Politics
Monday, 4 November 2019
Croatian Parliament Speaker Meets His Chinese Counterpart
ZAGREB, November 4, 2019 - Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković, who started his visit to China on Sunday, met with the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Li Zhanshu, in Beijing on Monday, the Croatian parliament said in a statement. Jandroković and Li confirmed that the two countries relations were traditionally friendly and based on partnership. It was said that the visit of the Croatian parliament speaker built on the political dialogue of the highest level, confirmed by Chinese Premier Li Kequiang's visit to Croatia earlier this year. The two officials expressed satisfaction with their countries'…
Monday, 4 November 2019
Milanović Against Presidential Participation in Appointment of Judges
ZAGREB, November 4, 2019 - Zoran Milanović, a contender in the forthcoming presidential race who is supported by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and a few more Opposition parties, said on Wednesday that the president of the republic should not at all participate in the selection and appointment of Constitutional Court judges. Milanović said that this would be a "gross conflict of interest." Earlier in the day, the current president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said that she believed that the topic of enabling the head of state to have some role in the appointment of Constitutional Court judges should be discussed in…
Monday, 4 November 2019
Green List Calls for Stepping Up Control of Honey
ZAGREB, November 4, 2019 - The Green List on Sunday sent an open letter to Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković calling on authorities to step up control on honey on the domestic market, as this non-parliamentary party believes that there are some fraudulent activities considering the quality of this food to the detriment of consumers. The Green List insists on the correct labelling so that consumers can know the origin of honey on the market. It also insists on the immediate ban on glyphosate and other products for agricultural weed control which affect bees. The list says that Croatia has ecological,…
Sunday, 3 November 2019
President Will Outline Agenda for Second Term on 11 November
ZAGREB, November 3, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović told the N1 commercial broadcaster on Sunday that she would present the agenda for her second term on 11 November. Grabar-Kitarović won her first five-year term on 11 January 2015 and Croatia is to hold presidential elections in late December. Considering the N1 reporter's remark that at the start of her first term she said that Croatia would become one of the most prosperous countries, Grabar-Kitarović explained that she had not said then that Croatia would become the most prosperous during her five year's term but that she believed that it could…
Saturday, 2 November 2019
Croatia Wants to Pass on “Enlargement Torch” During Its EU Presidency
ZAGREB, November 2, 2019 - The issue of EU reforms can proceed in parallel with enlargement and Croatia will try to show that enlargement is a credible process as it is one of the most successful European policies, Croatian ambassador Gordan Bakota has said, adding that Croatia has a special responsibility to pass on the torch of enlargement during its EU presidency. "It is very complex to achieve EU unity on such topics, but we will do our best to show how important enlargement is for the transformation of countries, and we... regret that North Macedonia and Albania were not…
Saturday, 2 November 2019
Parliament Speaker Jandroković Visits China
ZAGREB, November 2, 2019 - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković is paying an official visit to China from 2 to 6 November and during his stay in that Asian country he will travel to Shanghai and Beijing, reads the Sabor's press release. The Croatian official will commence his visit with his reception by the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Li Zhanshu, in the capital city. During his stay in Beijing, Jandroković is due to hold meetings with the Huawei company's top executives and attend an exhibition about China's achievements and progress in the last 70 years.…
Saturday, 2 November 2019
Plenković Hopeful Border Dispute with Slovenia Won't Affect Croatia's Schengen Bid
ZAGREB, November 2, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in an interview which the Euronews television news network broadcast on Friday that he believed that Slovenia would not block Croatia's accession to the passport-free Schengen Area over their border dispute, adding that the dispute was irrelevant in that context. "First of all, the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia is an open issue that we have on the agenda for the last 30 years. Had this been a condition for any of the two countries to join the EU or to join the Schengen, then Slovenia would not have…
Friday, 1 November 2019
Prosecution Drops Case of Man Who Smashed Bilingual Signs in Vukovar
ZAGREB, November 1, 2019 - Vukovar municipal office of the Chief State Prosecutor has decided not to proceed with the case of Marijan Živković, the father of two soldiers killed in the defence of Croatia, who was charged with smashing Latin-Cyrillic signs on the building of the Vukovar police station in September 2013. The commercial N1 broadcaster quoted on Friday Živković's lawyer Emil Mitrovski as saying that the case was dropped after the findings of the latest psychiatric examination of his client which shows that at the time when he had smashed the signs, Živković was mentally incapacitated. Mitrovski said…
Friday, 1 November 2019
Labour and Pension System Ministry to Get 6.4 Billion Euro in 2020 Draft Budget
ZAGREB, November 1, 2019 - A 2020 draft budget, outlined by the government on Thursday, plans 145.1 billion kuna on the revenue side and 147.3 billion kuna on the expenditure side, and a majority of government departments can expect a rise in their funding from the state budget. The largest individual outlay from the next year's budget, 47.8 billion kuna, is planned for the ministry of labour and pension system, which means that it will get 4.7% or 2.1 billion kuna more than in 2019. Finance Minister Zdravko Marić explained that 42.6 billion kuna would be set aside for pensions…
Friday, 1 November 2019
Civil Society Criticises Omission of Rule of Law in EU Presidency Priorities
ZAGREB, November 1, 2019 - Civil society organisations criticised the government on Thursday for insufficiently highlighting in the priorities of Croatia's EU presidency the rule of law and the state of human rights, which they consider to be a burning issue in the European Union. Organisations within the Forum 2020 also regret that the government did not consult either civil society or parliament, which they say is customary European and democratic practice. Despite the justice minister's announcements that more emphasis would be placed on the rule of law, this priority has been redefined and not highlighted, they said in a…
Friday, 1 November 2019
ECHR Rules in Favour of Croat Who Complained about Conditions in Zagreb Jail
ZAGREB, November 1, 2019 - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday stated in its judgment in the case of Dušan Ulemek versus Croatia that inadequate conditions in the Zagreb jail reached the level of "degrading treatment". The court says in a press release that Ulemek, a Croatian national, who was given a prison sentence of 18 months for aiding and abetting robbery, complained in his application about the conditions of his detention in two prisons and of a lack of effective domestic remedies. The applicant spent 27 days in Zagreb Prison in 2011 and the rest of…
