Politics

ZAGREB, 28 July 2022 - The government adopted a decision to accept a letter expressing interest in submitting a request for Croatia's membership of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which Croatia should join in Q1 next year. The ESM is an intergovernmental organisation established by the euro area member states in 2012. Its mission is to enable the countries of the euro area to avoid and overcome financial crises and to maintain long-term financial stability and prosperity. The ESM provides loans and other types of financial assistance to member states in a difficult financial situations. ESM shareholders are exclusively countries…

ZAGREB, 28 July 2022 - Croatia has registered 1,979 new coronavirus cases and 12 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Thursday. The number of active cases in the country stands at 11,069, including 660 people being treated in hospital, of whom 19 are placed on ventilators, while 5,630 people are self-isolating. Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was reported in Croatia, 1,182,836 people have been registered as having contracted the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, of whom 16,277 have died, and 1,155,490 have recovered, including 1,223 in the last 24 hours. To date, 59.57…

ZAGREB, 28 July 2022 - Croatia's Ambassador to Belgrade, Hidajet Biščević, has said that the recent plans for Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić's visit to Jasenovac, the site of a WW2 concentration camp, disrespected diplomatic procedure but that the visit was not banned, contrary to the prevailing perception in Serbia. "Concerning the reportedly planned private visit of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to Jasenovac, it is important to understand that standard diplomatic procedure were not respected," Biščević explained in an interview with the Belgrade-based NIN weekly newspaper. "Croatia has nothing against (Vučić's) visit to Jasenovac. Croatia defined its attitude towards Jasenovac a long time ago and…

ZAGREB, 28 July 2022 - The amended Road Safety Act, introduces a number of changes, notably regarding the use of electric vehicles such as scooters, as well as the obligation for medical professionals to notify drivers in case they are temporarily unfit to drive, goes into force on Saturday. The Ministry of the Interior notes that the new law regulates for the first time the use of electric scooters, unicycles, Segways and other similar vehicles. The law defines areas where such vehicles may be used and the conditions they and their drivers have to meet in order to participate in traffic. Under…

ZAGREB, 28 July 2022 - Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac on Wednesday opened in Split a conference on the green and digital transformation of family and small hotels, organised by the National Association of Small and Family Hotels. A new brand in family and small hotel management - eco green hotels - was presented at the event, the Tourism and Sports Ministry said in a statement. Addressing the event, Brnjac said that small and family hotels have a very important role in moving away from mass-scale, seasonal tourism and reorienting oneself towards sustainability and greater quality, welcoming the initiative to introduce the…

ZAGREB, 27 July 2022 - Croatia's 1st contingent on Wednesday departed from Karlovac for Hungary to join NATO's enhanced Vigilance Activity (eVA) mission, and it was sent off by President Zoran Milanović. Addressing the 60-strong contingent that includes four women soldiers, President Milanović told them that they were not going to Hungary by chance. "An unclear and uneasy autumn lies ahead us. Being encouraged by the speech which the Chinese Prime Minister (Li Keqiang) delivered (in his video message) at the Pelješac Bridge inauguration ceremony, I am a bit more optimistic than ten days ago. It seems to me that the…

ZAGREB, 27 July 2022 - The financial reports on the costs of the run-up to Split's early election show that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) spent HRK 460,000, the Centre, the winner of the elections, spent HRK 81,000, while, for instance, the We Can! party spent HRK 241,000 but won none of the 31 seats in the city council. All the 11 slates that ran in the recent snap election were obliged to submit reports on electioneering costs until Tuesday midnight. The failure to lodge such a report in a timely manner carries a fine ranging from HRK 2,000 to 20,000. The HDZ party disbursed HRK 460,000…

ZAGREB, 27 July 2022 - Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević on Wednesday held talks with a delegation of the German city of Mainz, led by Mayor Michael Ebling, focusing on cities' adaptation to extreme climate conditions and the development of new renewable energy sources. The German delegation, which also included business people, visited Zagreb on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the two cities' agreement on cooperation. Speaking to the press after the meeting, Tomašević said that the green transition was one of the biggest challenges in all European cities in the context of climate change and extreme temperatures this summer. Apart…

ZAGREB, 27 July 2022 - President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday that Pelješac Bridge was a project whereby China entered European space but he noted that that space would remained closed to China for some time again considering the current geopolitical relations.  "This is not their project, this is European, our money. A Chinese company won the job in a transparent tender but I'm afraid this is the last time they have won a project considering the situation in global relations and geopolitics," Milanović said. Pelješac Bridge was built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) which competed for the…

ZAGREB, 26 July 2022 - Pelješac Bridge is a prominent project for promoting Chinese equipment, technology and know-how in the construction industry in Croatia and globally, and it will deepen mutually beneficial relations between China and Croatia and the EU, China's ambassador to Croatia has told Xinhua News Agency. The project has been supported and followed with great interest and appreciation by the leaders of both China and Croatia, Qi Qianjin told Xinhua, as reported by China Daily on Tuesday. He praised Chinese enterprises that have overcome the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and completed the project on schedule. The diplomat called Pelješac Bridge a symbol…