Politics

ZAGREB, November 22, 2019 - The presidential candidate of the Workers' Front party and the Socialist Workers' Party (SRP), Katarina Peović, said on Friday that if she won the presidential election, she would be a completely different president than the HDZ's Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and would advocate demilitarisation and Croatia's exit from NATO. "I will push for radical changes in the interest of the national majority, including protection of available and free health care and education, demilitarisation, a reduction of investments in the military, the withdrawal of Croatian troops from international military missions, and ultimately, Croatia's exit from NATO," Peović said…

ZAGREB, November 22, 2019 - Zoran Milanović, who started collecting signatures on Friday morning for his candidacy for the presidential election, said in Pula that he expected support in Istria and announced a fierce and fair fight in the campaign in the build-up to the election, set for 22 December. Answering reporters' questions about his opinion on the ongoing strike by employees in primary and secondary schools, Milanović said that he found their demands for a higher job complexity index to be absolutely justified and that none of this should have occurred. "The demand for an increased index today is…

ZAGREB, November 22, 2019 - Presidential hopeful Miroslav Škoro said on Friday during a signature collection campaign to run in the presidential election that he would not lead a dirty campaign and that perhaps a winner may emerge in the first round already and there won't be a need for the second round. "Who says that there will be a second round? Perhaps someone wins in the first round," said Škoro when asked whether he expected to make it to the second round of the election. I won't be leading a dirty campaign, he underscored. "I didn't start it. I…

ZAGREB, November 22, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar met in Zagreb on Thursday and talked about Brexit, which could happen during Croatia's EU presidency in the first half of 2020, and preparations for negotiations on future UK-EU relations. We are confident that Croatia will do an excellent job as EU chair, Varadkar said. Croatia is taking over the presidency at the beginning of 2020, in the year when Brexit could really happen, he added. Britons are going to the polls on December 12 and if incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson wins, Varadkar expects…

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've likely heard that Croatian teachers are striking. While the reasons for that might seem obvious to some, there has been quite a considerable amount of misunderstanding as to exactly why this is taking place, or how it managed to reach the levels it has in the first place. Here are the most important questions about the Croatian teachers' strike - answered. As Jutarnji/Marijana Cvrtila writes on the 21st of November, 2019, the strike of Croatian education employees has been going on for a while now, and the Croatian Government's obvious aversion to addressing…

ZAGREB, November 21, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Thursday addressed striking education sector unions after their silent protest, calling for a compromise and for ending the strike for the good of children. "It is in my interest for children to go to school and for us not to fall behind schedule, not just with regard to making-up time but with regard to the holidays and graduation examinations as well. We have to act responsibly. I appeal above all to teachers, principals, parents and children - it is not good to not go to school. If we want to…

ZAGREB, November 21, 2019 - Defence Minister Damir Krstičević on Thursday said that he was sorry because of a scandal involving an arms smuggler flown aboard a helicopter by the Zadar's Zemunik air force base three instructor pilots who have been in the meantime suspended and announced sanctions for all responsible persons. "I'm sorry. Something that isn't normal has been done. A probe will disclose who is responsible and the Croatian Army will punish all those in the line of command, including those who failed to act responsibly in this case," Krstičević said. Krstičević apologised on behalf of the Croatian…

ZAGREB, November 21, 2019 - The perspective of a country safeguarding the European Union's external borders differs from the perspective of member-states in the heart of the Schengen Area, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday in Zagreb, where she arrived for a European People's Party (EPP) congress. During a news conference, Merkel defended Croatia against accusations that it was violating the rights of migrants. Asked if Croatia should take over the presidency of the EU now that it was being accused of disrespect for the human rights of migrants at its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, the German chancellor…

ZAGREB, November 21, 2019 - The European Commission's new President Ursula von der Leyen said in Zagreb on Wednesday that nationalists and populists would not destroy the European way of life, which is also the name of one of the portfolios in the new Commission. That name has elicited criticisms, notably from European Liberals and Greens. They believe it has too many associations with the protection of Europe from illegal migrants. There is no doubt as to what the European way of life is. We will never let those nationalists and populists, which want to cause divisions and destroy the…

As Morski writes on the 20th of November, 2019, at a recent Clean Energy Forum for EU islands, which was held in Croatia for the first time, Croatian MEP Tonino Picula presented the priorities and long-term initiatives of the European Parliament to finance the EU's energy transition. ''An agreement between the European Council and the European Parliament on the budget for 2020 secured through the action plan a new two million euros for technical assistance to the islands for applications for European renewable energy projects in the next two years,'' the Croatian MEP confirmed, who then delivered a speech in…