Politics

ZAGREB, 20 May 2022 - The European Commission has granted Croatia an extension of the deadline for using money from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for the repair of the earthquake damage. "Today, the Commission has decided to exceptionally grant Croatia the possibility to extend until 30 June 2023 the deadline for the use of the financial contribution from the EU Solidarity Fund to compensate for the damage of the earthquakes that severely hit the country in 2020 and 2021," the Commission announced on Friday. Croatia has been allocated over €1 billion from the Solidarity Fund to remedy the damage…

May 20, 2022 - In an effort to dig deeper into the situation of termination of pregnancy in Croatia, Health Minister Vili Beroš requested last week a list of Croatian doctors who refused to perform abortions owing to conscientious objection. However, according to Croatian media reports, the Ministry always had this list and knew the number. Last week, Health Minister Vili Beroš asked hospital directors to list all healthcare workers who invoke conscientious objection and refuse to terminate a pregnancy to determine if hospital functioning is compromised, reports Telegram.hr. The move gives the impression that the minister wants to do something after being embroiled in the controversial Čavajda affair but,…

ZAGREB, 19 May 2022 - The Croatian government on Thursday called snap elections in the City of Split for 26 June. On 26 June, eligible voters will go to the polls to elect the mayor, the two deputy mayors and a new 31-seat city council. The snap polls will be organised after Split Mayor Ivica Puljak (the Centre party) and his two deputies Bojan Ivošević and Antonio Kuzmanić -- stepped down recently after an indictment was upheld against Ivošević for threatening a reporter. For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 19 May 2022 - Croatia can be a crucial country for future energy supply to the countries in its neighbourhood that now fully depend on Russian energy sources, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday commenting on the "REPowerEU" plan to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels in Europe. Plenković told a news conference that the REPowerEU Plan, which the European Commission presented on Wednesday as its response to the hardships and global energy market disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, highlights the need to invest in gas and oil pipelines networks. This is an opportunity for the Croatian companies Plinacro and…

ZAGREB, 19 May 2022 - Croatian National Bank (HNB) Governor Boris Vujčić said on Thursday that the introduction of the euro in the country as sole legal tender would strengthen the resilience to crisis, bring about better terms and conditions for borrowing, boost competitiveness and improve cost-efficiency. The highest share of exchange risk and foreign currency lending risk will be eliminated, and banks will have direct access to the euro-area and the eurosystem's monetary operations, all of which will make their performance easier, Vujčić said at the 25th expert conference on the financial market, organised in Opatija by the Croatian Banking Association (HUB). He…

ZAGREB, 19 May 2022 - Croatia has recorded 468 new coronavirus cases and five COVID-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Thursday. There are 292 hospitalised patients, 11 of whom are on ventilators. Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Croatia, a total of 1,133,139 COVID cases have been registered and 15,950 people have died as a consequence.  Currently there are 3,897 active cases in the country and 1,727 people are self-isolating. By Wednesday, 5,250,173 doses of a COVID vaccine had been administered, and 59.51 per cent of the total population, or 70.78 per cent of adults, had…

ZAGREB, 19 May 2022 - A search is underway for five members of the crew of an Italian tugboat gone missing in a shipwreck that happened in the night between Wednesday and Thursday, and one person has been rescued, the Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure said on Thursday. The search for the five missing members of the Franco P tugboat crew is being coordinated by Italian and Croatian authorities for search and rescue operations at sea, and involved are also vessels that happened to be in the vicinity of the site of the shipwreck. The shipwreck happened on the line…

ZAGREB, 19 May 2022 - In a comment on the High Administrative Court's ruling quashing a decision that he had been in a conflict of interest, former HDZ leader and Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko has said that the damage caused to Croatia would possibly amount to billions of kuna. The 2016 decision by the Conflict of Interest Commission, which found that Karamarko had been in a conflict of interest, resulted in his withdrawing from politics. Commenting on the ruling quashing the decision, Karamarko said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that Dalija Orešković, chair of the Conflict of Interest Commission in…

ZAGREB, 18 May 2022 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Peđa Grbin said on Wednesday that the left-wing opposition groups in parliament had agreed that it was necessary to launch an initiative to amend the constitution to include the right to abortion. "We from the seven groups that represent the progressive opposition in parliament have agreed today that it is necessary to amend the constitution to enable women to have the right to choose when it comes to abortion," said Grbin, adding that they do not want current developments in the USA concerning abortion happen in Croatia. In early May,…

ZAGREB, 18 May 2022 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in an interview with the Xinhua news agency released on Wednesday that he looked forward to deepening political and economic relations with China.  "I very much look forward to deepening our political relationship, our consultations, our economic cooperation," Plenković said on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Croatia and China. The Croatian prime minister pointed out that the relations between Zagreb and Beijing over the past 30 years had been excellent. He said that bilateral cooperation within the Chinese initiative "One Belt…