Politics

ZAGREB, October 16, 2019 - Prime Minister and HDZ president Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday that there would be talks with school unions about their ongoing strike, that "there's no blackmail but there is a solution", and that the government had some ideas for school employees that it thought could be good. Asked by reporters ahead of a meeting of the ruling HDZ party's parliamentary group if Croatia was facing a snap election, he said "we're still not at that stage." Asked if the ruling coalition could break up because of school unions' demands and if the junior coalition partner,…

ZAGREB, October 15, 2019 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Tuesday that the government is continuing its policy of increasing wages and improving the financial status of all state administration and public-sector employees. "Each day we are monitoring what is happening and I do not have anything new to say at the moment. I can just reiterate everything that has been done until now through increases of the base wage and tax reliefs. I repeat, we do not plan to stop here. Our idea is to continue the policy of increasing wages and improving the financial status and conditions…

ZAGREB, October 15, 2019 - The European Parliament rapporteur on Montenegro and Croatian MEP, Tonino Picula, said on Monday that the Western Balkans must not be left aside in planning the future EU foreign policy. "What is encouraging and what should be shared with the Montenegrin public is that the new European Commission, aware of many problems it is inheriting from the previous Commission, has chosen as the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy a person who made it clear during a hearing before the European Parliament that the Western Balkans cannot be left aside in planning the…

ZAGREB, October 15, 2019 - Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman on Monday denied a media report that Croatia had blocked the adoption of an EU joint statement condemning Turkey's military intervention in north-eastern Syria. "We were surprised when we saw it. It is possible that someone confused Croatia with another country which may have wanted milder wording. We strongly supported a condemnation of the unilateral military intervention," Grlić Radman told reporters when asked to comment on a media report that Croatia, along Great Britain, had vetoed the adoption of the joint statement. "We advocate multilateralism and…

ZAGREB, October 14, 2019 - The chair of the Conflict of Interest Commission, Nataša Novaković, said on Monday that despite criticisms of its work by state officials, the Commission would continue working as it had so far and that it had contacted foreign institutions over the situation in Croatia and the new conflict of interest law. "We have been witnessing numerous media statements by the highest state officials who describe the work of the Commission as that of an arbiter and a political instrument. In order to protect this body's work and integrity, we underline that despite the criticism we…

ZAGREB, October 14, 2019 - The women in Croatia who have this year retired after full length of service are entitled to higher pensions than their male counterparts, the Zagreb-based Večernji List daily reported on Monday. The margin of only 24 kuna (3.3 euros) is slight, however this difference in favour of women is an important headway having in mind the fact that pensions earned by men have always been higher than those earned by their female peers, the daily newspaper says. For instance, the average old-age pension for the men who went into retirement in 2013 after full length…

ZAGREB, October 14, 2019 - The leader of the Labour and Solidarity Party, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, said on Monday that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, should raise wages for teachers by 6% or the current government would no longer exist. During his visit to a primary school in Zagreb, Bandić said that lawmakers from his party would no longer vote for the government-sponsored proposals in the national parliament unless the monthly salaries for primary and secondary school teachers went up. I call on the prime minister and on statesman (Andrej) Plenković to make Education Minister Blaženka Divjak see reason and…

ZAGREB, October 13, 2019 - The Social Democratic Party's candidate for President of the Republic, former Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, said on Saturday that the government should raise wages for nurses and teachers, but not for the police, military and diplomats. Answering questions from the press during a visit to the northern city of Čakovec, Milanović said that at this moment people caring for the elderly, infirm and sick and those teaching children English and mathematics were more important. Asked to comment on the ongoing strike by primary and secondary school teachers, given that in 2015 he had called similar…

ZAGREB, October 12, 2019 - Vukovar mayor Ivan Penava is considering running for president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party as a way to see to it that war criminals are finally punished. "This is the first time that I'm talking about running in intra-party elections. The anniversary is approaching and I had to decide what the smartest thing to do was from the aspect of resolving the fate of the victims. When I decided that protest rallies are counterproductive and that it's no good to wait for a year with no results, I had to think of the…

In the past year, Croatia has made the biggest leap in strengthening the competitiveness of its economy among the new, transitional EU member states, as Adriano Milovan/Novac writes on the 11th of October, 2019. According to a report by the World Economic Forum this year, Croatia is ranked 63rd on the list of the world's competitiveness ranking, an improvement of five places compared to the previous year. While this is a success that should be commended, it's not enough to celebrate. Yet. There are several reasons why we have neither reason nor room for a great deal of enthusiasm. First…