Politics

ZAGREB, 2 November, 2021 - Defence Minister Mario Banožić said in Vukovar on Tuesday it was time to remove President Zoran Milanović from office after they once again clashed over the army and their powers and decisions. Speaking to the press, Banožić said Milanović was "a psychiatric case." Asked if it was time Milanović was removed from office, he said, "Of course it is. It was a long time ago, but look at his conduct. Would you reach a different conclusion than what I said?" He would not say if the ruling HDZ party would initiate the president's impeachment. This morning the two attended a ceremony…

ZAGREB, 2 November, 2021 - The Democratic Alliance of Croats of Vojvodina, the Croatian minority's political party in Serbia, on Tuesday welcomed an online version of a dossier on crimes against Croats in Vojvodina committed in the 1990s and warned that policies denying or keeping silent about those crimes are still in force in Serbia. The dossier is based on several years of research and was released by the Humanitarian Law Fund, a Serbian regional NGO for human rights which established that a campaign was conducted in Serbia between 1991 and 1995 against the Croat population in Vojvodina. The campaign consisted of expulsion, looting, confiscation of…

ZAGREB, 2 November, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović's office said on Monday that Defence Minister  Mario Banožić was undermining the international reputation of Croatia and the Croatian Army with his statements. The president's office was responding to claims by the Defence Ministry earlier in the day that it had prevented an international scandal over the participation of the Honorary and Protection Battalion in a commemoration in Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier this year. The office said that Banožić, "with his lying statements" and the ministry's press release today, "is undermining without precedent" the international reputation of Croatia and the Croatian Army, the relations with…

November the 2nd, 2021 - The planned Pula construction work ban for the summer season might well go ahead. Whether or not the idea will throw a spanner in the works for some plans is one thing, but it's safe to say that the vast majority of people will be more than satisfied when imagining a summer without the sound of drills and hammers. As Morski writes, Pula's City Administration has opened a public consultation on the draft proposal of the decision on the temporary ban on the execution of works for the summer season of 2022. The move would put…

ZAGREB, 1 Nov 2021 - Climate change must become the main political topic, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said at a UN conference on climate change in Glasgow on Monday. The two-week COP26 conference brought together 120 state leaders expected to agree on new initiatives on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing down the temperature increase. "This must become one of our main political topics," Plenković said, adding that Croatia "is not a problem" because it has the fourth-lowest harmful gas emissions per capita in Europe. "The problem is the big countries whose industry, traffic, and agriculture contribute a lot to…

ZAGREB, 1 Nov 2021 - The Defence Ministry said on Monday that in March it prevented an international scandal involving the participation of the Honorary and Protection Battalion in a commemoration in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ministry said in a press release that on 17 March President Zoran Milanović's office informed the military Chief-Of-Staff, Admiral Robert Hranj, that the president's advisor Marijan Mareković would be his envoy at an event marking the 27th anniversary of the exchange of prisoners of war in Bugojno, BiH. The president's office also made it known that, under the president's decision, members of the Honorary and Protection Battalion would also…

ZAGREB, 31 Oct, 2021 - Split Mayor Ivica Puljak called on Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Sunday to "stop blocking the development" of Split, while the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure dismissed such a claim and reminded him of the projects that have been launched. Speaking of the granting of a concession for the city's Žnjan beach, Puljak told N1 television that Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković had said on a number of occasions that, as far as the ministry was concerned, everything was ready and that it was forwarded to Plenković to put it on the government's agenda.…

ZAGREB, 30 Oct, 2021 - Former Social Democrat minister of the interior Ranko Ostojić was to have been appointed Ambassador to Qatar, Social Democrat Mihael Zmajlović was to have been appointed Ambassador to Montenegro and university professor and former ambassador to France Ivo Goldstein Ambassador to Greece. Those were nominations that came from the office of President Zoran Milanović, who co-creates foreign policy with the government, but they were flatly rejected by the government, the Večernji List daily of Saturday says. The Foreign Ministry said it considered the nominations to be partisan and an attempt to secure meal tickets for former party…

October 30, 2021 - Croatian authorities such as the President, the PM, the FinMin and the HNB have recently commented on the process of euro introduction. Meanwhile, a collection of signatures is being carried out throughout the country to promote a euro introduction referendum to reaffirm the kuna as the official currency in Croatia. Marko Milanović Litre, Member of Parliament of the Croatian Sovereignists and a representative of the Organizing Committee of the euro introduction referendum initiative Let's Protect the Croatian Kuna, said in Zagreb today that 157,000 signatures had been collected in five days and that the organizers were…

ZAGREB, 29 Oct 2021 - Parliament amended the Minimum Wage Act by majority vote on Friday and as of next year employers will have to contract the minimum wage with employees in the gross amount, or face a fine between HRK 60,000 and 100,000. As of next year, the gross minimum wage will be HRK 4,687. Now it amounts to HRK 4,250. The government decided yesterday that as of next year the net minimum wage will amount to HRK 3,750, an increase of 10.3%. For the first time, the minimum wage will exceed 50% of the average net wage. Employers who pay below…