Politics

ZAGREB, Aug 1, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic has interceded with the United States to remove retired Croatian army general Ljubo Cesic Rojs from its blacklist, Vecernji List daily said on Saturday. Cesic Rojs brought his case to the President's attention during a recent meeting with 11 retired army generals. His case dates from the time of investigations by the Hague war crimes tribunal when his name was included on a blacklist of the US State Department, which implied a freeze on all of the general's assets and bank accounts and a ban from travelling to the United States, Canada,…

ZAGREB, Aug 1, 2020 - The speech by Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) MP Anja Simpraga in the Croatian parliament, in which she described how she had experienced Operation Storm as a child "from the other side", has attracted great attention because seldom has parliament heard accounts of the Croatian military offensive by members of the Serb minority, Jutarnji List daily said on Saturday. Although the Croatian public, thanks to independent media and the Hague war crimes tribunal, was aware almost from day one of what was happening during the Croatian liberation operation, including war crimes committed by some Croatian army…

ZAGREB, July 31, 2020 - Minister for Veterans' Affairs Tomo Medved said on Friday he was glad that all cabinet ministers would attend the central commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Operation Storm in Knin, adding that the government had been given a mandate by the people to build a tolerant society. "There are a lot of commemorations and anniversaries before us. Twenty-five years after the Homeland War, the government was given a mandate by the people to build relations in society that is based on tolerance, on honouring all victims (of the war), especially civilian victims, and we will…

ZAGREB, July 31, 2020 - SDP vice president Pedja Grbin said on Friday he welcomed the announcement that Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic would attend the Operation Storm anniversary and Deputy PM Tomo Medved the Grubori commemoration if that would contribute to turning to the future and understanding that the war was over. "Operation Storm was a victory in a war that was imposed on Croatia and everyone must accept that fact. Likewise, everyone must accept the fact that crimes were committed in the war and after Operation Storm and that some of those crimes were committed by the Croatian side," the MP told…

ZAGREB, July 31, 2020 - After appointing about 20 of its committees and delegations, the new Croatian Parliament concluded its first session on Friday and adjourned until early September. The second, extraordinary session has been scheduled for 2 September. "I wish you all the best and see you soon," Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic told lawmakers. The Croatian parliament regularly sits between 15 January and 15 July and between 15 September and 15 December. Any sittings outside these dates are referred to as extraordinary.

ZAGREB, July 31, 2020 - The Croatian parliament on Friday adopted the report on the activities and results of the Croatian presidency of the Council of the European Union and the prime minister's report on the July 17-21 emergency EU summit.  Both reports were backed by the ruling majority parties, which command 76 seats in the 151-member legislature. Presenting the report on the EU summit, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic highlighted the fact that Croatia had won a considerable package of financial aid both under the Multiannual Financial Framework and under the new economic recovery instrument called Next Generation EU, adding…

ZAGREB, July 31, 2020 - Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) leader Kreso Beljak was reelected president of this parliamentary party during Thursday's intra-party election convention. Out of the 965 delegates who were eligible to vote in the election, 610 took part, and of the 508 voted for Beljak, while his rival, Zeljko Lenart, who is the HSS secretary-general, won 101 votes. One ballot was invalid. Beljak and Lenart are the only two HSS parliamentary deputies in the new, 10th national legislature. Upon the declaration of the results on Thursday evening, Beljak said that he was aware that the HSS had scored poor results…

ZAGREB, July 29, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has never tweeted something against President Zoran Milanovic, the government said on Wednesday, adding that after checking Plenkovic's twitter account they concluded that Milanovic was either lying or hallucinating. "Given the numerous media queries about which late-night tweet the president meant, we checked the prime minister's tweets in the past period to check if anything was tweeted late at night that was aimed against the president. The only thing we can conclude is that the president is either lying or hallucinating," the government said. He is certainly very bored so he is making things up, it…

ZAGREB, July 29, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic boasted in parliament on Wednesday about the €22 billion Croatia will have at its disposal from the EU budget in the next seven years for, he said, the development of counties, agriculture, rural development, and demographic revitalisation. MP Hrvoje Zekanovic of the Hrast party asked where the EU would find the money. "Regarding the Next Generation EU instrument, to help member states in an unprecedented situation, when everyone's GDP is falling, the European Union will borrow on markets where there is money under the most favourable terms, money which practically doesn't cost anything and…

ZAGREB, July 29, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Wednesday reported to the Croatian parliament on the recent EU summit at which Croatia was granted access to €22 billion over the next seven years, which he said was a strong lever for economic recovery. Plenkovic reported on the results of the marathon summit of EU leaders that ended on July 21 with an agreement on the post-pandemic recovery plan and seven-year budget, after which Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman presented the results of the Croatian presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of the year.…