Politics

ZAGREB, January 17, 2020 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who on Thursday arrived in Berlin for a two-day visit, expressed hope that the EU-Western Balkan summit meeting in Zagreb would bring about progress in opening accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. The two officials discussed the coordination of activities pertaining to the presidency of the Council of the European Union considering the fact that Croatia is the current country-in-chair and Germany will be the next one in the second half of 2020. Merkel and Plenković reiterated their commitment to finding solutions for the…

ZAGREB, January 17, 2020 - Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman met with the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Angel Gurria, in Paris on Thursday, for talks on Croatia's accession to that organisation, the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry said. Croatia's accession is being blocked by Slovenia because Zagreb is refusing to implement an international arbitration ruling on the two countries' border. Until recently, the country's accession was blocked by Hungary which claimed that Zagreb was not honouring a decision by an international arbitral tribunal in the INA-MOL case. Budapest has in…

The demographic crisis in Croatia isn't shifting, and nor are its extremely concerning effects. As we reported recently, half a million workers have now left Croatia's borders and are making their money, and indeed spending their money - elsewhere. Is total quota abolition the only measure left? The Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), which many criticise heavily for being part of this enormous demographic problem, has claimed that without foreign workers, Croatia will struggle enormously in the forthcoming period. While EEA nationals (with the current exception of Austrian citizens) and all foreign citizens who hold permanent residence status in Croatia…

As is to be expected, the triple murder that took place last Saturday in Split has gotten quite a lot of attention from the Croatian public and the media, and every day we seem to be getting more and more information about the killer, his troubled past, the victims, and the case overall. Unfortunately, again, as can be expected in this era of fake news, it's almost impossible to discern which information the Croatian media has been publishing is entirely true, which is partially true and which is blatant "fake news". So, first of all, let's list some of the…

ZAGREB, January 16, 2020 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has told the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily that many of the young people who are leaving Croatia to work abroad are migrating for financial reasons and not because of corruption and nepotism. "It's true we must step up the fight against corruption on every level, but the main reason for the emigration is the desire of young people to improve their financial situation in a short time," Plenković is quoted as saying in the newspaper's issue of Thursday, dismissing claims that the young are leaving Croatia because they are…

The former Agrokor is now Fortenova. It has gone from a collapsing empire of sand threatening to take down the entire Croatian economy with it, to a stable company generally operating with profits under Fabris Perusko. Its new name may help to remove it from its difficult past, and its new CEO may help to dull some of the stains left on it from the Todoric family reign, but Ivica Todoric is still sticking to his guns when it comes to the multitude of accusations he has thrown out over the last two or three years. Life has taken a…

ZAGREB, January 16, 2020 - Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) new Security Minister Fahrudin Radončić will step up monitoring on the border with Serbia and Montenegro to stop the influx of illegal migrants from those countries and coordinate activities with ministers of the interior in the region, the Security Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The statement was issued after a meeting of the operational group in charge of illegal migrations. Announcing the new approach to dealing with illegal migrations in the country, Radončić said that his ministry could not be the only institution in the country in charge of…

ZAGREB, January 16, 2020 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has told the former President of the Government of Catalonia, Carles Puidgemont, that the issue of Catalonia's status should not be dealt with by the EU heads of state and that it should be resolved in Spain, the Spanish news agencies EFE and Europa Press have reported. Puidgemont addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, calling on the Council of the EU, which is currently chaired by Croatia, to support dialogue between Catalonia and Spain. "During the discussion it was mentioned that we, as the presidency, had requested dialogue.…

ZAGREB, January 16, 2020 - Parliament on Wednesday night held a debate on an opposition motion for a no-confidence vote in Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak, with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković saying he would persevere in the education reform which, he added, represented a unique strategic step forward. The government previously dismissed the motion signed by 31 opposition MPs led by the Social Democratic Party. The opposition demanded a no-confidence vote in Divjak because of the situation in the education system, the non-implementation of the education reform and her responsibility for the longest teachers' strike in Croatia. Plenković said…

ZAGREB, January 15, 2020 - Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said on Wednesday she would not be the one to decide what an artist would think or do, thus responding to a query about a five-pointed star sculpture to be displayed as part of the Rijeka 2020 - European Capital of Culture project. "In 1990, we decided to live in a state which would be democratic and which would not censor artists," she told MP Zlatko Hasanbegović during Question Time in parliament, adding that "artists will decide what an artist in Croatia will think, do, how they will act, not…