Politics

ZAGREB, August 8, 2019 - The Croatian Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday that 18 migrants moving in separate groups were found in the area of Buhača near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina as they were attempting to cross the border into Croatia, and that Croatian police prevented them from doing so without using force. "According to information collected so far, during the deterrence procedure, police officers did not use means of coercion against the persons caught while trying to illegally cross the state border. There were no visible injuries on the persons concerned nor did any of…

ZAGREB, August 7, 2019 - The group of migrants discovered by Bosnia and Herzegovina police in the area of the northwestern town of Velika Kladuša in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday are victims of brutality by the Croatian border police who caught them as they were trying to illegally cross the border into Croatia, beat them up and returned them forcibly to Bosnia and Herzegovina, local media reported on Wednesday without providing any evidence or official statements for their claims. Quoting unnamed sources, the Klix web portal claims that the migrants were illegally transferred back to Bosnia and Herzegovina…

ZAGREB, August 7, 2019 - Independent presidential candidate Dejan Kovač, who is supported by the Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS), on Wednesday officially announced his presidential candidacy, saying that the transparent spending of public money started at the top and that it was crucial for productivity and for the fight against corruption. "Corruption can be eradicated only through transparency, digitisation and political responsibility. Those elements, especially political responsibility, have not existed in recent years. How can we expect citizens to behave better if we do not set an example with our own actions," Kovač, an economist by profession, told a news…

ZAGREB, August 7, 2019 - Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that his predecessor at the HDZ helm, Tomislav Karamarko, who has recently said that he is thinking of his new candidacy for the party chief, had stood a chance and that things were moving on. "I believe in the prudence of Croatian voters; people can see who takes which route for the country. Karamarko stood a chance, he definitely gave his contribution, however, things are moving on," Plenković said during his visit to the coastal resort of Opatija. Plenković recalled that more…

ZAGREB, August 7, 2019 - Public Ombudswoman Lora Vidovic has said that failure to file criminal reports over the chanting of the 'For the homeland ready' salute by former HOS members in Knin and at a concert of pop singer Marko Perković in Split would amount to "gross violation of Croatia's' legal order". She told the Jutarnji List daily on Wednesday that in the event the police persisted in not lodging a criminal report for the two cases, then the Interior Minister and the Prime Minister should get involved in the matter. Recently Hina learned that the police will not…

ZAGREB, August 7, 2019 - Croatia's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs on Tuesday welcomed an agreement reached by the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina's three biggest political parties on the formation of a new state-level government. This agreement is of crucial importance for the further stabilisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and progress in its integration with the European Union, which Croatia strongly and unequivocally supports, reads a press release issued by the Croatian ministry. Monday's agreement, which was facilitated by EU Special Representative Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, was concluded by the leader of the HDZ BiH party, Dragan Čović, SNSD…

August 6, 2019 - TCN caught up with leading Croatian political consultant Marko Rakar for a  video interview on a range of topics about Croatia today. He was the President of the European Association of Political Consultants until 2018, named in the world's top 100 most influential political professionals by Washington COMSOL in 2017, and a data architect whose biggest achievement perhaps was the successful removal of 800,000 fraudulent names from the Croatian electoral roll (in a country of just over 4 million people).  TCN visited Marko Rakar in his office in Zagreb today to discuss a range of issues, including…

ZAGREB, August 6, 2019 - A delegation of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) on Tuesday laid a wreath and lit candles at the grave of the party's founder, Savka Dabčević-Kučar, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of her death, saying that Dabčević-Kučar had advocated values Croatia should promote. "Savka Dabčević-Kučar is a person of great importance in Croatia's history whose work and ideas helped build what Croatia is today and also what it should be and has possibly not become yet," said Stjepan Čuraj, an HNS MP and member of the HNS Presidency. Asked if the party's having split…

ZAGREB, August 6, 2019 - A dozen activists of several nongovernmental organisations on Monday afternoon held a protest rally in Zagreb's main square to express their sympathy with the victims of the combined military and police operation Storm in August 1995 when Croatia liberated areas in northern Dalmatia, Lika, Banovina and Kordun that had been controlled by Croatian Serb rebels for four years. "We want to warn that the victory that is being celebrated in recent days is not indisputable and is not so magnificent. It was stained by crimes that have not yet been prosecuted," said activist Bojana Genov…

ZAGREB, August 5, 2019 - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović said in Knin on Monday that Prime Minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenković was not in any jeopardy after his predecessor Tomislav Karamarko announced that he was thinking about running for the post of HDZ president at the next party election. Božinović believes that the prime minister is successfully leading the government, that he has successfully won the election and that he has consolidated the party both in terms of organisation and in terms of finances. "As far as candidates and their desires are concerned,…