Politics

ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - European Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and Croatian Health Minister Vili Beroš on Friday visited the Zagreb Children's Hospital's hematology and oncology institute. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Kyriakides, who recovered from it, wore a ribbon-shaped silver brooch. According to the European Cancer Organisation, almost a million cancer cases have not been diagnosed because of the pandemic. Last year 2.7 million patients were diagnosed in the EU and 1.3 million have died, including more than 2,000 young ones. Kyriakides said Europe's Beating Cancer Plan envisaged €4 billion for fighting cancer, including €1.25 billion from the EU4Health…

ZAGREB, 22 Oct (Hina) - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Brussels on Friday he expected the decision making process on Croatia's accession to the Schengen area to proceed according to plan. "I have discussed this matter at all levels, with all governments. I think the momentum is slowly gathering for a decision at the level of the Council of the EU," Plenković told reporters on arrival for the continuation of the two-day EU summit. Plenković said that ongoing talks during the Slovenian EU presidency and the next French presidency would be "crucial for achieving Croatia's strategic goal - to…

ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - Five members of the government's Scientific Council on Friday distanced themselves from all statements made by Council member Gordan Lauc about the coronavirus pandemic, notably his latest messages that the pandemic is over and that only elderly people should get vaccinated.  "We fully distance ourselves from all statements about the pandemic made by Gordan Lauc since the summer of 2020," says the declaration signed by Andreja Ambriović Ristov, Petra Klepac, Branko Kolarić and academicians Nenad Ban and Igor Rudan. They in particular distanced themselves from Lauc's messages in which he declared the pandemic over or claimed that there…

ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - The Croatian parliament on Thursday discussed amendments to the VAT Act proposing a lowering of the VAT rate on feminine hygiene products from 25% to 5% to reduce gender inequality in the national tax system. Anka Mrak Taritaš of the GLAS party, who put forward the amendments, said that during her life every woman in Croatia pays around HRK 8,000 in VAT on sanitary towels and tampons. She recalled that many European countries had lower tax rates for those products and added that the European Parliament in 2019 adopted a resolution on gender equality and taxation policy in…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - Electricity and gas prices for Croatian households and "a huge share" of businesses will not increase until the end of the heating season early in April, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday. The only ones that could feel the increase are businesses that did not have long- but short-term gas supply contracts, he added. He was speaking to the press in Brussels as he arrived at an EU summit that will discuss the surge in fuel prices, among other things. Plenković said the government had various tools at its disposal that it would use depending on developments…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - A commemoration for 56 civilians killed 30 years ago was held on Thursday at the mass grave in Baćin, the second largest mass grave in Croatia after Ovčara. The victims were residents of Baćin, Cerovljani, and Hrvatska Dubica. A dozen residents are unaccounted for. Nobody has been imprisoned for the crime as seven perpetrators are out of the reach of the Croatian authorities. In his address at the commemoration, President Zoran Milanović asked who were the criminals who could execute so many old and infirm people in such a cowardly and cold-blooded manner. He said not…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Thursday that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković should "rein his pal in", a reference to Defence Minister Mario Banožić and his decision to send into retirement the commander of the Honor Guard Battalion, Brigadier Elvis Burčul. Speaking to reporters in Baćin, where he attended the 30th anniversary of the plight of local residents in the 1991-95 war, Milanović said that PM Plenković was the minister's "political guardian" and that he was not in conflict with Banožić over Burčul's retirement but that he would guarantee the army protection against "bullying and harassment." "The minister is not relevant here.…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - Croatia ran a consolidated general government deficit of HRK 27.85 billion in 2020, which was 7.4% of GDP, while the public debt to GDP ratio increased to 87.3%, the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) reported on Thursday.  By comparison, the general government budget ran a surplus of HRK 1.2 billion or 0.3% of GDP in 2019, of HRK 864 million or 0.2% of GDP in 2018, and of HRK 2.8 billion or 0.8% of GDP in 2017. Last year's deficit was mainly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic activity and because…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš on Thursday criticized comments by a member of the government's Scientific Council, Gordan Lauc, related to vaccination, saying that Council members should send a clear message and be aware that their opinions could be harmful. Beroš added, however, that Lauc has the right to his own opinion. "It is bad when everyone has the same opinion. That would show that we made a mistake somewhere. But I am critical of what is made public. I appeal for that to not be the case and that everyone who participates in the Scientific Council be aware that by…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Thursday warned of the growing number of coronavirus cases in Croatia, saying that the death toll would soon exceed 9,000 and stressing the importance of vaccination and compliance with epidemiological measures. "We must comply with the basic protection measures - wearing a face mask, keeping a distance, airing the premises, and maintaining hand hygiene," Plenković said at the start of a cabinet meeting. He stressed the importance and necessity of vaccination, especially for elderly people, noting that the elderly are at greater risk if they contract COVID-19. "One in four…