value of county projects, including back-up projects,…

ZAGREB, 28 December, 2021 - A €2 billion plan for the social and economic revitalisation of Sisak-Moslavina County in the next eight years was presented by the Croatian government on Monday, ahead of the first anniversary of the devastating earthquakes. The plan envisages investments in the infrastructure, the enterprise sector and in demographic projects in that county in the next eight years. Some of the major projects are the completion of the Zagreb-Sisak motorway, incentives for entrepreneurial activities in the county and post-quake reconstruction of housing units. Presenting the long-term programme, Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Nataša Tramišak said…

ZAGREB, 23 Dec 2021 - The president of the Bridge party, Božo Petrov, said on Thursday that the party had collected a sufficient number of signatures for their referendum petition against COVID certificates. When this Opposition party started collecting signatures, the Justice and Public Administration Ministry established that the minimum required number should be 368,446 valid signatures, that is 10% of voters in electoral rolls. Petrov told a news conference that the party would deliver boxes with the signatures to the national parliament on 24 January. We will deliver the valid and authentic signatures on 24 January, said Bridge's MP Marin Miletić. MP…

ZAGREB, 22 December, 2021 - The State Audit Office has published a report on financial operations of political parties and independent representatives in 2020, noting a slew of irregularities in the operations of the Homeland Movement, including the procurement of wine and CDs linked to the party's then-leader Miroslav Škoro. The audit established that the opposition Homeland Movement spent 62.5% of its representation expenses, that is HRK 280,500, to procure Škoro's wine and Christmas CDs, but it is not clear why they were procured. Škoro broke up with the party this past summer. State Audit Office spokeswoman Biserka Čoh Mikulec said on Wednesday there were no…

ZAGREB, 22 December, 2021 - The Voice of Entrepreneurs association said on Wednesday the government's "I choose Croatia" scheme was illogical and discriminatory, adding that taxpayers' money will finance those who have not paid a single kuna into the state budget to start a business. The association said that as part of its self-employment scheme, the government plans to give money to returnees from the EU and another HRK 50,000 if they move back to Croatia. The government also aims to give money to those who plan to move their businesses from developed urban areas in Croatia to less urban ones. These people would get…

ZAGREB, 22 December, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday that PM Andrej Plenković's comment on his having cancelled his visit to Nova Bila in Bosnia and Herzegovina for security reasons was "insane", and that Plenković was saying what Sarajevo unitarianists and oppressors of BiH Croats were saying. Milanović was to have travelled to Nova Bila last Sunday, on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of a humanitarian convoy from Croatia to Nova Bila and Bosna Srebrena, but his visit was cancelled for security reasons. Describing Plenković's comment on the cancellation of his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milanović said it…

ZAGREB, 22 December, 2021 - Justice Minister Ivan Malenica on Wednesday called out the MOST party for "exerting unnecessary pressure" and said the only question was whether it had collected enough signatures for a referendum. Speaking to the press, he said a number of constitutional law experts had said a number of times that the referendum petition with a constitutional and a legislative part was pointless and that "it certainly won't be conducive to improving the situation." The opposition MOST objects to the national COVID-19 crisis management team and wants citizens to answer two questions - if the constitution should establish…

ZAGREB, 22 December, 2021 - Croatia has implemented satisfactorily or dealt with in a satisfactory manner none of the seventeen recommendations contained in the Fifth Round Evaluation Report, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), which is the Council of Europe anti-corruption body, stated on Wednesday. According to GRECO's latest statement concerning Croatia, of those 17 recommendations, eight recommendations have been partly implemented and nine have not been implemented. Those recommendations were outlined in the Fifth Round Evaluation Report, adopted on December 2019 and made public in March 2020. The Fifth Round Evaluation Report focused on top executive authorities and law enforcement agencies. GRECO urges Croatia to…

ZAGREB, 22 December, 2021 - Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman will pay a visit to Russia in mid-January, the Večernji List (VL) daily reported on Wednesday. Grlić Radman's host, Minister Sergey Lavrov, visited Zagreb a year ago, and this was the first visit by a Russian foreign minister to Croatia in the past 16 years, the daily newspaper recalls. In addition to political topics on the agenda of the Lavrov-Grlić Radman talks in Moscow, economic matters will also be discussed with Croatian company executives doing business in the Russian Federation. Grlić Radman's visit is taking place against a…