Politics

ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - Homeland Movement leader Miroslav Škoro said on Thursday that if elected Mayor of Zagreb, he would deal with the problem of the city's Jakuševec landfill and close it down. "We should do all we can to ensure that the residents in this part of Zagreb no longer have to live near a landfill with an unpleasant smell in the air," Škoro said in Jakuševec. He said that about 110,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste is disposed of in Jakuševec annually, including 60,000 tonnes of household waste that produces an unpleasant smell in the air. "There is no…

ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Thursday congratulated the Roma national minority in Croatia on the 50th anniversary of International Romani Day. "The Republic of Croatia has from its beginning been committed to the full protection of members of national minorities, which has also been strengthened by the Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities. Since then we have been working intensively with members of the Roma community on social integration and affirmation of Roma in the Croatian society," Jandroković said in the message. He underscored that the Roma are today active participants in…

ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - The State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures (DKOM) received 1,194 appeals in 2019 and paid HRK 17 million into the state budget in respect of fees for launching appellate proceedings, which is 6.8 million more than the funds allocated for the Commission's work, the Croatian Parliament was told on Thursday. The figures were presented by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy, Nataša Mikuš Žigman, while introducing amendments to the DKOM Act governing the rights and obligations of the Commission members. The DKOM deals with appeals in public procurement procedures, grants concessions…

ZAGREB, 7 April, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that someone who planned to be president of the Supreme Court was expected to respect the law, which "is the prerequisite of every reform." He was responding during Question Time to MP Arsen Bauk of the opposition Social Democratic Party, who said Plenković was preventing changes in the judiciary, that Croatia was the least vaccinated EU member state, that COVID-19 measures were being applied selectively and that there was no reconstruction after last year's earthquakes. Plenković accused the SDP "and the whole left" of trying to create an "awful" atmosphere as if tomorrow…

ZAGREB, 7 April, 2021 - PM Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday, in a comment on the death of a 2.5-year-old girl caused by domestic violence, that the decision to return the child to its biological family was bad and that those who made it should bear the consequences, noting that social care did not require a separate ministry. "I don't know why the proposal to separate social care from the 'mega-ministry' is being made," Plenković told reporters in the parliament. He recalled that in 2013, during the term of the Zoran Milanović government, a case similar to the last one happened in Slavonski Brod, and…

ZAGREB, 7 April , 2021 - Amnesty International says in its report on human rights in 2020 that Croatia continued to be violent towards illegal migrants and that access to abortion was constrained, while commending improvements regarding gender-based violence and a ruling allowing same-sex couples to foster children. "Aid organizations documented over 15,000 cases of pushbacks and collective expulsions, frequently accompanied by violence and abuse," AI says, singling out the case of 15 migrants allegedly beaten by police while being tied to a tree. The Croatian Interior Ministry regularly denies allegations of migrant abuse. Gender-based violence "In January, legal amendments harmonizing the definition of rape in criminal legislation with international standards and…

ZAGREB, 7 April, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday that people in charge of the social care system should admit mistakes and take the responsibility for the death of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl caused by domestic violence, adding that there should be a separate government department for social care. "Yet another tragedy, the death of a girl from Nova Gradiška, caused by domestic violence, has again raised the issue of the efficiency and quality of the social care system in Croatia, in particular care for children," Milanović wrote on Facebook. He said that this case, for which full responsibility…

April the 7th, 2021 - As the pandemic continues to throw proverbial spanners in the works of all things imaginable, the economy is counting the kuna and the Croatian Finance Minister, Zdravko Maric, is busy cooking the books. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, the latest increase in indications for coronavirus infection is passing, at least for now, without any new significant tightening up of any epidemiological measures, but how do things stand when it comes to state aid, taxes, pensions and contributions? There are also very big question marks hanging over the head of the upcoming 2021 tourist season, as well…

ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The founder of the #Spasime (Save me) initiative, Jelena Veljača, said on Tuesday it was agreed at today's meeting with Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović that an action plan to restructure and improve the system should be urgently adopted. Speaking to the press after the meeting, Veljača said she was sorry if she had contributed to a campaign against social workers with a recent statement which she said "was prompted by the outcome of the monstrous event in Nova Gradiška." In a recent Facebook post, she pushed for sacking and revoking the licences of the whole "expert" team from the social welfare centre in…

ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Tuesday that today's meeting with drug wholesalers was a clear sign that the government wanted to solve the debt problem, while Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said additional payments might be made so that drug supply ran smoothly. "Today's meeting is a clear signal that we wish to solve this problem through joint effort. The meeting was constructive and Minister Marić left open the possibility of additional funds to make sure that drug wholesalers supply the health system regularly," Beroš told the press, reiterating that increasing health contributions was not being considered. The meeting focused…