Politics

ZAGREB, 26 April 2022 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday that Finland and Sweden could not join NATO before the election law in Bosnia and Herzegovina was changed. The Croatian parliament "must not ratify anyone's accession to NATO" until that law is changed, he told the press. The accession of Finland and Sweden can be discussed, but it is "a very dangerous adventure," he added. In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, next month the two countries will state their wish to join NATO, their media reported yesterday. Milanović said that formally he could not decide on his own on…

ZAGREB, 26 April 2022 - The Croatian National Bank (HNB) will soon embark on a campaign for the euro replacing the kuna as the national currency which will be very extensive, as befits such an important event as Croatia's accession to the euro area on 1 January 2023, Večernji List daily said on Tuesday. To raise public awareness of the introduction of the euro, the HNB has prepared a tender for the creation and implementation of a national information campaign, estimated at HRK 27 million, for carrying out the national plan of replacing the kuna with the euro. As part of the…

ZAGREB, 26 April 2022 - President Zoran Milanović on Tuesday once again accused the PM of using methods of Yugoslav-era secret service UDBA in calling out generals for supporting a request that he pardon two former intelligence officers, and called on HDZ members to react or they would be his accomplices. Speaking to the press, Milanović reiterated that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was "a protege of the communist regime" and that he had labelled the Homeland War generals supporting the pardon of former senior Yugoslav and Croatian intelligence officers Josip Perković and Zdravko Mustač as "UDBA poodles", and said that he was a "perfidious, evil guy."…

April the 26th, 2022 - Croatian public debt is continuing to fall, so much so that this decrease has placed the country at the very top of the list of European Union (EU) member states. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the public debt across the European Union and within the Eurozone itself, expressed as a share of GDP, decreased in the fourth quarter of 2021 thanks to the recovery of the economy following the coronavirus crisis, and the Republic of Croatia is among the countries with the biggest decline, a Eurostat report showed last week. At the EU level, public debt as…

25 April 2022 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović on Monday sent a letter to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, congratulating him on his re-election and noting that Croatia and France are "friends and allies." In the second round of presidential elections on Sunday, Macron defeated his rival Marine Le Pen. "I am confident that in your new term in office you will continue to work for the overall progress of your country and the wellbeing of all its citizens," Milanović wrote in the letter. "Croatia and France are friends and allies and our countries share a number of interests and cooperate successfully both bilaterally and…

ZAGREB, 23 April 2022 - Croatia's cooperation and support are important for Vojvodina Croats' efforts and for strengthening their identity, representatives of three of their institutions said in Novi Vinodolski on Saturday. Croatian National Council president Jasna Vojnić, the director of the Vojvodina Croats Culture Institute, Tomislav Žigmanov, and the director of the Hrvatska Riječ publisher, Ladislav Suknović were received by Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković and local officials. Žigmanov said they came to talk about the challenges awaiting them this year and that the biggest one would be a population census in October. He is also the president…

ZAGREB, 23 April 2022 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović said on Saturday Bosnia and Herzegovina was a security, emotional and state issue for Croatia and that no other state wanted it to join the EU as much, adding that he will see personally that Croats in BiH are not totally politically defeated in the next election. "There is no state which wants BiH to enter the European Union as much and which is working on that as much as Croatia. For sentimental, but often purely selfish reasons. That's in the interest of the community I represent," Milanović said in Livno,…

ZAGREB, 23 April 2022 - Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević has offered humanitarian and other assistance to the mayors of Mostar and Stolac after a strong earthquake struck southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina late on Friday. Tomašević has spoken by telephone with the Mayor of Mostar, Mario Kordić, and the Mayor of Stolac, Stjepan Bošković, conveying his sympathies and offering help, he said on Twitter on Saturday. Zagreb itself was hit by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake on 22 March 2020 and has received aid from other towns and cities. A magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina shortly after 11 pm…

ZAGREB, 23 April 2022 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has expressed his support to his Slovenian counterpart Janez Janša who is seeking a second term in office in parliamentary elections on Sunday. "Ahead of parliamentary elections in Slovenia, I give my strong support to my friend, Prime Minister Janez Janša, and the Slovenian Democratic Party," Plenković said on Twitter on Friday. Plenković said he had had excellent cooperation with Janša over the last few years in advancing relations between the two countries. "We have improved economic cooperation, addressed unresolved issues and tackled together major crises such as COVID and…

ZAGREB, 23 April 2022 - A representative of the Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI), one of the political parties representing the Croatian minority in Montenegro, will be a minister without a portfolio in the minority government to be nominated by Prime Minister-elect Dritan Abazović on 28 April, local media said on Friday. HGI leader Adrijan Vuksanović confirmed to the Montenegrin media that he would be the party's candidate for minister without a portfolio in the new government. Earlier, the party's main committee unanimously accepted the invitation from Prime Minister-elect Abazović to participate in the minority government. "We consider this an important…