Politics

ZAGREB, April 16, 2020 - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said on Wednesday that in the current crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic the parliament had entirely fulfilled its role, noting that the date of the next parliamentary election had not been discussed yet. "At this moment, continuing the fight against the coronavirus and citizens' health and lives are our absolute priority. We have not thought about or discussed a date for the elections," Jandroković said in an interview with the HRT public broadcaster. He noted that elections could be held in December at the latest. Jandroković could not rule out…

ZAGREB, April 15, 2020 - Deputy Parliament Speaker Željko Reiner said on Wednesday the ruling coalition meeting today focused on amending the law on the protection of the population from contagious diseases and that it did not discuss pay cuts in the public sector. "We all agreed that in this special situation Croatia, and the whole world, is exposed to a new virus that didn't exist the last time that law was passed. We must adapt it just as some ten days ago we adapted the law on civil protection," Reiner (HDZ) told reporters after the meeting. Asked if the…

ZAGREB, April 15, 2020 - Croatian MEPs Karlo Ressler, Tonino Picula and Valter Flego said on Wednesday they were dissatisfied with European institutions' weak response to the coronavirus pandemic. Ressler (HDZ/EPP) said at a video press conference this was the EU's "biggest crisis" since its establishment. "This is, in a way, the moment of truth for Europe because swift action and swift aid are needed now. Concrete solidarity is needed." He regretted the absence of a response by all member states at the beginning. "Attempts are being made to change that now." Flego (IDS/Renew Europe) said the EU "was again…

ZAGREB, April 15, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday the government's biggest task was to fight the socio-economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, asking all ministers to make economies and underlining that the burden of this crisis must be borne with solidarity. Speaking for the public broadcaster, he said rationalisation was the main concept and that ministers would have to plan in stages how to reactivate the economy in line with health and safety guidelines. "We don't want to fall into the trap of lightly easing something and then having new infection hotspots." Plenković said the uncertainty…

ZAGREB, April 14, 2020 - One third of freelancers in the Croatian media sector have lost all their jobs since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, 26% have lost most of their jobs, and only 15% have kept their jobs, according to a survey by the Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) and the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists (SNH). "Two-thirds of the freelancers polled have lost all, most or half of their jobs since the beginning of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is alarming that almost a third of them have been left with no income at all.…

ZAGREB, April 14, 2020 - Charges have been pressed against four persons for attacking journalists in Split on Sunday, and 13 persons who carried an inappropriate banner have been identified, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said in an interview with the public broadcaster HRT on Monday evening. A female journalist and a camerawoman were attacked outside a parish church in the Sirobuja suburb of Split on Sunday where a Mass was held despite the ban on public gatherings over the coronavirus epidemic. Criminal charges have been brought against three persons for using violence against persons performing a public duty, which carries…

ZAGREB, April 13, 2020 - Split police have pressed criminal charges against three men who assaulted a female journalist and a camerawoman on Sunday as they were trying to record Easter Mass in a local church, held despite a ban on gatherings because of COVID-19, as well as a misdemeanour charge against a 70-year-old man. A report on the incident has been sent to the State Inspectorate, the Split-Dalmatia County civil protection authority and the Split-Makarska Archdiocese, the county police said in a press release on Monday. Four men have been criminally investigated in connection with the assault on the…

ZAGREB, April 13, 2020 - The Croatian branch of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) has joined the initiative for high standards in overcoming the consequences of the March 22 earthquake that struck Zagreb and its environs. Concerned about daily news about incompetence in handling the heritage damaged in the earthquake, the national branch of the IIC has joined the initiative launched by architects and art historians to establish a coordinating body for the post-earthquake restoration of Zagreb, the Vice President of IIC Croatia, Ksenija Škarić, announced last week. Škarić noted that the bill on…

ZAGREB, April 13, 2020 - The bill on the reconstruction of Zagreb after the March 22 earthquake will be complex because buildings in the centre of the capital are more than 100 years old, and specialists in all relevant areas are involved, Construction Minister Predrag Štromar said in a Croatian television current affairs programme on Monday morning. "We must not and will not leave our citizens alone and that is most important," Štromar said, adding that the bill would be fast-tracked through Parliament. He said that the Croatian Chamber of Civil Engineers, the Croatian Chamber of Architects, the University of…

ZAGREB, April 13, 2020 - The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) said on Sunday it was shocked by this morning's attacks outside a church on Dalmatinski Portal journalist Živana Šušak Živković and N1 camerawoman Ivana Sivro, asking that the state leadership clearly condemn them. The attacks occurred at about the same time, first on Šušak Živković, who was recording a gathering of believers at a church in a Split suburb, the HND said in a press release. After she was roughly pushed away, which is clearly visible in a video, the mobile phone on which she was live streaming the gathering…