Politics

ZAGREB, 17 February 2021 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Peđa Grbin on Wednesday presented Joško Klisović as the party's candidate for Mayor of Zagreb, saying that Klisović was offering partnership and transparency and could guarantee the citizens prosperity and a future free of corruption.  Addressing a press conference, Grbin said that Klisović was a professional with over 30 years' experience in different jobs in both the public and private sector. He stressed the priority was not just the forthcoming local election, but how to run Zagreb after 16 May. "Programmes, ideas and policies are not enough. We need people,…

ZAGREB, 17 February 2021 - MP Milorad Pupovac of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) on Wednesday called for housing containers set up in earthquake-hit areas to be urgently connected to water supply and drainage and for red tape related to reconstruction to be simplified. Living in containers without running water Pupovac warned that even though a lot has been done to accommodate people in earthquake areas it was unthinkable to have housing containers that are not connected to running water or drainage. "I appeal for that to be urgently changed," said Pupovac and added that roads need to be…

ZAGREB, 16 February, 2021 - Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Ministry on Tuesday congratulated Mario Kordić on his election as the new mayor of Mostar, the biggest city in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ministry welcomed the successful completion of the first local elections in that city after 12 years and the foundation of the new city council. "After 12 years, the residents of Mostar had an opportunity to elect their representatives in the city authorities. The international community, together with Mostar residents, also eagerly waited for this moment and attached great importance to it," reads the ministry's statement. The successful implementation…

ZAGREB, 16 February, 2021 - Due to the pandemic, the public debt increased by HRK 30 billion, the 2021 budget deficit will be 3% of GDP, and the public debt will increase to HRK 330 billion, Večernji List daily said on Tuesday. This year, about HRK 50 billion in old debt is coming to maturity, so Finance Minister Zdravko Marić has to refinance it, and in addition to that, the state will have to borrow another HRK 12 billion, the daily said. Thus, this year's budget deficit should be about 3% of GDP. Two larger bonds are coming to maturity,…

ZAGREB, 15 February, 2021 - Foreign ministers Gordan Grlić Radman of Croatia and Ivan Korčok of Slovakia defended on Monday vaccine procurement at the level of the EU, which is being criticised for a slow rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme. I think it's very good that the EU undertook joint steps for the member states and is jointly procuring the vaccine because if Croatia and Slovenia started procuring it on their own, they wouldn't be as successful, they wouldn't have such a good position, said Korčak, who is on a working visit to Croatia. He said he was aware that the expected…

ZAGREB, 15 February, 2021 - Politician Vladimir Šeks said on Monday he had sued Croatia at the European Court of Human Rights because he was not given access to documents of Croatia's first President Franjo Tuđman, adding that it was in the national interest to reveal, not conceal that period in recent history. The documents in question are from the archives of the President's Office which Šeks requested at the time of former President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. He was denied access to some with the explanation that they are secret, a decision later upheld by the Administrative and Constitutional courts. Speaking to…

ZAGREB, 15 February, 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Monday he had engaged all stakeholders and requested reports from all medical institutions about possible irregularities in COVID-19 vaccination.  Data are being collected via the vaccination register and a commission has been set up to oversee vaccination, and if there are any discrepancies, it will order an inspection, he told the press. If there are omissions, the cases will be referred to the professional chambers, he added. Beroš said he was confident he would receive reports from most medical institutions, "as well as from the digital platform," today already. "Very…

ZAGREB, 15 February, 2021 - Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Sunday that comments on social networks about the film "Dara of Jasenovac", in which people from Croatia and Serbia argue about the film, showed that neither side had gotten over the past but he noted that Serbia needs to have good relations with Croatia. "Neither they nor we have gotten over 1991 or 1995," Vučić said in an interview with the pro-government Pink TV. He announced that Predrag Antonijević, who directed the film, and Nataša Drakulić, who wrote the screenplay, would be decorated on Monday, on the occasion of Statehood Day. The plight of…

February the 15th, 2021 - The European Commission (EC) has issued numerous predictions for Croatian economic growth as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic rages on. From bad to worse to decent and back again, what do the predictions look like now? As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marina Bilus writes, a few days ago, the European Commission released its winter forecasts, which are, of course, dominated by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economies of the individual member states of the European Union and the Eurozone. As far as Croatian economic growth, or indeed the opposite is concerned, the European Commission has somewhat…

ZAGREB, 14 February, 2021 - The head of the Croatian Association of General Practitioners (KoHOM), Nataša Ban Toskić, said on Saturday that it was only two days ago that GPs in Zagreb received the government document determining priority groups for vaccination against COVID-19. "We knew that this second group includes a wide group of people aged 65 years and over and chronic patients, but we learned about the criteria only two days ago. Only a few county public health institutes received this document immediately, while others received it only two days ago," Ban Toskić told N1 television while speaking about the…