Politics

ZAGREB, 16 March 2022 - Croatia has registered 2,659 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and ten people have died as a consequence, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Wednesday. There are currently 10,240 active cases while 6,512 people are self-isolating. There are 712 hospitalised patients, 44 of whom are on ventilators. Croatia has registered a total of 1,077,365 cases of COVID-19 since its outbreak in February 2020 and 15,383 people have died as a consequence while 1,051,742 have recovered from the contagion. To date, a total of 2,234,923 people have been fully vaccinated, which is 65.63% of the adult population.  …

ZAGREB, 15 March 2022 - Croatia's SSSH union federation said on Tuesday it was joining in the support to the European and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) which are holding a Global Day of Action for Peace in Brussels today. The SSSH said it had condemned the Russian aggression on Ukraine in the strongest terms and demanded that the war stop and that dialogue and negotiations be established within the UN to stop further human victims and suffering. The SSSH said the war in Ukraine was a threat to Europe's peace, stability and values as well as the international order, extending…

ZAGREB, 15 March 2022 - It's time for Croatian politics to stop ignoring the profession, social workers said in a message on Tuesday on the occasion of World Social Work Day, with this year's theme being "Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind." "We are seeking ways for our voice to have the same significance as the voice of politics because politics is deaf to our profession," the president of the Croatian Association of Social Workers Štefica Karačić said. Today's central gathering of social workers in Croatia was held under the motto "Social work in Croatia: New prospects," because in light…

ZAGREB, 15 March 2022 - President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday he did not want Croatia to get involved in the war in Ukraine more than it should and more than it was good and safe for it. He was speaking in Mravinci near Split at a ceremony marking 31 years of the BATT Special Police. The president said that in 1991 that Croatian unit was small and depended on a small number of the right and brave people. It is the same in every war, including the one in Ukraine, which depends on defenders and stout-hearted fighters to defend the capital of…

ZAGREB, 15 March 2022 - MPs of the opposition Bridge party said on Tuesday that the Public Administration Ministry had determined that the party had collected a sufficient number of signatures for its two referendum initiatives, noting that the purpose of the two referendums was to build a shield for democracy and human rights. MP Nikola Grmoja said that the referendum initiative aimed at amending Article 17 of the Constitution to include epidemic and pandemic as events during which constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms can be restricted only by a two-thirds parliamentary majority, had collected 370,310 valid signatures. The other initiative, advocating a…

March 15, 2022 - Hundreds of Ukrainian refugees from the ongoing Russian invasion have been taken care of in the three northern Croatian counties: Varaždin, Međimurje, and Krapina-Zagorje, and more and more are arriving every day. Here are the official numbers in the northern counties. On Tuesday, the head of the Varaždin Civil Protection Service, Ivica Matošić, confirmed that 16 people from Ukraine are currently accommodated in the reception center in the Varaždin Arena, while 37 of them are in collective accommodation at the Turist Hotel, reports Index.hr. According to him, there are currently 106 Ukrainian refugees in Varaždin County. He emphasized…

ZAGREB, 15 March 2022 - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed his deep appreciation for the strong support of Croatian PM Andrej Plenković and his government for Ukraine, including providing security assistance and accepting refugees, and for Croatia’s active role in NATO, the U.S. Department of State said on Monday. According to a statement signed by spokesperson Ned Price, Blinken reaffirmed U.S. support for Ukraine "in the face of President Putin's continued war against Ukraine. "The Secretary expressed his deep appreciation for the strong support of Prime Minister Plenković and his government for Ukraine, including providing security assistance and accepting refugees, and for…

March the 15th, 2022 - State Secretary Stjepan Curaj has stated that there are currently six ''suspicious yachts which are tied to Russians'' moored in various Croatian ports. As Morski writes, State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Stjepan Curaj, spoke recently about sanctions put in place against Russians close to Vladimir Putin's regime on RTL. He said that out of a total of 950 oligarchs on the list under current European Union (EU) sanctions, 680 of them were detected on February the 23rd, 2022, as those with direct or indirect ties to the Republic of Croatia. Stjepan Curaj claimed that…

14 March 2022 - Croatia's foreign minister told his Estonian counterpart Eva-Maria Liimets on Monday that Croatia was being solidary with Ukraine by sending it financial aid and defence equipment and taking in refugees, warning of possible destabilisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the war in Ukraine. The talks between Minister Gordan Grlić Radman of Croatia and his Estonian counterpart Eva-Maria Liimets focused on the Russian aggression on Ukraine. "The importance of the unity and solidarity of the EU and transatlantic partners was underlined, as was the importance of continuing the implementation of restrictions against Russia," the Croatian ministry said in a statement. Grlić Radman…

14 March 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday that France had expressed readiness to help Croatia to control its airspace and that their early warning and control aircraft had already flown over Croatian skies. The Croatian premier added that that talks were being held with the US to see how they could help Zagreb. After a meeting of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Presidency and National Council, the prime minister said that the unmanned aerial vehicle that had crashed in Zagreb on Thursday night carried explosive, a sort of bomb, and that the ongoing investigation was aimed at establishing who…