Politics
Thursday, 24 March 2022
MPs Welcome Greater Use Of Green Energy And Hydrogen Strategy
ZAGREB, 24 March - Members of the Croatian Parliament on Thursday welcomed the proposal for a national hydrogen strategy until 2050, stressing the importance of economic development based on hydrogen, own energy production and increased electricity production from renewable sources. Some opposition lawmakers warned of the commercial unprofitability of green hydrogen. In recent years, Croatia has been making a great effort in decarbonising its energy sector and economy, its goal being to ensure that by 2030 at least 36.6 per cent of electricity consumption comes from renewable sources, said Ivo Milatić, state secretary at the Ministry of Economy. A hydrogen-based economy is an…
Thursday, 24 March 2022
Croatia Registers 2,061 New COVID Cases, 9 Related Deaths
ZAGREB, 24 March - Croatia has registered 2,061 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and 9 patients have died as a consequence, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Thursday. There are currently 11,448 active cases, including 631 hospitalised patients, 41 of whom are on ventilators. There are also 6,843 people who are self-isolating. Croatia has registered a total of 1,089,696 cases of COVID-19 since its first registered case on 25 February 2020, and 15,485 people have died as a consequence while 1,062,763 have recovered from the contagion. To date, a total of 2,236,999 people have been fully vaccinated, which is 65.68% of the adult population. …
Thursday, 24 March 2022
9,500 Ukrainians Find Refuge In Croatia So Far
ZAGREB, 24 March - About 9,500 Ukrainians displaced by the war in their country have found refuge in Croatia, Tomislav Marević of the Civil Protection Directorate said on Thursday. "These are still mainly women and children, and many of them are accommodated privately," Marević said in an interview with Croatian Radio. He said he was proud that Croatia had responded in solidarity already in the first weeks of the war and that citizens were taking in displaced persons voluntarily. He commended the government's decision to finance accommodation for refugees, adding that the Civil Protection Directorate would sign a contract with…
Thursday, 24 March 2022
Cultural And Creative Industries See Sharp Declines In Revenues During Pandemic
ZAGREB, 24 March 2022 - Croatia's cultural and creative industries have recorded sharp declines in revenues since pre-pandemic 2019, of 8.5 per cent on average, with some segments, such as music, film and art, having seen their revenues plunge by as much as 40, 35 and 25 per cent respectively, a conference was told in the eastern city of Osijek on Wednesday. A study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Croatian cultural and creative industries, which the Ministry of Culture commissioned from the Zagreb Institute of Economics, also shows that some segments, such as video games, have seen…
Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Prime Minister: 9,357 Ukrainian Refugees in Croatia, Accommodation, Costs to be Resolved
ZAGREB, 23 March 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that so far 9,357 Ukrainian refugees had entered Croatia, telling representatives of county and city authorities that the most important thing was to resolve the issue of accommodation for the refugees and to cover those costs. During a meeting with county heads, representatives of the Association of Cities and the Association of Municipalities, as well as an inter-departmental task force dealing with the reception and accommodation of Ukrainian refugees, Plenković said that by Wednesday morning 9,357 refugees had entered Croatia, 4,556 of whom were women (48.7%), 1,172 were men (12.5%) and…
Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Čović: Demand to Abolish House of Peoples Powers Violates Dayton Agreement
ZAGREB, 23 March 2022 - The leader of the Bosnian Croat HDZ BiH party, Dragan Čović, has described the demand by the leading Bosniak SDA party to abolish the powers of the upper house of parliament of the Bosniak-Croat Federation entity, as an attempt at toppling the Dayton peace agreement. Čović wrote a letter to EU officials Ursula von der Leyen, Josep Borrell and Charles Michel, Croatia's President Zoran Milanović, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković, as well as to Western diplomats to inform them about the HDZ-SDA talks that ended inconclusively on Sunday. He said that the…
Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Debate on New Law on Settlements Marked by Ideological, Political Differences
ZAGREB, 23 March 2022 - Even though the new law on settlements seems to be of a technical nature, a parliamentary debate on its amendment on Wednesday was marked by ideological and political differences, with SDP MP Arsen Bauk noting that this was the best proof the situation was back to normal. "There is no better proof that we are back to normal than the fact that Marshal Tito has been mentioned five times in replies," Bauk said during the debate on the new law that is expected to improve the process of determining the borders of settlements, naming settlements, streets and squares, and house…
Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Government Presents 52 Grant Agreements for Investment Projects
ZAGREB, 23 March 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday presented 52 grant agreements for investment in public water supply and drainage projects and in kindergartens, community centres and fire stations in rural areas. The total value of the agreements is HRK 565 million. The agreements were awarded under the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026. Of the 52 agreements, 25 relate to public water supply and drainage systems. Their total value is HRK 394 million, of which HRK 241 million is provided by the EU in the form of grants. The other…
Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Up to €480 a Month to be Granted for Accommodation of Ukrainian Refugees
ZAGREB, 23 March 2022 - Croatia's government adopted a decision on Wednesday to cover the cost of accommodation for displaced persons from Ukraine, where the government will pay up to HRK 3,600 (€480) a month to property owners providing accommodation for refugees. During a cabinet meeting, the government decided that the costs would be reimbursed pursuant to a rental contract with the Interior Ministry (Civil Protection Administration) for a period of six months, with the possibility of extending contracts up to one year. Providers of accommodation will be paid monthly to cover the cost of accommodation and utility bills. Expenses will…
Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Drone That Crashed in Zagreb was Aerial Bomb With Fuse - Ballistics Report
ZAGREB, 23 March 2022 - A ballistic examination of metal fragments of a military drone that crashed in Zagreb two weeks ago has found that it was an aerial bomb with a fuse, but no final conclusion could be made as regards traces of explosive, the Zagreb County Prosecutor's Office said on Wednesday. Nova TV reported on Tuesday evening, citing sources close to the investigation, that no traces of explosive had been found on the parts of the unmanned aerial vehicle that had been examined. The Prosecutor's Office said it had received the results of the ballistic examination and only partial…
Wednesday, 23 March 2022
MPs on BiH Election Law, Reconstruction, Latest Findings of Drone Crash Probe
ZAGREB, 23 March 2022 - Independent MP Hrvoje Zekanović said on Wednesday an agreement on the reform of the election law in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be reached "at any cost," warning that the current status quo was detrimental to the Croats in that country. "I call on Croatian diplomats to get involved as actively as possible in those processes... otherwise the status quo will persist. It suits Serbs to some extent, it definitely suits Bosniaks but it does not suit Croats," he said. "Croats have been caught in the crossfire of Serb separatism and Bosniak unitarism," he said, pointing the finger at Bosniak leader…
