Politics

ZAGREB, October 4, 2019 - A European Commission Vice President-designate, Dubravka Šuica of Croatia, has the necessary majority support for a positive assessment of her hearing, sources at the European Parliament said on Thursday evening. The Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs, expanded to include members of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, on Thursday evening interviewed Šuica, the Croatian candidate for EC Vice-President for Democracy and Demography. According to unofficial sources at the EP, members of Šuica's political group, the EPP, were satisfied with the hearing, as were the Socialists&Democrats…

ZAGREB, October 3, 2019 - The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) on Thursday sharply condemned the criminal complaints filed by Krešimir Krsnik, the lawyer for rape suspect Damir Škaro, against a rape victim and a journalist and editor of the Nova TV commercial television channel for divulging a secret. The HND denounced the move by Krsnik as an act of intimidation and harassment and an attempt at discouraging journalists from covering such topics. This move "is also a message to victims not to share their traumas with the public and not to point their fingers at the perpetrators, as well as…

ZAGREB, October 3, 2019 - The Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) said on Thursday new US import tariffs would not significantly impact Croatian exports to the United States or the Croatian economy. "Based on the information we have, we think the new tariffs the US will impose on products from Croatia won't have a significant direct impact on Croatian exports to the US or a significant direct impact on the Croatian economy," the HGK said in response to a query from Hina. Although the tariffs will make access to the US market more difficult for some businesses, higher tariffs for…

ZAGREB, October 3, 2019 - For the time being, incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's bid for a second term in office is supported by the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, whose candidate she was in the last presidential election, while members of the parliamentary opposition are very critical of the results of her five-year term. After she addressed the public earlier in the day to announce her candidacy for another term as president, HDZ whip Branko Bačić said that his party fully supported her candidacy. "In her address I recognised the enthusiasm, desire, will and ability... to serve another term…

October the 2nd, 2019 - Last night, a meeting between affected British expats living in Croatia and British Ambassador to Croatia, Andrew Dalgleish on the topic of citizen's rights took place in Zagreb. During the meeting, which took place between 18:00 and 20:00, numerous questions were raised by concerned British expats and the ambassador did his best to answer them. We have also covered the topic of Brexit and what that means for British citizens living legally in Croatia extensively and numerous times. Updated information on what a potential no deal Brexit would mean for British nationals living in Croatia…

ZAGREB, October 2, 2019 - The Croatian parliament on Wednesday passed a set of 61 laws to streamline state administration, under which state administration offices would be abolished and their duties taken over by counties. The laws were aligned with the State Administration Act which provides for all state administration offices, except the administrative and sports inspectorates, to be abolished and their duties assigned to counties. Counties will thus be put in charge of about 200 additional proceedings, and so far, they had nearly three times fewer. They will also take charge of about 2,000 staff, which will bring their…

ZAGREB, October 2, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that what separated President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović from the other presidential candidates was her engagement on Croatia's international positioning, the stability of institutions and the strengthening of the military. Speaking to the press before Grabar-Kitarović announced her bid for re-election, Plenković said she would be backed, aside from his HDZ party, by a majority of the Croatian people because they knew what was useful for the country and what was less useful. Asked what distinguished Grabar-Kitarović from the other candidates, he said "it's obvious." "Her achievements in the first…

ZAGREB, October 2, 2019 - A delegation of the Ukraine Police Patrol Academy in Kiev is conducting a visit this week to Croatia's Police Academy where they will exchange experience on police training, specialist courses and higher education. The Ministry of the Interior (MUP) underscored that the topic of the first working meeting was cooperation in the area of education, specialist courses and training, with special emphasis on international cooperation as well as cooperation in scientific research. "As representatives of a young academy founded in January 2018, the guests had a lot of questions considering that their duty is to…

The economy must be able to breathe with a full set of lungs, according to Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 2nd of October, 2019, Croatia's presidential candidates have lined up, and among some expected faces, some rather surprising names have cropped up. The country's current president, is also running for another term. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović officially announced her candidacy for a new presidential term in the Croatian capital of Zagreb on Wednesday, and on that occasion, she also spoke about the current state of the Croatian economy, N1 reports. "Our children and young people are…

ZAGREB, October 1, 2019 - The GONG NGO said on Tuesday it had asked the Council of Europe anti-corruption body GRECO to support the work of Croatia's independent Conflict of Interest Commission and condemn Prime Minister Andrej Plenković over his attacks on it. GONG posted on its website a letter to GRECO (Group of States against Corruption) in which it says that Plenković is systematically undermining the Commission's work and attacking GONG over its insistence on transparency in the case of Croatia's European Commission candidate Dubravka Šuica. GONG says the rhetoric which Plenković and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković use regarding…