Politics

April 10, 2021 - The Social Democratic Party's (SDP) candidate for Mayor of Split, Ante Franić, said on Saturday that "For the Homeland Ready," the salute used by the pro-Nazi Ustasha regime that ruled Croatia during the Second World War, should be outlawed. "I wish to make it clear that the Ustasha salute 'For the Homeland Ready' should be banned," Franić said in a statement, adding that it should be banned in all contexts, including where attempts are made to legalize it "under the guise of safeguarding the values of the Homeland War." "We need a clear, legal ban," he…

ZAGREB, 9 April, 2021 - Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković on Friday presented three contracts from the Rural Development Programme worth HRK 8.5 million to beneficiaries in Jarmina municipality in eastern Croatia. She also attended the opening of "Jarmina", the first kindergarten in the municipality in which HRK 7 million was invested from EU funds and her ministry's Rural Development Programme. It will be attended by 75 children. Vučković told the press this was the 12th kindergarten in Vukovar-Srijem County built with funds from the Rural Development Programme, for which HRK 56 million was ensured, adding that 200 kindergartens would be opened in Croatia…

ZAGREB, 9 April, 2021 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Friday extended his condolences to Queen Elizabeth II, the royal family and British people on the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. "On behalf of the Croatian Government, I express my most heartfelt condolences to Her Majesty The Queen @RoyalFamily and the British people on the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Philip will be remembered for his lifetime of service to the United Kingdom," Plenković tweeted. The Queen's husband died in Windsor aged 99, Buckingham Palace said. For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.    

ZAGREB, 9 April (Hina) - A government representative on Friday accepted amendments by the ruling HDZ party group to a bill on local elections which ease previously proposed stricter rules for the nomination of candidates in elections and reasons for the termination of a local official's term. A regulation has been eased under which a person with a final court verdict sentencing them to a prison term of at least six months or whose verdict has been changed to community service and a conditional verdict will be banned from running in elections, starting already with the May 16 local election. The HDZ parliamentary group…

ZAGREB, 9 April, 2021 - The Pensioners Together platform, which brings together a number of pensioners' associations and parties, on Friday presented its candidate for Zagreb Mayor, Milivoj Špika, and the candidate for deputy mayor, Blanka Sunara. Addressing a news conference, Špika said that some candidates for Zagreb mayor behaved like revolutionaries, wishing to destroy current structures and announcing radical changes, while others acted as if Zagreb were their loot. "Zagreb needs someone who will carry out peaceful transition from the current model of governance to a new model of running the city," Špika said, adding that the platform would focus on pensioners,…

ZAGREB, 9 April, 2021 - The Voice of Entrepreneurs association considers that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, as proposed by the government, will destroy the chances for economic recovery, and calls for a radical change in the document. In order for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to have a greater impact, priority should be given to investments in the private sector, the association said in a statement issued on Friday. Entrepreneurs think that the plan will not direct enough funds to small and medium-sized enterprises and that that will have a negative impact on the entire economy. Unlike other…

ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - Documents resulting from the Strategic Transformation in Agriculture and Rural Space (STARS) project will help determine how around five billion euros that have been made available for Croatia's agricultural sector will be spent, Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković said on Thursday. The Agriculture Ministry and the World Bank cooperated on the STARS project, and the agreement on project cooperation was signed in October 2018. Analyses, studies and guidelines made during the project have thus been significantly used also in making a draft agricultural strategy for the period until 2030, which has been put to public consultation,…

ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said on Thursday the most important thing in the reconstruction of the cultural heritage was to reinforce and repair all monuments in a short time and that the first allocation would help to carry out all urgent works in 18 months. The first allocation at our disposal is €680 million from the European Solidarity Fund, she told the press, saying that the recently outlined national recovery and resilience plan included reconstruction funds. Croatia also has at its disposal funds approved by the World Bank, she said, adding that she also expected the approval…

ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery complex is one of the seven European most endangered monument localities in 2021, Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said at a news conference on Thursday. The Culture and Media Ministry, in cooperation with the City of Zagreb, the City Institute for the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage and the Zagreb Holding multi-utility conglomerate nominated the cemetery for the European Seven Most Endangered Programme, taking into account its specificity and value as the most important multiconfessional cemetery in Croatia and an exceptionally valuable cemetery at the European level, as well as the huge damage…

ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - The government on Thursday made decisions on the implementation of programmes for financing local infrastructure and rural development projects in areas populated by national minorities, for which HRK 20 million was earmarked in this year's budget. The programmes pertain to areas that are markedly below the national development average in which national minorities make up at least 5% of the population according to the 2011 census. Regional Development Minister Nataša Tramišak said the programmes would ensure the minimum standards of municipal and social infrastructure as well as financial instruments for family farms. The government also adopted a regulation on…