Politics

ZAGREB, 20 March 2022 - The latest round of the negotiations on amending Bosnia and Herzegovina's electoral law, which was held in Sarajevo on Sunday, ended inconclusively, with Bosnia Croat leader Dragan Čović saying that "there are absolutely no conditions" for holding general elections in October. Čović also accused the Bosniak leader Bakir Izetbegović (of the SDA BiH party) of the failure. Most of the participants in the negotiations which were held today under the mediation of managing director at the EU's External Action Service, Angelina Eichhorst and US Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Michael Murphy, who confirmed that the round of the…

ZAGREB, 20 March 2022 - To date, over 8,300 Ukrainians fleeing the war have found refugee in Croatia, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Sunday. "Croatia has very well responded to the developments so far. However, watching what is going on, we can see that we will have to be braced for various consequences even for the ordinary citizens, and unfortunately, the worst stage of the war is about to happen", he said after a meeting of the interdepartmental task force for providing protection for refugees from Ukraine. "This is an unprecedented humanitarian issue in Europe. Thousands, tens of thousands of people…

ZAGREB, 20 March 2022 - Animals and family pets that arrive from Ukraine with their owners fleeing the war, will be eligible to free-of-charge vaccination and registration in Croatia, the association "Animal Friends Croatia" stated on Sunday. The association recalls that the administration of Veterinary and Food Safety of the Ministry of Agriculture has issued detailed instructions and a list of veterinary organisations and vet clinics that conduct free-of charge rabies vaccination, preventive dehelmintization and microchipping. The NGO also stated on 18 March on its web site that "the administration of Veterinary and Food Safety of the Ministry of Agriculture has published a form to…

ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - The Croatian government hopes that the European Commission will approve its operational programmes in June or July, after which all interested parties in Croatia will be able to apply for co-financing of their projects with money from EU funds in the period from 2021 to 2027. "These are the shortest deadlines. We are going in that direction. However, the European Commission will have the final say," said Croatian Minister for Regional Development and EU Funds Nataša Tramišak, who had participated in the 8th Cohesion Forum in Brussels on Thursday. With its cohesion policy, the European Commission…

ZAGREB, 18 March (2022) - PM Andrej Plenković said on Friday after talks with opposition MPs on the situation in Ukraine and last week's crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle in Zagreb that they seemed to be satisfied with the information presented at the meeting, and that he suggested holding such meetings on an as-needed basis. A special item on the agenda of the meeting, held in the government offices, was information on last week's crash of an unmanned aerial vehicle near a student dorm in Zagreb. "We believe our colleagues from the Opposition have obtained valuable new information that will help…

ZAGREB, 18 March (2022) - Croatia will develop a fact checker network as part of its efforts to curb fake news in the media space, and this project, worth 45 million euros (€6 million), will be financed with EU funds as part of Croatia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). "We have noticed that there is a need for such an investment for several reasons. We have been flooded with disinformation over the past two years, marked by the coronavirus pandemic, the (2020) quakes and unfortunately the recent launch of the aggression against Ukraine. It is difficult to distinguish between…

ZAGREB, 17 March 2022 - The Croatian government on Thursday adopted a conclusion that took note of an international act on the strategic partnership between the Croatian and UK ministries of defence, with Minister Mario Banožić saying it was part of joint preparations for future defence and security challenges. Under the Conclusion and Implementation of International Treaties, the Act was signed in Zagreb on 1 February during a visit by the UK defence secretary and submitted to the Croatian government, the Defence Ministry said in a press release. Minister Banožić said that the obligation of strategic partnership reflects Croatia's commitment to the…

ZAGREB, 17 March 2022 - In order to ensure the continuity of control of employment in the public and state sectors, the Croatian government on Thursday imposed a ban on fixed-term and permanent employment in state and public services, providing for certain exceptions and defining terms for lifting the ban. The ban on employment in state and public services was envisaged by laws on the execution of the 2020 and 2021 state budgets, but not by the law on the execution of the 2022 state budget. This is the reason why the government today adopted two new decisions to impose a ban on…

ZAGREB, 17 March 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that Romanian and Hungarian radars did not recognise the drone that crashed in Zagreb a week ago as there were other false alarms that occured around the same time, but all Croatian partners understood the seriousness of the situation. Speaking at a cabinet session, Plenković said he visited NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre in Torrejón, Spain yesterday and once again clarified with them radar images from last Thursday night. "Romanian and Hungarian radars did not recognise the vehicle as the right sort of alarm. That's very demanding given that there are a…

ZAGREB, 17 March 2022 - Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman said on Thursday that Bosnia and Herzegovina's Euro-Atlantic integration is in the national interest of Croatia and that it cannot be achieved without the equality of Croats in that country. "On the international scene, Croatia is the biggest and sincere advocate of Euro-Atlantic associations. That is our clear national interest. That won't be possible without resolving the legitimate and legal demands of Croats" in BiH,  Grlić Radman said at a conference in Neum in an online message in reference to reforms in BiH.  The fifth conference "Untying…