Politics

ZAGREB, July 20, 2019 - The Croatian parliament confirmed seven new government ministers and two deputy prime ministers at an extraordinary session on Friday, with all but three opposition MPs boycotting the vote. Ivan Malenica is the new Minister of Public Administration, Vesna Bedeković has become the Minister for Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy, and Marija Vučković was confirmed as the Minister of Agriculture. The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs will be led by Gordan Grlić Radman. Mario Banožić was confirmed as the Minister of State Assets and Marko Pavić as the Minister of Regional Development and European…

ZAGREB, July 20, 2019 - Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava said on Friday that the town authorities had never entertained the idea of disobeying the Constitutional Court decision to enhance the rights of the local Serb minority, added that no law was an end in itself but should be at the service of the people. "As long as it is so, there will be no problem. However, when someone is trying for reasons best known to themselves to subject the people and citizens to some legal provisions only for the sake of their own interests, then I find that disputable," Penava…

ZAGREB, July 19, 2019 - Human Rights House in Zagreb on Friday said that it was inappropriate to nominate the incumbent Interior Minister Davor Božinović as the deputy prime minister for the coordination of human rights, calling on MPs to reject his nomination. "Appointing Minister Božinović with this burden is a step backwards and certainly cannot give a 'new boost and energy' to the government's activities in the field of human rights, which has been neglected for years and without fundamental public policies for the protection and promotion of human rights such as a national human rights programme," the NGO…

ZAGREB, July 19, 2019 - The leader of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Milorad Pupovac, said on Friday that by supporting Mayor Ivan Penava with regard to the Constitutional Court decision on bilingualism in Vukovar, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović had come into conflict with the Constitutional Court. "Coming into conflict with the Constitutional Court, without any adequate explanation or invoking the legality or the provisions of the Constitution, is a serious problem for the functioning of key institutions in Croatia, that means the Office of the President and the supreme judicial institution in Croatia," Pupovac told reporters in parliament. Reporters…

ZAGREB, July 19, 2019 - Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency member Željko Komšić has accused Croatia of refusing to resolve outstanding issues between the two countries, the Sarajevo-based Oslobodjenje daily said on Friday. Komšić, who will assume the rotating chairmanship of the Presidency on Saturday, said in an interview with the daily that there is a long list interview of outstanding issues and that, aside from Croatia's unwillingness to resolve them, the HDZ BiH party's members in the BiH Council of Ministers are obstructing work on those issues. He highlighted the border issue, BiH companies' assets in Croatia, and plans to…

ZAGREB, July 19, 2019 - The State Prosecutor's Office (DORH) has accused Human Rights Ombudswoman Lora Vidović of procedure confidentiality breach by publishing an "anonymous complaint" by border police officers who claim their superiors force them to be violent towards migrants. Vidović has made a post on her website under the headline "Institutions without response to anonymous complaint by police officer about unlawful actions", enclosing the anonymous complaint. DORH says it has forwarded the complaint to the relevant prosecutor's office for preliminary investigation, which is under way. DORH notes that it is therefore not one of the institutions mentioned in…

ZAGREB, July 19, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović considers it extremely important to support Mayor Penava and the residents of Vukovar, "who have for more than a quarter of a century suffered injustice resulting from the inexplicably sluggish and ineffective institutions" the president's office reported on its web site after she met with Vukovar's mayor in regard to a recent Constitutional Court decision stating that the rights of the ethnic Serb minority in Vukovar should be improved. "Being aware of the sensitive nature of the political situation in Vukovar, President Grabar-Kitarović considers it extremely important to support Mayor Penava and…

ZAGREB, July 19, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that one of the reasons for the government reshuffle was a smooth accomplishment of goals, and that pressure by the political opponent and the opposition was such that they wanted to create an atmosphere of instability and stick labels on the government and the ruling HDZ party which did not exist and which he would not let stick on him. "After three years of the government's work, there are moments when I, as prime minister, evaluate if we can improve, modify the team, make some refreshments which will…

ZAGREB, July 19, 2019 - Slovenian Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar has mentioned the possibility of sending Frontex (European Border and Coast Guard Agency) to the Croatian-Bosnian border to prevent illegal migration, his ministry said on Thursday. Poklukar met with Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on the fringes of a meeting of EU interior ministers and they discussed migrations and the situation in the Western Balkans, the Slovenian Interior Ministry said. The two ministers agreed that the problem is not the Slovenian-Italian border but the external EU border which should be protected even better, the ministry said. They expressed willingness to…

ZAGREB, July 18, 2019 - The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) said on Thursday it was appalled by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's "scandalous statements ... unworthy of the office she holds, in which she shamefully instructs journalists how to do their job." "The Croatian president's message to our colleagues, 'Don't follow foreign media which work in I don't know whose interest', aside from accusing our foreign colleagues in a very ugly way and without any arguments, is trying to discipline journalists in Croatia in a very perfidious way to do their job by blindly believing only one side, representatives of the authorities,…