Politics

ZAGREB, May 16, 2020 - The Croatian and Slovenian ministers of the interior, Davor Bozinovic and Ales Hojs respectively, held a meeting in Ormoz, Slovenia, on Saturday, at which they confirmed the excellent cooperation between the two countries' police forces. One of the topics of the meeting was the coronavirus pandemic, and Bozinovic said that the two countries' ministries of the interior had dealt quickly with all issues posing a problem for their citizens and business sector on a daily basis. "We were the first in Europe to enable convoys, the transport of goods by truck...  before the European Commission…

May 16, 2020 - For a country so heavily dependent on tourism, communication from the Kings of Accidental Tourism is beyond sublime, a far cry from the outstanding communication from Vili Beros and team. What went wrong, and can we have a Koronavirus tourism Viber account? Do you remember King Vili and Queen Alemka? The very public and accessible faces of the crisis management team which has spearheaded the health response to the coronavirus crisis in Croatia. New Health Minister Vili Beros only came into the job on January 28, 2020, but he immediately brought in a sense of calm,…

ZAGREB, May 15, 2020 - MP Nikola Grmoja (Bridge) said on Friday that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) had made everything it had done, including the timing of the parliamentary election, to suit its own needs, adding that Bridge had not yet decided whether it would run in the election with Miroslav Skoro's Homeland Movement. "They have adapted the election and everything else they have done to suit themselves. Croatian citizens are not important here... nor what the opposition thinks. This election is for them. I call on citizens to respond to this attack by going to the polls and to…

ZAGREB, May 14, 2020 - Zagreb and Belgrade are the "pillars of stability" and peace in this part of Europe and without their cooperation it would be hard to expect that parts of the region will come out of the state of "unfinished peace" and "frozen conflict," Croatia's new ambassador to Serbia, Hidajet Biscevic, has said. If politicisation is removed, if the constant repeating of the media and verbal clammer is avoided and if we stick to the fundamental principle of international relations of not meddling in internal affairs, history does not need to remain a lasting source of conflict between Serbia and Croatia,…

ZAGREB, May 14, 2020 - Croatian President Zoran Milanovic will visit the Dobrava Cemetery near Maribor in Slovenia on Friday where he will lay a wreath to post-WWII victims, and later he will meet with his Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor. President Milanovic is travelling to Tezno where he will lay a wreath at the memorial and grave of post-war victims, which he also did on two occasions when he was prime minister, in 2012 and 2015. Yugoslav armed forces killed between 15,000 and 20,000 members of the Ustasha armed forces and civilians, mostly Croats, in Tezno in May 1945. Tezno is one…

ZAGREB, May 14, 2020 - Prime Minister and HDZ president Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that parliament would be dissolved on May 18 and that he had informed President Zoran Milanovic, who can call a parliamentary election for June 21 or 28 or July 5 or 12. "After the cabinet meeting and the meeting of the parliamentary majority, I can inform the Croatian public that all components of the parliamentary majority have decided to propose to parliament to dissolve on Monday, May 18," Plenkovic told the press after a meeting of the ruling coalition. He said the reason for this…

ZAGREB, May 14, 2020 - The public vilification and lynch threats against Sarajevo Archbishop Vinko Puljic, over a mass for the Bleiburg victims to be held in Sarajevo, suggest that the position of the Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not as it should be, Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister said on Thursday. Gordan Grlic Radman told reporters that he had expressed support to Archbishop Puljic, a man who had stayed in Sarajevo during the war and is "a shining example of coexistence, multiculturalism." "This vilification, the lynch, in a way suggest that the position of the Croatian people in…

ZAGREB, May 14, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Thursday commented on the 75th anniversary of the Bleiburg tragedy, saying that a truly tolerant society could be built only by soberly looking at past trauma and by respecting every victim. "Today, three-quarters of a century later, we remember that difficult chapter in Croatian history and we remember all victims. Today that is a moral obligation for the modern Croatia, which was built on the harmony and unity of the Croatian people in the Homeland War," Plenkovic said at a cabinet meeting. We will be able to build a truly tolerant society…

ZAGREB, May 14, 2020 - Croatia's results in fighting the pandemic speak best of the citizens' trust in this crisis management team, the head of the national civil protection authority and Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said on Thursday. Asked if the authority had considered reducing the number of their regular press conferences, Bozinovic said that they would consider the proposal. He added that under the law on public assembly and epidemiological measures there was no ban on public assembly "nor a ban on protests in that context." Talking about crossing borders and entering Croatia, Bozinovic said that Croatia was following a…

ZAGREB, May 12, 2020 - Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić said on Tuesday that the parliamentary group of his Work and Solidarity Party was unanimous that it would not support the parliament's dissolution if parliament did not previously vote in a law on the reconstruction of Zagreb. Bandić said he would be happy if the law was voted in by the current parliament, adding that even though this was difficult to expect, he had heard that the bill would receive first reading "as early as next week." Bandić believes that the law on the post-quake reconstruction of the capital city could…