Politics

ZAGREB, June 16, 2019 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Saturday that there was too much talk about elections and election campaigning, while Croatia should be concentrated on vital issues such as creating new jobs, keeping young people in the country and development of Croatian cities. During her visit to Rijeka on the occasion of the Day of Saint Vitus, the patron saint of that Adriatic seaport, the president was asked by the press whether it would be now an opportune moment for her to announce in her hometown whether she would run for her second term. Grabar-Kitarović, whose…

ZAGREB, June 15, 2019 - The Bosnian Justice Ministry on Friday received the Croatian Justice Ministry's request for the extradition of former Dinamo football club chief Zdravko Mamić and will forward it to the State Court to decide if there are grounds for the handover, Minister Josip Grubeša told Hina. The request for the extradition of Croatia's most wanted fugitive will likely be delivered to the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday. Grubeša would not prejudge how the court would rule. Croatia wants Mamić's extradition based on a second indictment upheld against him by the Osijek County Court.…

ZAGREB, June 14, 2019 - The Conflict of Interest Commission chairwoman, Nataša Novaković, said on Friday that that she did not consider herself biased and that there was no need for her to exempt herself from deciding on a case involving Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the Hotmail case. "Had I thought myself biased, I would not have been at all included in the work on that case. I do not consider myself biased. That would be against me and against the professional rules. Our rule book clearly specifies when we exempt ourselves and this is not such situation," Novaković…

ZAGREB, June 14,2019 - The government is ready to consider an additional increase in the number of work permits for foreigners, however only when all possibilities for hiring local workers are exhausted, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday. When we establish beyond doubt that all possibilities for the employment of our citizens have been exhausted, then we will be ready to consider expanding the quota for foreign workers, Plenković said in Zadar. In that context he admitted that it was evident that increased quotas were necessary, particularly in Croatia's coastal region in the tourism, hospitality and construction sectors. Promising…

ZAGREB, June 14, 2019 - The Croatian Pensioners Union on Friday asked Finance Minister Zdravko Marić and Health Minister Milan Kujundžić to raise the supplementary health insurance census to 2,321 kuna, which is the Croatian poverty threshold for a single pensioner. The union proposes that the income census be determined every year in line with the poverty threshold which the national statistical office determines every year. The union says in a press release that pensions will soon be indexed for the second time this year and that the 3.13% increase of the lowest pensions could result in about 10,000 pensioners…

ZAGREB, June 14, 2019 - Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić visited Italy on Thursday and met with her counterpart Enzo Moavero Milanesi, the ministry said in a press release, adding that the two officials confirmed the good relations between the two countries and underlined the desire to further strengthen bilateral relations. The ministers exchanged opinions on numerous regional, European and global issues of common interest such as the results of the European Parliament elections, the EU's new institutional framework, enlargement, the multiannual financial framework, Brexit, the protection of the EU's external borders, and the crisis of multilateralism. The two…

ZAGREB, June 14, 2019 - After Thursday's meeting between Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, MP Veljko Kajtazi and a delegation of the Kali Sara Roma association, Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Darko Horvat said that the Roma ethnic minority cannot be integrated without the participation of local and regional government and that they were not meeting all their obligations. Integrating the Roma ethnic minority into normal co-existence without local and regional government representatives simply will not occur, Horvat said after the meeting in the government attended by ministers and state secretaries. Strategic documents and action plans clearly highlight who is…

ZAGREB, June 13, 2019 – Živi Zid president Ivan Vilibor Sinčić on Thursday told those gloating that this opposition party was over that it was not and that it would come out even stronger, and he also presented the party's new MPs - Damjan Vučelić and Snježana Sabolek. Speaking to the press, Sinčić commented on the recent departure of Ivan Pernar and Branimir Bunjac from the party, saying "the truth will be known in a very short time." Sinčić said he was willing to forget the ugly words and insults against the party, its members and himself. "As someone who…

ZAGREB, June 13, 2019 - Unionists who launched the "67 is too much" campaign to collect signatures for a referendum on restoring the statutory pension age from 67 to 65 on Thursday submitted to the parliament a total of 65 boxes with 748,624 signatures collected from 27 April to 11 May. In order for the referendum on pension eligibility to be called, it was necessary to collect at least 373,568 signatures. After meeting with the unionists, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković explained the procedure to follow the receipt of the signatures, which also includes checking the validity of signatures and their…

ZAGREB, June 13, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović on Thursday informed the government that the biggest pressure of illegal migrants had been lately concentrated along 350-kilometre-long sections of Croatia's border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Presenting a report on the implementation of the strategy on the integral border management in 2018, Božinović said that while in the previous years, a majority of migrants had come to Croatia from Serbia, currently the borderline in Karlovac, Lika nd Sisak counties with northwestern Bosnia was exposed to the heaviest pressure of irregular migrants. In order to raise the resilience to this pressure, full…