Politics

ZAGREB, July 8, 2019 - Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec on Monday announced stepping up the control of the green border with Croatia following more intensified flows of migrants passing through Croatia and Slovenia on their way to Italy and western Europe. To this end, Slovenia and Italy introduced joint patrols including the police staff from both countries. After touring the border municipality of Ilirska Bistrica, Šarec said that he could understand the concern expressed by locals facing a growing number of migrants passing through the area, however, sometimes the issue was blown out of proportion for political reasons. The…

ZAGREB, July 8, 2019 - The Conflict of Interest Commission said on Monday there were no grounds to institute proceedings against President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović after she was earlier criticised over a discount she was given for a medical check-up at a private hospital. The commission established that the president paid the full price of the medical check-up, and that the discount, cited in numerous queries from media outlets, would not have amounted to an impermissible gift because it was also used by regular patients of the clinic. The complaints sent to the Commission in February claimed that the president may…

ZAGREB, July 8, 2019 - The leader of the START party and former chair of the parliamentary Conflict of Interest Commission, Dalija Orešković, announced on Sunday she would run for president, saying that the institutions that should be combating corruption either have been sunk or are facing euthanasia. "I made the decision at the height of corruption scandals that erupted in government. None of the candidates so far has offered acceptable solutions and responses to the social injustices created by corruption, which has seeped into all pores of government and society," Orešković said in an interview with the commercial Nova…

As Novac/Martina Klepo/Augustin Palokaj writes on the 7th of July, 2019, a meeting between Eurozone finance ministers took place in the Belgian capital of Brussels, during which the formal request made by the Republic of Croatia for entry into the Eurozone, ie the so-called ERM II exchange rate mechanism, was discussed. This is the first step towards the introduction of the euro. The letter of intent was sent by the Republic of Croatia to European institutions on Thursday by Finance Minister Zdravko Marić and Governor of the Croatian National Bank Boris Vujčić on behalf of the country. Croatia was in…

ZAGREB, July 7, 2019 - Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević said on Saturday that his tendering his resignation, as demanded lately by the opposition and partners in the ruling coalition over his alleged involvement in property-related scandals, was a matter between him and the prime minister. "The fate of any minister is in the hands of the prime minister," Kuščević, who has come under severe criticism from the media after it emerged that he was involved in a string of property-related scandals during his term as mayor of Nerežišća on the southern island of Brač, said in an interview with…

ZAGREB, July 7, 2019 - The main committee of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Saturday overwhelmingly supported Zoran Milanović as the party's candidate for President of the Republic, with 70 votes in favour, one against and one abstention. Milanović is the SDP's presidential candidate and whether he will also be the candidate of some other party, he will have to agree that with them, the committee's chairman Erik Fabijanić told the press after the meeting, explaining the meaning of the wording "support his candidacy". He could not say with how much money the SDP would support Milanović's campaign, noting…

ZAGREB, July 6, 2019 - Opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić said on Saturday that the party's success in the recent EU election would pave the way to its victory in parliamentary elections. Bernardić was speaking at a session of the SDP Main Committee which was expected to confirm former prime minister and SDP leader Zoran Milanovic's candidacy for President of the Republic. "The ruling structures must not be corrupt. Corruption is eating away at the Croatian society. Corruption has stolen the future of many young people and the dignity of the elderly," said Bernardic. "People are leaving…

ZAGREB, July 6, 2019 - State Assets Minister Goran Marić said on Friday, with regard to his role in the renovation of a church in a Zagreb parish, that except for satisfaction with helping realise a noble idea, he did not obtain any gain nor did he enable anyone else to obtain any gain and did not do anything that would be contrary to the highest ethical standards. The State Assets Minister issued a press release saying that it was true that at the time when the renovation of the church, located in the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes…

ZAGREB, July 6, 2019 - During its chairmanship of the Council of the EU, Croatia will endeavour to reconcile the frustration of southeast European countries with the slow pace of integration processes and the great reservation of some member-states toward EU enlargement, and it will realistically assess what calendar of future events can be expected in the next decade, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Poznan on Friday. "Southeast European countries have great ambitions but they all share the frustration with the slowness of the process. At the same time, some EU countries, and Croatia is not one of them,…

ZAGREB, July 5, 2019 - A commemoration on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, when more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb forces, was held at the Croatian parliament and a message was sent out that a crime of that nature must never occur again. The commemoration, during which the names were read out of 33 victims whose remains will be laid to rest on July 11, was organised by the Association of Bosniak Homeland War Veterans and the member of parliament who represents a group of minorities, including the…