Politics

ZAGREB, November 18, 2019 - Tens of thousands of citizens led by the defenders of Vukovar, together with members of the families of killed, unaccounted-for and captured Vukovar defenders, are marching down the eastern town on Monday in a memorial procession, honouring in a dignified manner the 2,717 killed in the military aggression on Vukovar in 1991. Also in the procession are President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who will lay a wreath and light candles at a monument to the victims at the local cemetery. A wreath will also be laid and candles…

ZAGREB, November 18, 2019 - On the eve of Vukovar Memorial Day and the 28th anniversary of the Škabrnja massacre, candles were lit and prayers were said throughout Croatia to commemorate the victims of the 1991-95 Homeland War and the defeat of Vukovar's defence forces on November 18, 1991. Candles were traditionally lit along Zagreb's Vukovarska Street and numerous citizens gathered in front of a monument to Croatia's first president Franjo Tuđman, where Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, too, lit a candle for the Vukovar victims. The commemoration in front of the monument to Tudjman was also attended by Minister of…

ZAGREB, November 17, 2019 - The Work and Solidarity Party will support President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović in the presidential election, party president Milan Bandić said on Sunday. The president has strengthened Croatia's international position, promoted unity and shown social awareness as well as openness towards citizens, he said. "One should appreciate her ability and diplomatic skills to strengthen Croatia's position in the EU, while at the same time keeping exceptional relations both with Trump and Putin as well as being an eminent guest at the most important global forums and initiatives," Bandić said. Grabar-Kitarović has connected Croatia with central Europe countries…

ZAGREB, November 17, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Saturday night that the migrant who was injured in the afternoon as police were preventing illegal migration in the Gorski Kotar area sustained a serious injury and that he was undergoing surgery in a Rijeka hospital. Around 5 p.m., the police were protecting the state border, i.e. preventing a group of illegal migrants from crossing Croatia near Tuhobić, who were most likely trying to reach Slovenia, and one migrant was injured in the process, Božinović told reporters. According to available information, the injury was probably caused by a firearm.…

ZAGREB, November 16, 2019 - The presidential candidate of the non-parliamentary Workers Front party, Katarina Peović, on Saturday pushed for 21st century democratic socialism which, she said, warned that some tenets of socialism should be taken and that this idea was increasingly popular in the world. Speaking to reporters in Šibenik, she said this city and the coastal region of Dalmatia had been witness to "deindustrialization and touristification" for 30 years. She said that in socialism Šibenik had a developed industry, people had permanent jobs "and now they are all reduced to tourism." She said tourism had raised the region…

ZAGREB, November 16, 2019 - The minister of the interior of Una-Sana canton, Nermin Kljajić, has rejected accusations that the local authorities in this region of north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina are encouraging illegal migrants to go to Croatia, saying that the two countries are facing the same problem, the Klix.ba news website said on Saturday. The Zagreb-based newspaper Večernji List said on Saturday that Croatian security services were considering a possibility of denying entry to those Bosnian officials who encourage illegal migrants to continue their journey towards Croatia as soon as possible, and that Kljajić was under special scrutiny because…

ZAGREB, November 16, 2019) - The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlić Radman, addressed a meeting of the European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC) in Zagreb on Friday, presenting the priorities of the Croatian presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2020. Croatia is making thorough preparations for the presidency, Radman said, adding that the presidency implies a mediating role and the art of compromising among the member states. He noted that Croatia was taking over the EU presidency after only six years of membership. "The unity of the European Union members…

ZAGREB, November 16, 2019 - Catalan Foreign Minister Alfred Bosch said in Zagreb on Friday the Spanish authorities' response to the question of Catalonia's independence was a huge historic mistake because instead of dialogue they chose repression, the imprisonment of political opponents. Last month, Spain's Supreme Court convicted nine Catalan officials to prison sentences ranging from nine to 13 years for an uprising, for using public money to organise in 2017 an independence referendum which was banned by the Constitutional Court, and for unilaterally proclaiming an independent republic of Catalonia. The response not just by the Spanish government, but by…

ZAGREB, November 15, 2019 - The "Croatian War Veterans of Istria" military barracks was inaugurated in Pula on Friday, with President and Armed Forces Supreme Commander Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović saying it marked the end of the army's return to the cities with special significance in Croatia's military tradition, notably the Homeland War. It was a strategic mistake in terms of security, development and politics to remove the army from Vukovar, Sinj, Varaždin, Ploče and Pula, Grabar-Kitarović said, adding that she had pushed for a balanced deployment of the army around the country from the beginning of her term. The army's return…

An Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) MEP has proposed better road connections between Istria and Croatia, primarily involving the Slovenian motorway and the Istrian Y. When it comes to good neighbourly relations between Croatia and its neighbour to the north, Slovenia, things have been bad at worst and petty at best over the last few years. The border dispute has led both countries to quite childish jibes and Slovenia will likely continue to try to block Croatia's Schengen entry for as long as possible because of the country's refusal to recognise and therefore implement the arbitration court's decision on the border.…