Politics

During surveillance of the European Union's maritime border with Turkey, as part of the Frontex Poseidon mission, four naval officers from Dubrovnik, Croatia rescued 36 migrants from an unmanned dinghy in the Aegean Sea on February 10, according to Dubrovnik police who were monitoring the area. A migrant dinghy was observed in the area from the Evros (Marica) river delta heading toward Makri, Greece. Cries were heard from the small inflatable vessel, and officers immediately came to the rescue. Croatia Police: Migrants on Dinghy Chilled, Dehydrated, Unconscious "They found 36 foreign nationals on the dinghy, including five children, 11 women…

ZAGREB, February 14, 2020 - Former presidential candidate Miroslav Škoro announced in a Facebook post on Thursday that the programme and other acts necessary for launching a movement that would bring together those seeking different relations in the country were nearly done, and the founding assembly would be held by the end of February. "I have been intensively discussing the continuation of cooperation with partners who had supported my presidential candidacy and I have been strictly focused on ideas that can improve the lives of the Croatian people in the country and abroad," Škoro wrote on his Facebook page. Škoro…

ZAGREB, February 14, 2020 - Croatia's Air Force Commander Michael Križanec on Thursday said that defects identified on four Mi-171Sh transport helicopters had been removed and that a fifth helicopter out of the ten 171Sh overhauled helicopters, which is now located on the island of Krk, would be repaired on Friday. Addressing an extraordinary news conference, the general admitted that experts had identified defects on all the ten helicopters that had been overhauled in Russia. "The defects on four helicopters have been removed and they are usable. The fifth will be repaired tomorrow. Another five helicopters are undergoing regular overhauls,"…

ZAGREB, February 14, 2020 - The Croatian Ministry of the Interior and police agencies from Bosnia and Herzegovina agreed at a meeting in Sarajevo on Thursday to strengthen cooperation in combating illegal migration, including better coordination and data exchange, according to a statement issued after the meeting. "Our task is to improve cooperation in all our areas of activity on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially after a recent meeting between the Croatian minister of the interior and the security minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This primarily relates to improving the readmission system and joint patrols, without…

ZAGREB, February 13, 2020 - NATO defence ministers, including Croatia's Damir Krstičević, in Brussels on Thursday reaffirmed their support for Iraq and strengthening NATO's mission to train Iraqi forces, in which Croatia will continue to take part. Krstičević said that Croatia has seven soldiers in the mission, two of whom have already returned home while the remaining five will gradually return to Iraq from Kuwait. After the conflict in Iraq escalated at the start of the year, following America's attack and the death of the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Qasem Soleimani, Croatia withdrew its troops to Kuwait. "It was…

ZAGREB, February 13, 2020 - The nongovernmental organisation GONG on Thursday called on the government to use Croatia's EU presidency to enhance the transparency of working procedures for state and European affairs and to bring them closer to citizens. "Europe cannot be close to citizens if those procedures are very non-transparent, if there is a policy of confidentiality in adopting EU laws. We believe that we have the right to know which decisions regarding European affairs are made on our behalf," GONG executive director Oriana Ivković Novokmet told a news conference. GONG prepared recommendations for the government and ministers to…

ZAGREB, February 13, 2020 - The Croatian government on Thursday decided to send humanitarian aid to Albania as earthquake relief, and to Venezuela that is in a humanitarian and economic crisis and Zagreb will also help Bosnia and Herzegovina in procurement of police equipment necessary for the fight against cross-border crime. Croatia will donate 1 million euro to Albania at a donor conference to be held in Brussels on 17 February. Albania will receive donations for reconstruction after a destructive earthquake hit that country in November last year, State-Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs Zdravka Bušić informed…

ZAGREB, February 13, 2020 - Speaking ahead of a plenary debate on the situation at the external borders of the European Union in the European Parliament on Wednesday, Green MEPs said it was unquestionable that Croatian border police were forcibly returning migrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina in violation of legal procedures. "The only people who are insisting that illegal pushbacks are not happening in the EU’s largest external land border are the Croatian authorities," Green MEP Tineke Strik said in a report. "The UN agencies, the Croatian Ombudsman, civil society and migrants and asylum seekers we spoke to showed us…

ZAGREB, February 13, 2020 - The Committee of the Regions is an extremely important institution for the Conference on the Future of Europe as without the local level the Conference would not be feasible, European Commission Vice President for Demography and Democracy Dubravka Šuica said in Brussels on Wednesday. She spoke about the Conference at the first plenary of the Committee of the Regions' new make-up. She is in charge, on behalf of the Commission, of organising the Conference which is expected to start on May 9, Europe Day, and last two years. We must make it so that citizens…

As Morski writes on the 12th of February, 2020, Croatian MEP Tonino Picula has been shortlisted for a prestigious MEP Award, known as the "EU Oscar", which is awarded to the best MEPs in certain categories. MEP Tonino Picula was nominated among the top three candidates for the Energy Award. ''I'm extremely honoured with this nomination as it's a great recognition of my many years of work. But this is first and foremost a tribute to the European islanders who have recognised the energy transition as a priority and made my initiative a success! I look forward to continuing to…