Politics

ZAGREB, 10 July  2022 - Over 160 polling stations were opened on Sunday in Split for the second round of the snap mayoral elections in which Ivica Puljak of the Centar Party and Zoran Đogaš, an independent supported by the HDZ and HSS parties, are vying for the mayoral post in the second biggest Croatian city. The first results of the runoff will be announced by the State Election Commission (DIP) after 2000 hrs Sunday. In the first round of the early polls 14 days ago, Puljak finished as first and was short 1.3 percentage points for the outright victory. Đogaš came second…

July 10, 2022 - TCN contributor Kristian Divander breaks down the basics of the Croatian political system.  In Croatia, complaining about the politicians and the political system is a national sport, but what do folks know about the Croatian political system? Do they know what they are complaining about? Let’s find out!  Croatia is a parliamentary republic, which means that the prime minister (predsjednik vlade/premijer) and the government (vlada) is elected by the parliament, which is elected by the people. The role of the president (predsjednik države) is largely ceremonial. However, the president is the Supreme Commander (vrhovni zapovjednik) of…

ZAGREB, 9 July, 2022 - Members of the Social Democrats Association on Saturday established a new left-wing political party, the Social Democrats, and elected Davorko Vidović as president, who said they would translate social democratic values into the political fight. The new party's leadership comprises former high-ranking members of the Social Democratic Party who were ousted from or left the SDP last October after disagreements with its presidency. The Social Democrats will be the largest opposition party in parliament, where they have 18 seats - 14 members of the party and four independents. Vidović said the dissolution of the SDP was not the only reason…

ZAGREB, July 9, 2022 - A Zagreb County Court investigating judge on Friday ordered one-month investigative detention for former minister Tomislav Tolušić and Željko Ferenc on suspicion of subsidy fraud and abuse of office in two wine sector tenders. Former agriculture minister and deputy prime minister Tolušić has been placed under investigative custody due to a risk of witness tampering, and Željko Ferenc also due to a risk of repeating the crime. On Thursday, Tolušić and Željko Ferenc, an employee of the Paying Agency for Agriculture, were apprehended in the eastern Croatian city of Virovitica on a warrant issued by the…

ZAGREB, 8 July (Hina) -Left-liberal opposition parliamentary groups and some MPs of the ruling majority from the HSLS and Reformists parties, said on Friday that they had collected 40 signatures for a parliamentary debate on the incorporation of the woman's right to decide about giving birth in the Constitution. "We have collected signatures of 40 MPs for the debate on the inclusion of the following provision in the Constitution: 'A woman decides independently and freely on giving birth, the state provides the prerequisites for exercising that right'," Peđa Grbin (SDP) told a press conference. "We think that human rights are one of…

ZAGREB, 9 July, 2022 - Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković will be the new Deputy Prime Minister for Economy, and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will propose his appointment to the parliament next week, the government confirmed on Friday. "The Prime Minister has decided that the new Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy will be Oleg Butković, and he will make this proposal to MPs next week," the government's spokesman Marko Milić told Hina. Butković's nomination and appointment follows after Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, who was also a Deputy Prime Minister, stepped down at his own request. Prime Minister Plenković will also table the candidacy…

ZAGREB, 8 July 2022 - The Sabor adopted the Law on Cultural Councils and Financing Public Needs in Culture on Friday by a majority vote. The law regulates the financing of public needs in culture, the allocation of premises for cultural and artistic activities, the establishment and role of cultural councils and the work of the national council for culture, as well as the issue of decision-making on financial resources. The law is aimed at improving, simplifying and organising the system more efficiently and enabling multi-annual financing. Ahead of the vote, Miroslav Škoro (For a Just Croatia) reiterated that the…

ZAGREB, 8 July 2022 - Croatia has officially started negotiations on joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Friday. "I wish to announce that at the meeting with Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Deputy Secretary-General Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, we officially started the negotiations," said Grlić Radman, who participated in the meeting between Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Knudsen in Government House. "This is a historic moment for us today... after joining the Schengen Area, after joining the euro area, this will really be the 'icing on the cake," he said…

ZAGREB, 8 July 2022 - Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob is on a brief vacation in Croatia, recharging his batteries, which he confirmed by posting several photos from Istria and writing that the sea does miracles. Slovenian media said on Friday Golob was collecting his energy on the coast and sharing his feelings with his followers on Instagram, where he posted a photo of a sea sunset somewhere in Croatia. When called by journalists, Golob said he was on the Brijuni archipelago off Istria and that he was on a brief vacation. "What a miracle a few days by the…

July the 8th, 2022 - Finance Minister Zdravko Maric, who was with the government in that position for six years, seemingly suddenly stepped down of his own accord recently, and former Agrokor boss Ivica Todoric, with whom the now former finance minister was embroiled back in 2017, has made a comment. If you'd like to learn more about Zdravko Maric's history and the reasons behind him stepping down from his longtime position within Andrej Plenkovic's government (HDZ), you can do so here. The article also details Zdravko Maric's close involvement with the Agrokor saga which threatened to bring the Croatian…