Politics

ZAGREB, January 26, 2020 - The Anti-Fascist League of Croatia organised a rally in Zagreb's Victims of Fascism Square on Sunday to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed on 27 January, and on that occasion activists laid 75 carnations on the wall of building in the square in which Ustasha police and Gestapo used to operate during WW2. The 75 flowers were laid to mark 75 years since Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration and death camp, was liberated on 27 January 1945. International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a memorial day on 27 January commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust that occurred…

Health Minister Kujundzic hasn't had the best time of it of late. His alleged dodgy dealings, incorrectly declared properties and magic houses and apartments and even land popping up from the island of Pag to his hometown of Ivanbegovina (near Imotski) have all surfaced in the media. We recently wrote an article which posed the question of just what it would take, or indeed how much would need to be found out, before a Croatian politician would actually do the honourable thing and step down when caught with their fingers ''in the till'' as it were. Could Milan Kujundzic actually…

ZAGREB, January 26, 2020 - Health Minister Milan Kujundžić has said that there is no evidence in the ministry's books about the transactions in the amount of 4.7 million kuna to the Smart Medical company, which is described in media outlets as the firm owned by a former business partner of the Kujundžić family. Kujundžić thus dismissed speculations about the payment of 4.7 million kuna (635,000 euro) from the health ministry's budget to the Smart Medical, owned by Neven Mrkša, a former business partner of the Kujundžić family and their first-door neighbour, as claimed by the Telegram web portal. The…

ZAGREB, January 26, 2020 - Members of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party Miro Kovač, Ivan Penava and Davor Ivo Stier confirmed on Saturday that they would run in the forthcoming party elections as a team, with Kovač and Penava contesting for the party's president and deputy president. Kovač is an HDZ parliamentarian and served as the foreign minister in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. Penava is the mayor of the city of Vukovar. Stier, a member of parliament and who served as the foreign minister after Kovač in the Andrej Plenković cabinet, will stand…

While EU politicians, leaders, foreign journalists and human rights organizations play political football, assign blame and discuss solutions for the migrant crisis along the Balkan Route; frightened residents of Croatia border towns, like the town of Ilok, are locking themselves in their homes at night out of fear of burglaries and much worse. “We are scared! In the middle of the night, we caught migrant burglars circling our house. I thought my son was going to work, but sensed something suspicious and saw two masked people at our front door,” reported one shaken Ilok local. (Note that Hungary has built…

ZAGREB, January 25, 2020 - The Ministry of State Assets plans to speed up the activation of state property in 2020 to increase revenues from state assets, Minister Mario Banožić told Hina in an interview. "We believe that this year we will accelerate the activation of state assets by amending the State Property Management Act and adopting the Unappraised Construction Land Bill, which passed first reading in Parliament last week," Banožić said. He said that state-owned financial assets were expected to bring in HRK 870 million in revenues this year, adding that an additional 1.1 billion kuna was expected from…

ZAGREB, January 25, 2020 - Outgoing President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović plans to ask the government to provide her with office space after her term expires on 19 February, Večernji List newspaper writes on Saturday. Her plan, as she herself has revealed, is to continue working on branding Croatia, promoting national interests, dealing with social issues such as domestic violence and promoting environmental protection. She has no intention to criticise or praise her successor, Zoran Milanović, or comment on his work, the newspaper said. "I didn't think I was going to take an office, but now I'm thinking that one should have…

LJUBLJANA, January 25, 2020 - Slovenian non-governmental organizations have called on their government to cancel the agreement with Croatia on the return of illegal migrants, citing reports of alleged inhumane treatment by the Croatian police. Representatives of Amnesty International Slovenia (AIS), the Legal-Informational Centre for NGOs (PIC) and the association called Asylum Working Group held on Friday a press conference where they warned about the inhumane conditions in refugee camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, about the unlawful conduct of the Slovenian police who return migrants to Croatia and about the cruel treatment of asylum seekers by the Croatian police, reports…

ZAGREB, January 25, 2020 - The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Cyber and Communications, Robert Strayer, said in Zagreb on Friday that the Croatian government and the private sector should take care when choosing the providers of equipment for the development of 5G network and services. Advising Zagreb to be careful when selecting providers, he explained that this was important so that the country could protect itself against cyber-attacks and data insecurity in a timely fashion. During his short stay in Zagreb, the US official held talks with representatives of local regulators, after which he held a news…

ZAGREB, January 24, 2020 - The Court of Justice of the European Union will announce on January 31 whether it has jurisdiction to rule on a Slovenian case against Croatia over alleged infringements of European law resulting from Croatia's failure to implement a border arbitration ruling, the Luxembourg-based court said on Friday. The Court's Advocate General Priit Pikamae of Estonia issued his opinion in mid-December saying that the Court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. His opinion, however, is not binding and it is difficult to predict the Court's judgment. The practice to date shows that in cases…