Politics

January 25, 2021 – Replacing the outgoing Andrew Dalgleish, Simon Thomas new ambassador to Croatia is an expert on security and counterterrorism After five years in his position, the United Kindom's popular ambassador to Croatia, Andrew Dalgleish will move on to pastures new in July 2021. Britain has appointed Simon Thomas new ambassador to Croatia. He has a background in diplomacy and is an expert on security and counterterrorism. Simon Thomas new ambassador to Croatia is a career diplomat but has held several positions outside of the diplomatic service. He joined the United Kingdom Diplomatic Service in 1997, after graduating…

ZAGREB, 22 January, 2021 - The European Council agrees that the EU must insist on the agreements reached with pharmaceutical companies on the quantities and deliveries of vaccines against coronavirus, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday. "We have asked the European Commission president to insist in talks with Pfizer and Moderna, and hopefully soon with AstraZeneca as well, on the agreed quantities of vaccine and dynamics of delivery so that people can be vaccinated as soon as possible," Plenković told a press conference in Zagreb following a virtual conference of the European Council on the coronavirus pandemic on…

ZAGREB, 22 January, 2021 - Members of the European Parliament on Thursday adopted by a vast majority a resolution on mitigating the consequences of last year's earthquakes in Croatia, asking that all available EU instruments be used to help the country. The resolution was supported by 677 MEPs while five voted against and one abstained. Participating in drafting the resolution, initiated by Croatian MEP Valter Flego, were all Croatian members of the European Parliament. The draft resolution "calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the EU and Croatian institutions, to devise a swift way of distributing the necessary financial and other assistance to…

ZAGREB, 22 January, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Friday cancelled his attendance at an event commemorating the 28th anniversary of the combined military and police operation "Maslenica 93" in Zadar after he learned that two persons wearing clothes with Ustasha symbols were participating in the event. Nikola Jelić, spokesman for the Office of the President told Hina that President Milanović arrived in Zadar for the ceremony marking the 28th anniversary of Operation Maslenica 93 and that "after it was noticed that among the participants in the event there were people wearing Ustasha insignia and the Ustasha salute, the President phoned Prime Minister Andrej Plenković…

January 22, 2021 – With near neighbours and far friends answering the call to assist Croatia following the Sisak Moslavina earthquake, you might have expected a unanimous vote to help the country when assistance was debated in the European parliament. But, a 'shameful six' of conservative and anti-EU MEPs voted against Croatia earthquake aid or abstained Though the world economy is still reeling from almost a year of retraction in response to the pandemic, international support for Croatia following the shattering 29 December earthquake in Sisak Moslavina was still forthcoming. Croatia-based ambassadors from Japan and Canada went to visit the…

ZAGREB, 21 January 2021 - Prime Minister and HDZ president Andrej Plenković said on Thursday Sisak-Moslavina County prefect Ivo Žinić would have been a burden to the party ahead of local elections had he not resigned as county branch president due to lack of clarity regarding his properties. "Žinić resigned because of the current situation concerning him, his assets and housing, because we believed that, in these circumstances, his staying at the helm of the county organisation would have been a burden to the HDZ ahead of local elections," Plenković told the press. There are two courses of action in this situation,…

ZAGREB, 21 January 2021 - The head of the task force for the reconstruction of earthquake-hit areas, Deputy Prime Minister Tomo Medved, said on Thursday they had set up 646 containers and mobile homes for the victims, including 60 on Wednesday. Local civil protection authorities have forwarded 2,230 requests for the temporary accommodation of people who lost their homes, including 880 that are a priority. Forty-nine families have been temporarily accommodated in state-owned flats, that is 124 persons whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the 29 December magnitude 6.2 tremor. Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Medved said that by…

ZAGREB, 21 January 2021 - The epidemiological situation in Croatia is encouraging and if the downward trend continues, the government will consult with the national coronavirus response team, epidemiologists and its team of economists over the weekend to see what can be done after 1 February, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday. In the last seven days Croatia has recorded 1,429 new infections, or an average of 604 daily. "These are the numbers we had in mid-October and they are six times lower than they were six weeks ago," the prime minister said at a cabinet meeting. The 14-day…

ZAGREB, 21 January 2021 - Members of the European Parliament on Thursday called on the European Commission to use all instruments available to help Croatia repair the damage caused by a string of quakes that hit the country last year and revitalise the affected areas that were neglected even before the disaster. At a plenary session, MEPs discussed a motion for a resolution to mitigate the consequences of the earthquakes in Croatia, which is expected to be adopted unanimously in the afternoon. The motion was initiated by Croatian MEP Valter Flego, with all Croatian MEPs taking part in drafting it.…

ZAGREB, 21 January 2021 - Sisak-Moslavina County Prefect Ivo Žinić has resigned as head of the county branch of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, the HDZ announced on Thursday. The HDZ's Sisak-Moslavina County Committee will be led until party elections by Ivan Celjak, the chairman of the HDZ organisation in Sisak and a member of the national parliament. On the initiative of the HDZ leader, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, the party's leadership met on Wednesday afternoon to discuss ambiguities surrounding the properties owned by Žinić. After he was informed of the meeting's conclusions, Žinić tendered his resignation this morning…