Politics
Wednesday, 4 May 2022
Finance Minister: Structural Reforms Precondition for Reducing Health, Pension Contributions
ZAGREB, 4 May 2022 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Wednesday that employers' proposal to further reduce the tax burden on labour are taken into account in principle but that additional discussions and analyses are required, while reducing contributions requires structural reforms in the health and pensions systems. The Croatian Employers Association (HUP) said on Tuesday that attracting and keeping quality labour required a more significant reduction of overall labour costs so that employers could pay higher salaries to workers, proposing short-term proposals for an increase in net wages, which should happen relatively soon. "It is necessary to significantly reduce…
Wednesday, 4 May 2022
Parliament: Digitisation of Notarial Services Good, but Fees are High
ZAGREB, 4 May 2022 - Both opposition and ruling parties in the Croatian parliament on Wednesday welcomed the government proposal that the services of notaries-public should be digitised and accessible to the public, but opposition lawmakers warned that notarial fees were high and that they would be regulated by rules and not by law. Presenting the proposal to amend the Notary Public Act, Josip Salapić, state secretary at the Ministry of Justice, said that the proposed amendments allow parties to participate in legal procedures online and that they provide for new rules in the appointment of notaries. "Until now, the minister…
Wednesday, 4 May 2022
Bosnia and Herzegovina General Election Called For 2 October
ZAGREB, 4 May 2022 - A general election will be held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2 October, the Central Electoral Commission (SIP) decided on Wednesday. "The election will be held on Sunday 2 October and the funds for the election have to be secured within 15 days of calling the election," SIP president Suad Arnautović said after the decision on the election was adopted. Around €6 million has to be secured to conduct the election, which is to be decided by the Council of Ministers. The decision is uncertain at this point because the 2022 budget has not been adopted yet. Only one…
Wednesday, 4 May 2022
Oil Embargo Against Russia Won't Have Major Impact on Croatia, Energy Expert Says
ZAGREB, 4 May 2022 - An EU ban on imports of crude oil and oil products from Russia should not have a major impact on Croatia, which mostly gets its supplies from the Mediterranean, energy expert Igor Dekanić told Hina on Wednesday. "Croatia is not in a bad position because more or less it imports oil products from the Mediterranean, specifically from Italian refineries. As for natural gas, we have an LNG terminal that provides considerable sources of supply from countries other than Russia," Dekanić said. Asked if there would be enough energy products and at what price, he said that…
Wednesday, 4 May 2022
Milanović Not Able to Veto Finland's and Sweden's NATO Membership Bids, Says Jutarnji List
ZAGREB, 4 May 2022 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović will not be able to veto Finland's and Sweden's accession to NATO because this will be decided by the ambassadors of the member states and not by the heads of state or government, the Jutarnji List (JL) daily wrote on Wednesday. Citing government sources knowledgeable about NATO procedures, the newspaper said that Milanović is aware that he will not be in a position to veto the two countries' membership bids because this decision will be made by the North Atlantic Council, which consists of ambassadors from the 28 member states. Milanović is…
Wednesday, 4 May 2022
Can Croatian Tourism Sector Access Recovery and Resilience Cash?
May the 4th, 2022 - Who exactly can access Resilience and Recovery cash from the Croatian tourism sector? This huge amount of money, intended to be paid out to help EU member states get back on their feet with respective plans following the coronavirus pandemic, can be obtained by a select few within Croatia's main economic branch. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, within a maximum of two weeks, the Ministry of Tourism will send its proposals for e-counseling related to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Croatian: NPOO), with specific criteria that will need to be met by all those…
Wednesday, 4 May 2022
What Are Government's Next Steps if Croatian Inflation Continues?
May the 4th, 2022 - If Croatian inflation continues and becomes worse, posing more issues for the pockets of the country's already struggling residents following coronavirus-induced lockdowns and restrictions, just what does the government have up its sleeve to combat it? Finance Minister Zdravko Maric has claimed that there is still ''munition'' to be released in this sense. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric also answered the question as to whether the Croatian inflation rate will end up reaching double-digit figures: "I wouldn't go that far. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic all recorded double-digit…
Tuesday, 3 May 2022
Milanović Says He Will Veto Finland's Admission to NATO
ZAGREB, 3 May 2022 - President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday that he will veto NATO's invitation to Finland to join the alliance. "In my capacity as the head of state representing Croatia at the NATO summit, I will veto the invitation, if it is extended at that level," Milanović told the press in Vukovar. NATO is holding a summit in Madrid later this month. If the invitation is sent through lower levels, he said he was not sure he would be able to make the Croatian ambassador accept his position and veto the invitation. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian…
Tuesday, 3 May 2022
Deputy Split Mayor Confident Will Prove His Innocence
ZAGREB, 3 May 2022 - Former Split deputy mayor Bojan Ivošević said on Tuesday, after an indictment was upheld against him for threatening a reporter, that he was confident he would prove his innocence in court. "I respect the legal institutions of the state at all levels, including the court's decision to issue an indictment against me, and I strongly believe that during the trial I will prove my innocence," he said in a statement for the media. The indictment, upheld last Friday by the Split Municipal Court, charges Ivošević with having threatened an editor at the Slobodna Dalmacija daily after…
Tuesday, 3 May 2022
Indictment Against Deputy Split Mayor Upheld
ZAGREB, 3 May 2022 - Split Municipal Court has upheld an indictment against Split Deputy Mayor Bojan Ivošević for threatening a reporter. The indictment, which resulted in Ivošević as well as Mayor Ivica Puljak tendering their resignations and deciding to go to a snap election, was upheld on 29 April. Ivošević is charged with having threatened an editor at the Slobodna Dalmacija daily on 6 February, who after an argument with her over the phone said that he would "drink their blood." Under the indictment, the reporter conveyed his words to her editor-in-chief and executive editor, which caused a feeling of…
Tuesday, 3 May 2022
Plenković Accuses Milanović, Bridge of Hypocritical Policy Towards Bosnia Croats
ZAGREB, 3 May 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday evening that President Zoran Milanović and his "supporters" from the Bridge party were pursuing a hypocritical policy aimed at doing harm to the government and to the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Plenković said that Milanović's proposal that members of the Croatian parliament should vote against the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO was perfidious. "He (Milanović) has not said that he will block their accession. He has disseminated a perfidious, even worse claim. It was him who said that he would call MPs traitors and he…
