Politics

ZAGREB, November 25, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Monday that she supported an initiative to for non-working Sunday, announcing that she would ask the relevant ministry to consider the proposal to adopt legislation that would protect workers and assist families. After the president receives representatives of the Croatian Sunday Alliance in her office, one of the representatives for the alliance and former MEP, Marijana Petir underscored that Sunday was family time. She presented findings of a survey showing citizens see Sunday as family time which is why they ask for non-working Sundays. The survey conducted earlier this year…

ZAGREB, November 25, 2019 - Amendments to the Criminal Code and harsher penalties show that violence is unacceptable and that it is the duty of all government departments to protect women from any form of violence, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. "We are making the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women out of respect to the Mirabal sisters. The amendments to the Criminal Code and harsher penalties are sending a message that violence is unacceptable and that it is the duty of…

ZAGREB, November 25, 2019 - Over 20,000 teachers from throughout Croatia gathered in Zagreb's main square Trg Bana Jelačića at noon on Monday to demand a 6.11% increase of job complexity indices, carrying banners saying "All we want for Xmas is 6.11", "This is not a strike, this is a reform" and "Striking for life." Teachers' unions have been on strike for 31 days. Initially, the strike was organised on a rotating basis, with the industrial action taking place every day in different counties, while a general strike began last Tuesday. Teachers are demanding a 6.11% increase of job complexity…

ZAGREB, November 25, 2019) - Education and Science Minister Blaženka Divjak said on Sunday that a solution to the ongoing teachers' strike had been on the table since Friday and that it was important for everyone to remain calm and present well-argued positions. "I have been clear from the start that open dialogue, cooperation and openness to a healthy compromise have no alternative," Divjak wrote on her Facebook wall on Sunday, adding that everyone would lose if students' interests were not given priority. As for relations between the striking teachers' unions and the government, she said that they had abandoned…

ZAGREB, November 24, 2019 - A member of the European Parliament, Ruža Tomašić of the Croatian Conservative Party, on Sunday supported the presidential candidacy of Miroslav Škoro, saying that he was the presidential candidate she trusted the most because he had proven to be capable of making a good living outside of politics and that he understood ordinary people. Signing a list of support for Škoro's presidential bid in downtown Zagreb, Tomašić said that she hoped he would win the elections already in the first round on December 22 and prove that Croatia could do without both the HDZ and…

ZAGREB, November 24, 2019 - Slovenian police on Thursday disarmed several persons, members of the so-called Štajerska Guard, led by the controversial far-right politician Andrej Šiško, who in recent weeks had been patrolling parts of the Slovenian border with Croatia on weekends, looking for illegal migrants. The POP TV broadcaster said the members of the Štajerska Guard were disarmed on Saturday morning, when they gathered in a hunting lodge near the village of Pobočje. The news was also confirmed by Anton Stubljar of the Novo Mesto police station, in charge of that section of the border. "The police spotted an…

ZAGREB, November 24, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Saturday that it was completely clear that the Slovenian state apparatus had been used to influence the outcome of international arbitration proceedings in the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute and that the dispute could be settled only bilaterally. Grabar-Kitarović made the statement in a comment on a report by a Slovenian commission which shows that Slovenian state institutions had covered up unlawful communication between an arbitration agent and an arbitral judge. "Slovenia has finally admitted its involvement in the scandalous activities that resulted in the failure of the arbitration proceedings. It is…

ZAGREB, November 24, 2019 - Continuing to collect signatures of support for his presidential candidacy, Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Zoran Milanović said in Sisak on Saturday that he distanced himself from the support expressed for his presidential bid by member of parliament and HDSSB party leader Branimir Glavaš. Milanović visited Sisak to collect signatures of support for his candidacy and when asked by reporters to comment on Glavaš's support for his presidential bid, he said that he was surprised by it. "I would like to distance myself from his support because Glavaš is not my kind of people. I…

ZAGREB, November 24, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Saturday that he expected the ongoing teachers' strike to end next week after the striking unions were on Friday presented with an offer that was expected to help free the strike from political connotations and show that the government respected teachers. "According to the solution we have offered, schools should start working next week and the solution would also help teachers avoid becoming an instrument of political wrangling with the government of those who have some other ambitions," Plenković said in downtown Zagreb where he and several government ministers…

ZAGREB, November 23, 2019 - Independent presidential candidate Mislav Kolakušić said in Zagreb on Saturday that he did not want the support of citizens who were not informed about his platform because the changes he advocated were difficult and meant fewer state administration employees but also higher wages. "If you abolish municipalities, towns and ministries, the consequence is a loss of jobs," Kolakušić told reporters in downtown Zagreb where volunteers were collecting signatures of support for his presidential bid. He said that those who wanted to vote for him had to know what would happen if he was elected president.…