Politics

ZAGREB, August 3, 2019 - US General Sandra Best, the Chief-of-Staff of the Minnesota Air National Guard, will attend events marking the 24th anniversary of the Croatian military and police operation Storm as part of her visit to Croatia, to last several days. The US general on Saturday visited Croatian Air Force units at the "Colonel Mirko Vukušić" barracks at the Zemunik air base near Zadar, where she was informed of the Croatian Air Force's mission and tasks and visited the premises of the Wings of Storm aerobatic team and the Zemunik air base fleet. One of Gen. Best's hosts,…

ZAGREB, August 3, 2019 - On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the 1995 Croatian military and police operation Storm, the Serb National Council (SNV) on Saturday issued a remembrance statement calling for a minute's silence and expressing sympathy with all who remember their family members, neighbours and friends killed in that operation. "We express sympathy over the lost and abandoned homes. Even though we are not part of the collective memory established by the state, it is up to us to say the victims' names and the names of their villages and towns without fear and with dignity,…

ZAGREB, August 3, 2019 - MP Gordan Maras of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) said on Friday that the decision by the State Electoral Commission (DIP) to fine his party 86,000 kuna (€11,650) over a sticker he had displayed on his laptop in the Croatian Parliament during the campaign for May's European Parliament election was scandalous and that the DIP was subordinate to the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). "This is a scandalous decision and I hope higher instances will quash it," Maras told a press conference, adding that "the HDZ has usurped the DIP." He said that during…

ZAGREB, Aug 3, 2019 - In an interview with Croatian Radio on Friday, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović welcomed the tax reform, but said she was disappointed with it to some extent. She said that she had expected greater tax reliefs for all categories whose income could have been increased "with other measures." The president said that priorities could have been ordered a little better in the fourth round of the tax reform. "I advocate decreasing the tax burden on entrepreneurs and increasing workers' incomes," she said. Grabar-Kitarović said she was unhappy that the recent government reshuffle did not include the Health…

ZAGREB, August 2, 2019 - A memorial ceremony was held on Friday at the Roma cemetery in Uštica, about 100 kilometres southeast of Zagreb, for more than 16,000 Roma killed in the Jasenovac concentration camp during the Second World War. The commemoration, organised by the Roma organisation Kali Sara and the Council of the Roma Minority in Croatia, was held on International Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the Porajmos, which is marked in Croatia on August 2. Attending the commemoration were Deputy Prime Minister Davor Božinović on behalf of the government, Sisak-Moslavina County Prefect Ivan Žinić as President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's…

ZAGREB, August 2, 2019 - The City of Zagreb's billboards were used during campaigning for May's European Parliament election to covertly promote the political party of Mayor Milan Bandić and were paid for with money from the city budget, the State Electoral Commission (DIP) said in a report on Friday. The report said that an inspection of campaign financing had found that jumbo posters with information about the City of Zagreb, were paid for from the city budget and were in fact covert electioneering by Bandić's party. City authorities put up 175 jumbo posters on billboards during the election campaign…

ZAGREB, August 1, 2019 - Chairman of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić on Thursday added fuel to the verbal war with Croatian officials, claiming that they were "meddling and lying", reiterating once again that Croatia's police officers were illegally entering Bosnia and Herzegovina's territory. Commenting on a statement by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who said that he was sorry about the "exaggerated reactions" by officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina and messages to President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Komšić told the Klix web portal that statements like that did not interest him and that he expects Croatian authorities to, above…

ZAGREB, August 1, 2019 - A court in Klagenfurt, Austria on Thursday sentenced a 48-year-old Croatian citizen to 18 months' imprisonment for repeating the offence of displaying Nazi symbols, i.e. showing the Hitler salute at this year's Bleiburg commemoration, Austrian media reported. The man pleaded guilty and said the Hitler salute would be "perceived more mildly" in Croatia, but conceded that he had drunk too much and done a "really stupid thing." He has been in custody since mid-May. Two months of the 18-month sentence are non-suspended. Prosecutor Christian Pirker said the salute was a deliberate act of provocation because…

ZAGREB, August 1, 2019 - President and Armed Forces Supreme Commander Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Thursday that Croatia's Operation Storm saved Bosnia and Herzegovina and that she would like the neighbouring country never to forget who gave it a hand in the most difficult times. She was speaking at a ceremony at the Defence Ministry on the occasion of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, Croatian War Veterans Day and the 24th anniversary of Operation Storm, at which 266 soldiers were promoted and more than 100 were awarded. "Looking at you all fills me with special pride. Seeing young people who…

ZAGREB, August 1, 2019 - Bosnia and Herzegovina's Security Minister Dragan Mektić has again accused Croatian police of forcibly returning illegal migrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina and violating the country's territorial integrity. "We have the information to prove this, that they enter our territory armed, and footage showing what they do to migrants who cross into Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina, they beat them, take away their money and mobile phones, and return them to us," Mektić told the Bosnian Faktor news website on Thursday. Mektić said that his ministry does not have the authority to respond because this is…