Politics

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - The Croatian Parliament Committee on European Affairs on Thursday supported with a majority vote the government's decision to nominate Dubravka Šuica for its Commissioner in the new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen to the 2019-2024 period. After hearing the arguments presented by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, the Committee endorsed the government's decision with 10 votes in favour, while five Committee members abstained. Those who abstained from voting were Opposition MPs Domagoj Hajduković and Joško Klisović of the Social Democratic Paty (SDP), independent MPs Bojan Glavašević and Marin Škibola and MOST party MP…

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes on the 22nd of August, 2019, in her four and a half years in office as Croatian President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and the President's Office cost Croatia's taxpayers 155.8 million kuna, while in the same period, 186 million kuna was spent on former president Ivo Josipović during his term. The Croatian Government's budget expenditures reached 66.9 billion kuna in the first half of this year, and this figure suggests spending is within the previously announced annual plan of 140 billion kuna. The half-yearly realisation is therefore now at 47.7 percent of the annual plan, but as…

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - Addressing a conference of Croatian diplomats in Zagreb on Thursday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković advised them to be careful in choosing their associates, following a recent scandal of a former first secretary in the Croatian embassy in Berlin, Elizabeta Mađarević who was suspended from the diplomatic service due to her racist and xenophobic remarks on her social media profiles. Plenković reiterated the condemnation of racist and xenophobic statements made by the former diplomat Mađarević. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who joined in the condemnation of the scandal, said that the incident had happened also owing to "omissions…

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - Future member of the European Commission, MEP Dubravka Šuica (HDZ-EPP), on Thursday presented herself to the European Affairs parliamentary committee, just a few hours after the government confirmed her nomination for Croatia's candidate for the EC led by Ursula von der Leyen. Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who also attended the meeting, described her as a "good candidate with a wealth of experience in international affairs." "She has a lot of experience. This is her third term in the European Parliament. She was a Member of Parliament and Mayor of Dubrovnik." He added that portfolios in…

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - In an effort to protect itself from an influx of migrants Slovenia has begun to erect additional fencing along the border with Croatia in those sections where migrant entries have increased, Slovenia media reported on Thursday. Quoting its sources, POP-TV on Wednesday evening reported that an additional 4 kilometres of panel fencing would be erected over the next few weeks due to the increased number of illegal crossings, adding that the areas along the Kupa river between Vinica and Zunica would then be entirely protected. The Interior Ministry has said that additional technical barriers are…

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - Five guests, including a minor, sustained light injuries when unidentified attackers came in the cafe near Knin where those guests were, according to local web portals, watching a football match of the Belgrade-based Crvena Zvezda football club on Wednesday evening. The Šibenik-Knin county police stated on Thursday that about 2230 hrs Wednesday, unidentified persons entered the cafe at Uzdolje, and after verbal insults they attacked the cafe owner and the guests and damaged the cafe furniture. In the incident, the five people suffered light injuries. After that, a similar incident happened in cafe in the…

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - Ante Simonić professor-turned-diplomat and a former member of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), who was a deputy prime minister in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) led government under Ivica Račan on Wednesday announced his presidential bid. Simonić underlined that the concept of his bid is that the Constitution should not be changed but respected as should all laws. "The problem in Croatia is not the quality of the Constitution and laws but rather their non-respect," he said. He announced that as the president he intended to act in accordance with the Constitution and would not…

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - A seventh group of Syrian migrants from Turkey arrived in Zagreb on Wednesday as part of the European resettlement programme, the Interior Ministry has reported. Eight families or 41 Syrian nationals, including 24 minors arrived on Wednesday while another two families or 7 people of whom 3 are minors are expected to arrive at the end of August. With the latest group of migrants, Croatia will have resettled a total of 250 Syrian nationals and will have met its obligations defined in government decisions adopted in 2915 and 2017. The refugees will spend the next…

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) presidency and national council on Wednesday supported Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's bid for a second term as the country's president as well as a motion to candidate MEP Dubravka Šuica for a member of the European Commission and appointed Ante Sanader as the party's political secretary. After the meeting, HDZ president and the country's prime minister, Andrej Plenković, said that the party's leadership decided by consensus that it would support Grabar-Kitarović's candidacy for a second term. Plenković said that President Grabar-Kitarović would decide on establishing an election campaigning team, adding that Osijek-Baranja…

ZAGREB, August 21, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić on Wednesday stated that the police investigation into the affairs of former administration minister MP Lovro Kuščević (HDZ), confirms that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković should have replaced Kuščević earlier due to serious suspicion of corruption. Bernardić underscored that because of cases like this SDP insists on implementing its anti-corruption plan against "ministers and state officials becoming richer while people are emigrating from Croatia due to the poor standard or have to dig in dumpsters." It is absurd that Kuščević was in fact rewarded by being sent back to…