Politics

ZAGREB, 11 June, 2022 - Addressing an HDZ election convention in Zagreb on Saturday, the new president of the European People's Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, congratulated Croatia on its imminent entry to the euro area and the Schengen area, noting that the Western Balkans should be offered a clear prospect of EU membership. Weber, who on 1 June replaced Donald Tusk as EPP leader, said that his Zagreb visit was his first visit to a foreign country in his capacity as EPP president, and that by doing so he wanted to honour Croatia and its Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for having done a…

ZAGREB, 11 June, 2022 - The leader of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Dragan Čović, said on Saturday that there is no Bosnia and Herzegovina without the Croat people in that country and that the local Croats are exposed to attempts to be reduced to a minority, which requires a response. "We must clearly say that there is no Bosnia and Herzegovina without the Croat people in that country," Čović said in Zagreb while attending the  Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) general convention. It is the Croats who advocate Bosnia and Herzegovina's Euro-Atlantic journey, they are the uniting force,…

ZAGREB, 10 June 2022 - Croatia's fire protection system is ready for the coming fire season, and more than 22,000 firefighters across the country are equipped and ready to respond at any time, it was said at the Firefighter Operations Command in Divulje outside Split on Friday. A firefighting exercise, testing the abilities of firefighters for the coming wildfire season, was held at Divulje, and the event was also attended by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. He said that Croatia has fire forces also for operations in extreme weather conditions and is helping other countries as well, mentioning in that context…

ZAGREB, 10 June 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that the government would try and secure budget funds to increase allowances for parents with children with special needs, with whose representatives he would meet next week. "We... will meet with the parents' representatives on Monday and find a solution to meet their demands. We are yet to see what the effect on the budget will be," the PM said, adding that there were around 5,100 children with special needs. He recalled that his government had already made major changes by increasing maternity allowances. Sjena association vice-president Suzana Rešetar…

ZAGREB, 10 June 2022 - UNHCR Croatia and the Festival of Tolerance will mark World Refugee Day, observed on 20 June, with exhibitions, films and debates. They wish to encourage social dialogue on the importance of protecting refugees' rights, their inclusion in the communities which have offered them protection, and refugees' contribution to the societies in which they continue to build their lives. Anna Rich of UNHCR Croatia says World Refugee Day pays tribute to the courage, strength and contribution of millions of people around the world who are forced to leave their homes due to violence, war or persecution. Festival of…

ZAGREB, 10 June 2022- The Pfizer and Sobi biopharmaceutical companies inaugurated the construction of a new high-tech production plant in Savski Marof on Friday in which they are investing €100 million and from which they will export innovative biological drugs to 50 world countries as of 2026. The plant is located where Pfizer's Haspira company has already had a plant since 2015. The new plant should be built by 2024. It will spread over 4,000 square metres on 11 hectares of land. The existing plant makes biological substances for drugs, final drug products for cancer and rare diseases, and components for COVID vaccines. The…

ZAGREB, 10 June 2022 - MEP Biljana Borzan and MP Andreja Marić of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Friday announced that they plan to resend a motion to the Sabor to ban the sale of energy drinks to minors, saying that 80% of citizens support that idea according to a survey. During a press conference in Parliament House, Borzan recalled that one year has passed since the death of a minor after consuming an energy drink and that SDP had proposed a bill in 2018 already that would have restricted the sale of energy drinks to minors similarly to some other countries.…

ZAGREB, 10 June 2022 - In the last 24 hours, 285 coronavirus cases, out of 1,835 tests, and two related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Friday. There are 2,125 active cases, including 165 hospitalised patients, six of whom are on ventilators. To date, Croatia has registered 1,139,319 coronavirus cases, the death toll is 16,014, and 68.76% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated. For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

June the 10th, 2022 - Could new Croatian Government plans see normal employment permitted for people until they reach the age of 68? While there are certainly many industries in which this would either not be possible or would simply be undesirable, it seems that it could well be on the cards. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, one of the most interesting novelties of the Croatian Government's legislative proposals is that it proposes extending the age until which a worker can be employed from 65 to 68 years of age, as confirmed by our interlocutors from the trade union and the…

ZAGREB, 9 June 2022 - Minister of Regional Development and European Union Funds Nataša Tramišak on Thursday awarded 15 contracts at the Split-Dalmatia County offices from the Island Development Programme for financing small capital infrastructure projects. The Ministry implements the program once a year, and its goal is to enable island communities to implement small capital infrastructure projects in an attempt to systematically reduce regional development inequalities and differences in Croatia. This year, a total of 56 projects were selected. Along with the 15 projects in Split-Dalmatia County another 41 projects were selected for Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Lika-Senj, Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties. "These funds are for investments in the…