Politics

ZAGREB, 11 December, 2021 - Member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliament Enver Bijedić said on Friday he had filed a criminal report against Croatian President Zoran Milanović for making statements questioning the scale of the Srebrenica genocide. Bijedić is the leader of a small non-parliamentary party called the BiH Social Democrats and he has reported Milanović to the BiH prosecutorial authorities based on amendments to the Criminal Code imposed in late July by former High Representative Valentin Inzko to outlaw the denial of all war crimes confirmed by court rulings. Bijedić found the grounds for reporting Milanović in his statement that…

ZAGREB, 11 December, 2021 - About 16,000 illegal border crossings were registered by the Croatian border police in the first 11 months of this year, which is a drop of 40% on the year, the head of the border administration, Zoran Ničeno, said on Friday evening. A similar drop has been recorded along the entire migrant route, that is, in Slovenia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ničeno told RTL television, adding that the route was changing and there were now more illegal crossings in Serbia, Romania, Hungary and Austria. The search is still ongoing for a 10-year-old girl who disappeared…

ZAGREB, 11 December, 2021 - If more than 100,000 troops were on the border with Croatia, President Milanović would call the Ukrainian Prime Minister's visit to Zagreb not "charlatanism" but a manifestation of solidarity and friendship, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Twitter post on Friday. President Zoran Milanović this past Thursday described as "plain charlatanism" Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's visit to Ukraine amid high tensions with Russia, saying that Plenković would "flee to Brussels if things get rough" and that "Croatian soldiers won't go there (on the border with Ukraine)". "If more than 100,000 troops were on the border with…

ZAGREB, 11 December, 2021 - The Split County Court has upheld an indictment filed by the USKOK anti-corruption office against former Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević of the HDZ party, charged with real estate fraud and perverting the course of justice during his term as head of Nerežišća, a town on the island of Brač. The investigation into Kuščević was launched in September 2019 after he stepped down as Public Administration Minister amid media reports that in the period from 2008 to 2018, during his term as Nerežišća mayor, he had unlawfully obtained HRK 4 million. According to media reports at…

ZAGREB, 10 Dec 2021 - There is a strong consensus that accession to the euro area will benefit the Croatian economy and households, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić told reporters in the northern Adriatic resort town of Rovinj on Friday after a conference on this subject organised by the Večernji List newspaper and Istria County.  That's why Croatia should do all that is necessary to reduce and minimise any negative risks, such as inflation, and take advantage of positive effects, which outnumber negative ones, for the benefit of its economy and citizens, Marić said. "Over the past few months we have…

ZAGREB, 10 Dec 2021 - On the occasion of Human Rights Day, NGOs warned of a low level of social and economic rights in Croatia and called for the improvement of public services and for reconstruction of earthquake-struck areas to be accelerated. "Healthcare, social welfare, housing and education have to be accessible to everyone. Public services need reliable support which inevitably includes long-term public investments and progressive taxation so as not to deepen the social inequality," the NGOs said in a press release. The associations particularly highlighted the absence of strategic documents for marginalised groups such as the homeless or refugees. Workers'…

ZAGREB, 10 Dec 2021 - The Croatian government on Friday formed the Human Rights Council, with Deputy PM Boris Milošević, who is in charge of social affairs and human rights, recalling that Croatia was observing Human Rights Day. Human Rights Day commemorates 10 December 1948 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the foundation of the international human rights system. The establishment of the Human Rights Council builds on the political tradition of the existence of a separate interdepartmental body that helps the government in its efforts to recognise and respond, as constructively and as efficiently as…

ZAGREB, 10 Dec 2021 - Lawmakers on Friday supported the better regulation of  adult education and life-long learning, expressing hope that new act under which vouchers to finance adult education and training will be introduced, will encourage adult education and retraining. The 2030 target is to reach the EU average of 10.8% adult population covered by education, while Croatia's average is now 3.5% Science and Education Ministry's State Secretary, Tomislav Paljak told the parliament. The bill has been proposed so that every adult citizen in the country can have access to education and retraining that will provide them with a better position…

ZAGREB, 10 Dec 2021 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Friday that the bill on introducing the euro currency in Croatia was being prepared and the draft could be outlined in mid-January while its final adoption could be expected in April next year. In addition to that bill, it will be necessary to amend 46 laws and 70 by-laws prior to the euro changeover, Marić said at a conference on Croatia's accession to the euro area, organised in Rovinj by the Večernji List daily and Istria County authorities. The blueprint for the euro adoption envisages that on 1 January 2023 Croatia ought to be…

ZAGREB, 10 Dec 2021 - Members of the Croatian parliament on Thursday started a heated debate on a bill on the protection of the population against infectious diseases which envisages fines up to HRK 50,000 for responsible persons not complying with the COVID-19 certificate mandate in bodies governed by public law. COVID certificates are unconstitutional and unlawful and they are not an effective measure and it has been proved that only testing can protect the population, said Miro Bulj of the Opposition Bridge party. He said that the amendments to the law would usher in "unconstitutional lockdown and abuse with COVID certificates." Josip Borić of the…