Politics

June the 15th, 2021 - You've heard of sore losers before, probably in races you took part in back in school. As adults, we usually learn to take loss better and look at competition more healthily. That doesn't apply to everyone, though. Following their loss in the recently held local elections, HDZ has decided to shut off the free Oroslavje internet. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the brand new mayor of Oroslavje, Viktor Simunic, who took over power from HDZ two weeks ago, announced that the former government in the city had turned off the free Oroslavje internet. Upon arriving to work…

June 14th, 2021 - After Croatia kept insisting for six days that a final statement of the NATO summit meeting should mention the Dayton peace accords, the final text of the document incorporated the reference to that agreement Zoran Milanović said in Brussels on Monday. On Sunday, the Croatian head of state made his approval of the final document conditional on making mention of the Dayton accords that define Bosnia and Herzegovina as the three constituent peoples: the Bosniaks, the Serbs, and the Croats and other citizens. Milanović today explained that after Croatia's request that the final communique should refer to the Dayton agreement…

June 14th, 2021 - The European Commission has revised Croatia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO), and for now, no items have been deleted. However, imprecision and errors related to the costs shown are being corrected, which has resulted in one billion kunas less for Croatia from the EU. A brief analysis shows that Croatia set the cost of its recovery and resilience plan at HRK 49 billion to be used for reforms and investments. After the EC went through individual items, the amount was slashed by around HRK 1 billion, the Jutarnji List daily says in its issue of Monday.…

June 14th, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović's statement that the Croatian government did not react to an attempt by some countries to have the Dayton agreement and Bosnia and Herzegovina's three constituent peoples left out of a NATO declaration closing is groundless, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman has said. Earlier on Sunday, President Milanović said that some countries did not want the closing declaration of the coming NATO summit in Brussels to mention the Dayton peace agreement and Bosnia and Herzegovina's three constituent peoples but that Croatia would not consent to it. "That statement is totally unsubstantiated," Grlić Radman said. Grlić…

ZAGREB, 13 June, 2021 - Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Presidency member Željko Komšić said on Sunday Croatia was about to come into conflict with NATO after President Zoran Milanović said that he would not accept a NATO closing declaration if it failed to mention the Dayton agreement and BiH's three constituent peoples. "Croatia is coming into conflict with NATO because it insists on the obsolete concept of constituent peoples," Komšić, who is the Croat member of the tripartite BiH Presidency, was quoted by the BiH Presidency as saying. Komšić believes that Croatia does not have the power to block the principles of the…

ZAGREB, 13 June, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said during a visit to the eastern town of Našice on Sunday that as a citizen he would insist on accountability for every euro of EU funds available to Croatia but not taken. Milanović visited the eastern town on the occasion of its day and the day of its patron saint, St. Anthony of Padua. The president noted that he measured the performance of local government units only by how much EU funds they managed to absorb. "As a citizen, I will insist on accountability for each euro not taken. Otherwise going to Brussels…

ZAGREB, 13 June, 2021 - The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Main Committee on Saturday confirmed the SDP Presidency decision to dissolve the party branches in Zagreb and Slavonski Brod as well as the SDP Međimurje County branch, with party leader Peđa Grbin saying the SDP had to change first if it wanted to change Croatia. The SDP branches were dissolved due to poor results in the recent local elections and worsened intra-party relations. "I want the SDP to be a party that will dedicate itself to changing Croatia for the better," said Grbin. "If we want to change Croatia, and we…

ZAGREB, 12 June, 2021 - As many as 72% of cities and 76% of municipalities in Croatia have fewer residents than is optimal considering their economic potential and volume of services, the Večernji List daily issue of Saturday says. This conclusion is the result of a study made by Croatian National Bank (HNB) researchers Antonija Biljan, Milan Deskar Škrbić and HNB deputy governor Sandra Švaljek, focusing on the optimal size of local government units, which is a rare research topic in Croatia. Zagreb was not included in the analysis due to a number of particularities, and the analysis shows that cities…

ZAGREB, 12 June, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in an interview with CNN on Friday that during the coronavirus crisis Croatia had combined public health protection measures and measures designed to help the business sector and financial system well, and that in that sense it had been successful.  We have struck a balance between health and economic, that is, financial security, Plenković said in a programme called Quest Means Business. Asked if in preparing for the tourist season Croatia had possibly relaxed epidemiological measures too much, given that tourism accounts for a significant portion of its economy and its experience from 2020, when…

ZAGREB, 11 June 2021 - Croatia and another four EU member-states have asked the European Commission to extend a deadline for the assessment of their national recovery and resilience plans, the Commission's spokeswoman Marta Wieczorek said in Brussels on Friday. The EC has two months to assess these plans that set out the reforms and public investment projects that each Member State plans to implement with the support of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The rules envisage that member-states can request a reasonable extension of time for the assessment of national recovery and resilience plans after the documents are submitted, the spokeswoman…