Politics

December the 1st, 2021 - Croatian economic recovery expectations are looking a little brighter as we begin to slowly but surely emerge from the global coronavirus pandemic. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, if business leaders were to be asked, Croatian economic recovery expectations in the past month have been somewhat more optimistic than the month before. In contrast, among consumers themselves, the perception seems to be more susceptible to the development of the epidemiological picture of the time, meaning that in the last study their expectations actually decreased. These are, in short, the main findings for the Republic of Croatia…

December the 1st, 2021 - The French-Croatian economic partnership is set to be ramped up even further and cover a variety of different fields following the French President's recent visit to Zagreb in which he stated Croatia's Schengen readiness. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, last week, French President Emmanuel Macron and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement between the two countries, which is a political declaration with a broader scope in which the two countries will engage in deeper French-Croatian cooperation. The focus of the public, due to the simultaneous signing of the contract on the…

ZAGREB, 30 November, 2021 - Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved on Tuesday warned about the issue of persons unaccounted-for since the Homeland War and criticised Serbia for failing to provide information on the missing. "We informed the parliamentary committee of all our activities, achievements, challenges and difficulties we are faced with. The fundamental condition for efficiency is the Law on Missing Persons from the Homeland War which was adopted in 2019 and locating the latest mass grave site near Bobta has shown results," Medved told reporters after a meeting of the parliamentary War Veterans Committee. He added that since 2016 to date,…

ZAGREB, 30 November, 2021 - Opposition parties on Tuesday criticised a bill on the Conflict of Interest Commission, claiming it will euthanise the body, while the ruling HDZ party rejected the claims, with Justice and Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica saying the commission will remain independent. The Commission will remain an independent and anti-corruption body with new mechanisms and extended scope of activities, Minister Ivan Malenica said in the Sabor. The Opposition, however, thinks differently, with MP Nikola Grmoja (Bridge) saying that the bill was full of "legislative diluter", its sole purpose being to get rid of the commission . That is no surprise…

ZAGREB, 30 November, 2021 - Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Nataša Tramišak said on Tuesday, in a comment on a corruption scandal involving former Regional Development and EU Funds Minister, Gabrijela Žalac, that she has no information on the course of the investigation in the case. Asked at what moment she had contacted the USKOK anti-corruption office, Tramišak said that at the handover of duties by her predecessor Marko Pavić, she had been told that the State Attorney's Office and USKOK were conducting certain preliminary investigations. "This was followed by certain notifications to the Ministry, which cooperated with the…

ZAGREB, 30 November, 2021 - The Netherlands does not want to consent to Croatia's accession to the Schengen area of passport-free movement because it has a caretaker government, the Večernji List daily says in its Tuesday issue. The Slovenian EU Presidency has put conclusions on Croatia's readiness to join the Schengen area on the tentative agenda of the next meeting of EU ministers of the interior but the daily has learned from unofficial sources that the Netherlands is signalling that it may not be ready to support a decision to that effect. The conclusions in question do not constitute a final…

ZAGREB, 29 Nov 2021 - Defence Minister Mario Banožić on Monday responded to accusations from the president's office that soldiers were not receiving per diems, telling the head of the president's office and the president's defence advisor that the ministry "will not cover for their incompetence". "Instead of holding unconvincing press conferences and shifting responsibility to others, the gentlemen from the Office of the President should be more responsible in spending their office's budget, so there would be no problems they had mentioned. While I am minister, the Ministry of Defence will not cover for their incompetence," Banožić wrote on Facebook. The head…

ZAGREB, 29 Nov 2021 - The head of the president's office, Orsat Miljenić, and presidential adviser Dragan Lozančić said on Monday that Defence Minister Mario Banožić's abuse had spread to soldiers who supported the president because they had not received their per diems. Speaking to the press in the president's office, Miljenić said soldiers were doing their job honorably and that Banožić's abuse had spread to them following the "unlawful and sudden" retiring of Colonel Elvis Burčul and the harassment of the Chief of the General Staff, Admiral Robert Hranj. Miljenić said Banožić decided a month ago not to pay per diems to soldiers who supported…

ZAGREB, 29 Nov 2021 - The Mayor of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević, has strongly condemned a racist attack on employees of the Rimac Automobili company, which occurred in central Zagreb on Friday night, saying that there should be no place for violence in the city. "I strongly condemn the racist attack on employees of Rimac Automobili. There must be no place for violence in our city, especially not for violence motivated by hatred of those who are different on any grounds," Tomašević wrote on his Facebook on Sunday evening. "An attack on people of different color is an attack on all…

ZAGREB, 28 Nov, 2021 - The first round of intraparty elections in the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) was held on Saturday, and the leader of the SDP Zagreb branch will be known next Saturday, with the two main contenders being Viktor Gotovac and Matej Mišić. SDP members on Saturday elected presidents, vice presidents and members of party presidencies at the municipal and county levels. The second round of intraparty elections for the Zagreb SDP branch will be held next Saturday, when SDP members will choose between Gotovac and Mišić. Gotovac, a labour law professor at the Zagreb Law School, won 524 votes…