Politics

ZAGREB, November 8, 2019 - The European Commission’s October conclusion that Croatia is ready to join the Schengen Area "wilfully brushes over evidence of violent pushbacks of migrants at its borders," Human Rights Watch said on Friday. As proof of that claim, HRW released a video documenting the abuses. "The European Commission’s action sends the message that serious human rights abuses are no obstacle to Schengen accession. The European Commission should investigate the situation instead of rewarding Croatia," HRW said in a press release. "Croatia's unlawful and violent summary returns of asylum seekers and migrants should disqualify it from joining…

ZAGREB, November 8, 2019 - The parliamentary Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System did not endorse on Thursday a government bill on public holidays, with five members for, four against and one abstaining. The bill did not get the necessary number of votes because of the one abstention and the fact that a committee member from the ruling coalition did not attend the session. Parliament will debate the bill on Friday and the committee's negative opinion does not oblige it to reject the bill. The government has proposed nine changes of public holidays, memorial days and non-working…

ZAGREB, November 8, 2019 - Serbian President and Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leader Aleksandar Vučić said on Thursday he had not decided yet whether to go to Zagreb to a European People's Party Congress, saying there was hysteria in a part of the Croatian public about it. Speaking for Serbia's TV Pink in Geneva, where he was attending a meeting on the Western Balkans, Vučić said he still could not confirm his participation in the congress because his associates were "strategically planning it" and that he would consult them on a decision next week. Vučić said "this hysteria in a…

ZAGREB, November 8, 2019 - The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) said on Thursday it was shocked by a Virovitica Municipal Court sentence against journalist Ivan Žada as well as recent sentences against the media in which the plaintiffs are members of the ruling HDZ party, adding that it would notify the international public. On November 6, the Virovitica court gave Žada a suspended sentence of four months with one year's probation for recording without authorisation a phone conversation with HDZ MP Josip Đakić and posting part of it as a transcript on Facebook and the Index.hr website. The sentence may…

ZAGREB, November 7, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Thursday refuted speculation that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić would deliver a speech in the Croatian parliament during a European People's Party congress, saying Vučić had the right to attend the congress because he was invited by EPP president Joseph Daul. He was commenting on media reports that Vučić would speak in parliament because he is scheduled to speak at the EPP congress taking place in Zagreb on November 19-21. "It's not good to say lies which others then relay. This is very important for freedom of the press and professional…

ZAGREB, November 7, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday he would not allow the de-Tuđmanisation of his HDZ party because Franjo Tudjman, the first president of the HDZ and Croatia, included June 22, Antifascist Struggle Day, among public holidays. He was responding to the proposal by Josip Đakić, chairman of the parliamentary committee on war veterans, that Antifascist Struggle Day no longer be a national holiday. "I don't know if that's his idea... It's necessary to put an end to the policy of de-Tuđmanisation also within the HDZ. This means that I, as HDZ president and prime…

ZAGREB, November 7, 2019 - Anka Mrak Taritaš (GLAS) said in parliament on Wednesday that the 2019 budget revision was a real picture of the government - it looked nice from the outside but lacked any serious reform, with citizens not feeling any progress despite good economic indicators. Tax revenues have increased but only owing to an increase in consumption and imports and not owing to an increase in production. The growth of exports has been slowing down for the second year in a row while EU funds are not being sufficiently used, Mrak Taritaš warned in a parliamentary debate…

ZAGREB, November 7, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) whip Arsen Bauk said on Wednesday that the proposal by the Parliament's Committee on War Veterans that Antifascist Struggle Day, June 22, no longer be observed as a national holiday and non-working day but as a memorial day, was unacceptable and cowardly. "The proposed amendment is absolutely unacceptable and cowardly... They should have proposed that it be completely removed from the calendar (of holidays) because that is probably how they feel about it, rather than reducing it to a memorial day," said Bauk. He described the amendment as absolutely unacceptable but…

ZAGREB, November 6, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Wednesday said that Croatia needs an economic growth of at least 5 percent so that citizens can feel an improvement in the standard of living. During a conference on Croatia's economic policy in 2020, organised by the Croatian Association of Economists, at which she talked about key challenges and preconditions for economic development, President Grabar-Kitarović asserted that there are more and more positive elements because the economy is growing, as are wages and employment, and Croatia is climbing up the ladder of competitiveness, along with positive trends in public and foreign…

ZAGREB, November 6, 2019 - The executive committee of the Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) on Wednesday decided to leave the Ministry of Culture task force working on a bill on electronic media, the HND has reported. The HND said that the ministry had not incorporated any of its proposals in the draft bill which the HND submitted to the ministry in late August after it had been presented with the working material in late July. "We note that the HND entered the task force responsibly, in good faith and with the best intentions, expecting that we all had the same…