Politics

February 29, 2020 - Miroslav Škoro, a candidate in the recently held presidential elections in Croatia, announced today that he is to found his political party, called "Miroslav Škoro Homeland Movement". After his quite successful bid at the presidential elections, where he managed to take the third-highest number of votes (and miss the runoff election by a very small margin of votes), Miroslav Škoro often hinted at his plans to start a new political party in time for the upcoming parliamentary elections. And that is exactly what he has announced to the public today, in Panorama Hotel in Zagreb, where…

ZAGREB, February 29, 2020 - The candidate for the president of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Miro Kovač, on Friday submitted more than 17,000 signatures supporting his bid, as well as signatures supporting candidates from his team for deputy president and vice-presidents. The candidate for deputy president, Vukovar mayor Ivan Penava, submitted 16,718 signatures, while the candidates for vice-presidents Milijan Brkić, Tomislav Tolušić and Davor Ivo Stier submitted 16,262, 15,976 and 16,283 signatures respectively. Kovač said that they had received very positive responses on the ground, adding that party members wanted change knowing that in this way the…

ZAGREB, February 29, 2020 - Police have rescued 12 illegal migrants held in the storage compartment of a camper van in the Glina area, about 80 kilometres south of Zagreb, Sisak-Moslavina County Police said in a statement on Friday. They included three men, two women and seven children, who were all in bad shape and the police "probably saved their lives", the statement said. They were all tired and exhausted and were immediately given medical attention. They were found in a camper van bearing Polish licence plates during a police check on Sunday February 23 in the village of Prekopa…

ZAGREB, February 28, 2020 - Parliament on Friday relieved chief state prosecutor Dražen Jelenić of duty by a majority vote, but the 2017 and 2018 reports on the work of the State Prosecutor's Office (DORH) were still given the green light, also by a majority vote. Jelenić's dismissal was supported by 103 MPs, 2 voted against his dismissal and 1 MP abstained. Jelenić was appointed less than two years ago and was relieved of duty after it was discovered that he failed to say that he was a member of a Masonic lodge, because of which he resigned last week.…

ZAGREB, February 28, 2020 - Conflict of Interest Commission chair Nataša Novaković said on Friday the Commission was surprised by the speed and coordination of the judges working on the Pokaz and Helsinki cases over which Prime Minister Andrej Plenković filed two suits against the Commission. Novakovic told reporters every official had the right to take legal action against a decision by the Commission. She was commenting on the two suits Plenković filed at the Administrative Court against decisions in which the Conflict of Interest Commission found that he violated the principle of conscientious and transparent conduct. Novakovic said she…

ZAGREB, February 28, 2020 - Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman met with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto in Budapest on Friday and they agreed on the need to fight for a new common asylum policy and against illegal migration. "It's necessary to fight for a new common asylum policy and against illegal migration and smuggling," Grlić Radman said. "It's necessary to distinguish between refugees, where we are bound by the Geneva Convention, and illegal migration, on which some smuggling rings are making a lot of money." Budapest and Zagreb share the same views also on EU enlargement and the…

ZAGREB, February 28, 2020 - International law is the basis for solving the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute, on which the European Commission and the European Court of Justice have taken positions, Croatian President Zoran Milanović said on Thursday after talks with Slovenian President Borut Pahor. The two heads of state held a working meeting in Otočec Ob Krki, Slovenia during Milanović's first foreign visit as Croatia's new president. "What is the basis? In our opinion, international law," he said, adding that he was saying this "before talks have started." He said the two countries were "nowhere" in terms of procedure and…

ZAGREB, February 28, 2020 - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković and his campaign team on Thursday handed in to the party's election commission lists with more than 45,000 signatures of HDZ members supporting his candidacy for HDZ president as well as lists with signatures supporting candidates for deputy president and vice-presidents. Plenković arrived at the HDZ headquarters accompanied by some 200 party members, including many government ministers. He collected the signatures of 45,792 party members, while Tomo Medved, who was nominated for HDZ deputy president, collected 38,909 signatures. The candidates for HDZ vice-presidents, Oleg Butković, Zdravka Bušić, Branko…

ZAGREB, February 27, 2020 - This year the Croatian Army will employ 915 new staff members of the armed forces from the labour market through a public vacancy advertisement while 711 current employees will have their statuses changed, according to a plan adopted at a government meeting on Thursday. The government adopted a plan for hiring staff for the armed forces and a plan to change the categories of the military personnel already employed, which is the continuation of recruiting soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers with the aim of rejuvenating personnel and maintaining the number of soldiers in the army.…

ZAGREB, February 27, 2020 - The Split Municipal Prosecutor's Office has instructed the police to collect information concerning a criminal complaint Social Democrat MP Arsen Bauk filed against the organisers of a carnival procession in Imotski, where an effigy of a gay couple was set on fire this past weekend. The effigy of a gay couple holding a "child" - SDP MP Nenad Stazić, with a five-pointed star on his forehead - was burned at the traditional carnival procession in Imotski last Sunday. The criminal complaint against the organisers of the procession, the Bakove Svečanosti association, which is headed by…