Politics
Sunday, 19 April 2020
Slovenian President Pahor to Croats: We Will Defeat Coronavirus Together
ZAGREB, April 19, 2020 - Slovenian President Borut Pahor on Sunday sent a message of solidarity and encouragement to Croatian President Zoran Milanović and all Croatian citizens, saying we will defeat coronavirus together. "We deeply admire the Croatian people which is showing determination, courage and hope in these difficult times," Pahor tweeted. "Slovenia feels your sorrow and is genuinely looking forward to your successes," he added. United with other European peoples, we will defeat coronavirus together, Pahor said. "Everything will be all right." In the past few days, he sent messages to several European peoples, including Britons, the Czech, the…
Sunday, 19 April 2020
Serb Orthodox Dignitaries Hold Easter Service in Zagreb
ZAGREB, April 19, 2020 - During his sermon in Zagreb on Sunday on the occasion of Easter observed in line with the Julian calendar, the Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana Porfirije called on the faithful to cease being afraid, as Jesus Christ defeated death. The dignitary also called on human beings, who, he said, have alienated themselves from God, to come back to Him. The Easter service was held in a chapel in the Serb Orthodox Church spiritual centre. For the first time in the history of the Serb Orthodox community in the city, the service was not held in…
Sunday, 19 April 2020
28 Croatians Repatriated from Italy
ZAGREB, April 19, 2020 - Twenty eight Croatians and 10 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who got stuck in Italy as a result of COVID-19 quarantine, arrived in Croatia by bus on Saturday evening, the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry stated. Those citizens were in three Italian regions: Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto. The Croatian ministry in coordination with the Croatian embassy in Rome and the consulate general in Trieste organised this repatriation with the assistance of the Italian state authorities and the local authorities in those north-eastern regions. Most of those repatriated citizens were quarantined in…
Sunday, 19 April 2020
Škoro Accuses Government of Rehabilitating Socialist System Through COVID Measures
ZAGREB, April 19, 2020 - The Homeland Movement party leader Miroslav Škoro on Saturday criticised the government's measures to contain COVID-19 as "an economic motorway towards the Middle Ages". He said that the measures imposed to curb the spread of the infection could "thwart the future of our children for ever." "Epidemiologists cannot be the only measure for everything that now happens," this famous pop singer and businessman-turned-politician says in his Facebook video message. If things do not start going back to normal next two weeks in a sensible manner, the country will collapse, the International Monetary Fund will come…
Saturday, 18 April 2020
MOST for Slashing VAT on Protective Equipment to 5%
ZAGREB, April 18, 2020 - The MOST party on Saturday presented amendments to the VAT Act proposing that VAT on all protective equipment preventing the spread of COVID-19 be slashed to 5%. "We believe this is an appropriate proposal at the moment and that it would relieve the whole procurement system for those products," the head of the opposition party's economic council, Mislav Kraljević, told reporters. He said the party hoped the amendment would be put on parliament's agenda as soon as possible and that other parliamentary parties would support it. MOST leader Božo Petrov said the party had nine…
Saturday, 18 April 2020
Disgruntled Residents Join "Pots and Pans Demonstration" against Zagreb Mayor
ZAGREB, April 18, 2020 - Following a call made by Zagreb City Assembly opposition councillor, Tomislav Tomašević and a few NGOs, residents in Zagreb's various neighbourhoods took to banging on pots and kitchen utensils from their balconies on Friday to show their dissatisfaction with Mayor Milan Bandić. Earlier on Friday, Tomašević, who is the whip of the left group in the Zagreb City Assembly, called on residents to join "a cacerolazo " at 7 p.m. Friday and that by making noise by banging pots, pans, and other utensils, they could tell Mayor Bandić "enough". "We can't protest in (Ban Jelačić)…
Saturday, 18 April 2020
Officials Extend Easter Greetings to Orthodox Believers
ZAGREB, April 18, 2020 - With the traditional greeting "Khristos voskrese!", President Zoran Milanović on Saturday extended best wishes to citizens who celebrate Easter according to the Julian calendar. "The holiday of Easter teaches that, despite all setbacks and hardships, there are always hope and solutions for a better tomorrow if its significance is accepted genuinely and with full faith. May the significance of this, the biggest Christian holiday be an incentive to seek new strength for personal growth and to us all an incentive to better cooperation, mutual understanding and tolerance," the president said. Recalling the responsibility of all…
Saturday, 18 April 2020
Oleg Butkovic Teases Cheaper Motorway Usage for Croatian Citizens
As Morski writes on the 17th of April, 2020, Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, spoke to RTL Today (Danas) about new measures being prepared by his particular ministry. ''There was no discussion at the state level about the arrival of Czech tourists to Croatia. It ' too early to talk about that at the moment, such a scenario, meaning the the arrival of Czechs or any other foreign nationals is not possible at this moment in time. It's necessary to consider the epidemiological situation in Croatia and in whichever other country. However, the scenario should slowly…
Friday, 17 April 2020
Croatia's Top Court: Politicians Can Talk Sh*t While at Work
April 17, 2020 — Want to insult someone in Croatia with limited legal repercussions? Win an election. If one average Croat turns to another and shouts, "I f*ck your mother!", the recipient could prosecute for "defamation" and "insult". If an elected official, however, declares a colleague a "piece of sh*t" while both are at work, the nation's top court considers it political expression. An elected official cursing out a colleague on the premises of the representative body does not constitute defamation or insult, the Croatian Constitutional Court decided, according to Jutarnji List. The decision muddies the already-murky interpretation of Croatia's…
Friday, 17 April 2020
Grabar-Kitarović Gives up Office in Visoka Street, Will Work from Home?
ZAGREB, April 17, 2020 - Former President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will not have an office in Zagreb's Visoka Street, where the government has allocated her an office space at her request. Sources close to the former president say that problems relating to the structural stability of the building, affected by an earthquake that struck Zagreb on March 22, and landslide-prone terrain are the main reasons why the building does not meet the conditions for Grabar-Kitarović to move in. Grabar-Kitarović is entitled to an office space for five years after the cessation of her presidential duties under the law governing the rights…
Thursday, 16 April 2020
Jasenovac, Operation Flash Commemorations to Be Held
ZAGREB, April 16, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that victims of the WWII Jasenovac concentration camp would be commemorated appropriately in Jasenovac on April 22, and that the anniversary of the 1-3 May 1995 Operation Flash would be commemorated as well. Plenković said at the beginning of his cabinet's meeting that the culture minister and other ministers were working on the organisation of the Jasenovac commemoration while the ministers of the interior, war veterans and defence were working on organising the commemoration of the military and police operation that liberated the areas of western Slavonia held…
