Politics

ZAGREB, October 1, 2019 - The UN rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, on Tuesday called on Bosnian authorities to ensure adequate accommodation for migrants and accused Croatian police of the alleged mistreatment and pushback of migrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He wrote a report after visiting BiH for several days to find out first-hand the scope of the migrant crisis in the country. He presented the report at a press conference in Sarajevo. I received reliable information on the pushback of migrants and asylum seekers by the Croatian border police on BiH territory, he said…

ZAGREB, October 1, 2019 - School union leaders on Tuesday announced strike action in elementary and secondary schools on October 10, stating that the government, two weeks from their last meeting, still has not responded to union demands for their job complexity index to be increased by 6%. Unionists Sanja Šprem and Branimir Mihalinec handed over a notice to the government informing of the strike action in schools. "The strike will be held on October 10 and will continue until our demands are met, and unions will advise of the format of the strike the day before," Mihalinec said. He…

ZAGREB, October 1, 2019 - The head of Međimurje County and leader of the county branch of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Matija Posavec, announced at a special press conference in Čakovec on Tuesday that he had resigned from the party after being a member for 15 years. He said that the reasons for his departure were substantial differences in views between him and the party, which is a junior partner in the ruling coalition. "Realising where things are going, I have decided to leave after months of attempts and warnings that things should go in a different direction, that…

ZAGREB, October 1, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will officially announce that she is running for a second term as president on Wednesday. Zoltan Kabok, spokesman for the president's campaign team, on Tuesday invited the media to attend "the president's address and official announcement of her candidacy for a new term" at noon on Wednesday. Media has been speculating and expecting Grabar-Kitarović to announce her candidacy for some time now. Her campaign office told Hina that in her address Grabar-Kitarović will say why she is running for another term and that she will announce her election platform in the next…

ZAGREB, October 1, 2019 - The president of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Mogens Bisher Bjerregaard, said in Zagreb on Monday that the EFJ expected countries to fully support the promotion of the freedom of speech, media, journalism and journalists' professional status as well as their working rights and copyright. If there are no good working conditions and if journalists cannot live off their work, it is difficult to speak of good journalism. It is very important for the entire society to promote reporters' rights and a joint approach is needed to collective bargaining and conclusion of collective agreements…

ZAGREB, September 30, 2019 - The Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) Balkan regional network has won the prestigious Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize, which has been awarded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2009, the network said on Monday. A representative of the YIHR was presented with the prize at a ceremony in Strasbourg on Monday, and YIHR shares the prize with Ilham Tohti, advocate and defender of the rights of the Uyghur minority in China. The programming director of the YIHR chapter in Serbia, Ivan Đurić, said at the award-giving ceremony that YIHR would…

ZAGREB, September 30, 2019 - The Croatian candidate for a member of the European Commission, Dubravka Šuica, has published her declaration of financial interests ahead of a hearing at the European Parliament in which she declares her family assets without stating their value. The declaration of financial interests is available on the official website of the European Parliament and is dated September 12. The candidate for the European Commission vice-president for demography and democracy, Šuica owns 69 shares of the Atlantska Plovidba shipping company worth 4,105.91 euro and 63 shares of the HT telecommunications company worth 1,354.71 euro. Her declaration…

September the 30th, 2019 - As the majority of you will know, I've been writing articles to try to keep you up to date with Brexit and the unfolding situation in the UK. Numerous articles have been written to update, inform and attempt to answer your questions on what Brexit with or without a deal means for you as a British citizen with legal residence in Croatia.  The first article, which can be read here, covers what would happen if Theresa May's deal (withdrawal agreement) is adopted by British Parliament. The others cover the situation as it unfolded. As individual…

ZAGREB, September 30, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will announce her candidacy for re-election "very, very soon," the head of her campaign headquarters, Ivan Anušić, said on Sunday, adding that the president was not stalling and that other candidates had started "perhaps a little too soon." "There is no stalling, she is in office, unlike other candidates who embarked on their campaigns perhaps a little too soon," Anušić, a member of the presidency of the ruling HDZ party, told the public broadcaster. He said other candidates "perhaps don't have other commitments and certain candidacies and candidates started getting into full…

Croatia is gradually being woken from its Schengen dreams bit by bit, and it isn't only Slovenia's border complaint standing in the way of Croatia's entry... As Slobodna Dalmacija/Jutarnji list/Kresimir Zabec writes on the 29th of September, 2019, the Republic of Croatia will not be part of the Schengen area for at least another two years, despite the fact the European Commission is likely to confirm that the country has fulfilled the Schengen technical requirements next week, Jutarnji list learned from diplomatic sources. There are several reasons for this, one of them being that, apart from Croatia's neighbour to the…