Politics

14 March 2022 - President Zoran Milanović said on Monday that Croatia should invest more in its air defence system, after a Soviet-era unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had flown in from Ukraine and crashed in Zagreb last week. "The investigation into the nature of the UAV that crashed in Croatia is in progress and I would not discuss details. I call on others who address the media on this matter every 15 minutes not to do so either, because they should not have been at the crash site on Saturday," Milanović, who also serves as Commander in Chief of the…

March the 14th, 2022 - With the Russian invasion of Ukraine having occurred just over two weeks ago now, Croatia has well and truly stepped up when it comes to handling the ongoing refugee crisis as people flee the war-torn Eastern European country. The Osijek-based Slavonian heart for Ukrainian families action plan is just one praiseworthy initiative. As Novac/Jutarnji/Nikola Patkovic writes, just over two weeks have passed since the beginning of the Russian invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, and quite a significant number of people from this war-torn country have fled in the Ukrainian refugee crisis to Osijek-Baranja County in Eastern Croatia.…

ZAGREB, 13 March 2022 - A Croatian Defence Ministry delegation is travelling to Washington next week to ask for the temporary deployment of the Patriot air defence system in Croatia, Jutarnji List newspaper said on Sunday, citing an unofficial source. Jutarnji List asked Defence Minister Mario Banožić on Thursday whether Croatia was discussing air defence assistance with its allies, and he said that the matter would be discussed in Washington next week. The source quoted by the newspaper on Sunday said that the Patriot surface-to-air missile system would also be on the agenda. The US army recently installed this system…

ZAGREB, 13 March 2022 - The Ministry of the Interior has upgraded the Enter Croatia application to include the Ukrainian language and alphabet, improving the organisation of the reception of Ukrainian refugees and facilitate their arrival in Croatia. "This is yet another measure with which the Ministry of the Interior, acting in cooperation with other state authorities, is expressing solidarity with the people of Ukraine and assisting in providing refuge to Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion", Minister Davor Božinović told Hina on Sunday. "The application has proved very useful during the tourist season and the arrival of many foreign tourists,…

ZAGREB, 13 March 2022 - Remnants of an aerial bomb have been found in the Soviet-era drone that crashed down in southwest Zagreb late on Thursday, Defence Minister Mario Banožić said on Sunday. "Traces of an explosive device have been found, indicating that this was not a reconnaissance drone. We have found parts of an aerial bomb," Banožić told reporters at the crash site after the bulk of the drone had been dug out of the ground. He said that it was a Soviet-made unmanned aerial vehicle, but that it was still unclear whether it had come from the Russian…

ZAGREB, 12 March 2022 - The Social Democratic Party's Main Committee on Saturday supported the SDP parliamentary group in a motion to dissolve parliament, and concluded that the government cannot become better by changing a minister or two, that it is spent, does not govern well, and should step down. Crises can no longer be an alibi for politically unsuccessful action, Main Committee chair Marija Lugarić told the press. The committee concluded that the government's anti-inflation measures are not enough as they do not take into account the aggression on Ukraine and the war's impact on inflation.  SDP president Peđa…

ZAGREB, 12 March 2022 - Western Balkan citizens have been participating in the Conference on the Future of Europe on Friday and Saturday, and European Commission Vice President Dubravka Šuica said on Saturday that neither Europe nor the Conference could be complete without them. The Executive Board of the Conference decided that during the Conference member states should work with Western Balkan countries, whose citizens could leave their proposals on a digital platform. Also, six Western Balkan countries were invited to participate in plenaries. This was done, Šuica told Hina, because "Europe is not complete without the Western Balkans." North Macedonia,…

ZAGREB, 12 March 2022 - President Zoran Milanović is being updated about a probe into the crash of a drone in Zagreb, his office said on Saturday, adding that the blame is not only on NATO but the member states, too, although it is not the time to point fingers but draw a lesson so that it does not happen again. The president is in contact with the leaders of the Armed Forces and the security services and is being updated on the course of the investigation and new information concerning Thursday night's crash, his office said when asked if the president was familiar with the…

ZAGREB, 12 March 2022 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will visit the NATO base near Madrid on Wednesday and meet with its commander in connection with aviation control, a government source told Hina on Saturday. Plenković is going to Madrid for a bilateral meeting with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, who visited Zagreb last October. The Spanish military base at Torrejón de Ardoz, 20 kilometres northeast of Madrid, is used by NATO to monitor the skies of its southern member states, including Croatia. Although the Combined Air Operations Centre Torrejón is tasked with identifying unknown flying objects, it did not report or…

ZAGREB, 12 March 2022 - The European Union has demonstrated unity, speed and efficiency in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will continue to adopt sanctions against Moscow, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in interviews with two France24 programmes on Friday. "The purpose of all three sanctions packages is to prevent Russia from carrying out this brutal aggression on Ukraine. The European Union once again demonstrated unity, our political position was quick, efficient and clear," Plenković told the Ici l'Europe programme, speaking in French. He spoke of the consequences of the Russian invasion, which has entered its third…