Politics

May the 12th, 2021 - The Croatian Recovery Plan is going to place a focus on modernising trams, ports, vessels, catamarans and more. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the Croatian Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO) is worth a total of 47 billion kuna, it has five components, of which a massive 26.2 billion kuna will flood back into the domestic economy. It also includes the development of a competitive, energy-sustainable and efficient transport system, for which 5.5 billion kuna is planned. The plan, as pointed out by the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, who presented the transport…

ZAGREB, 11 May, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović has said that his candidate for Supreme Court President Zlata Đurđević's programme is not the reason to reject her candidacy and that the HDZ should exempt itself from voting on her appointment as the party is in a conflict of interest, having been convicted of corruption. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Milanović said that nobody had read Đurđević's programme and that it was more serious than anything Plenković had ever written but that that was not crucial for her appointment. Plenković will come up with another reason (to reject her) tomorrow, he said. Plenković said on…

ZAGREB, 11 May, 2021 - The Rijeka-based LORI lesbian association and the Rainbow Families association of LGBTIQ couples and individuals who have or want to have children will file a report with the local prosecutorial authorities over the burning of a rainbow flag on the City Hall building. In the night between May 7 and 8, a video of the burning of the flag was posted on the Instagam profile "riječani.1987", which is linked with the Armada football fan group, with the message: "This is the response to the newly-adopted law on adoption by same-sex couples." LORI and the Rainbow Families said…

ZAGREB, 11 May, 2021 - The migrant smuggling market in the Western Balkans is worth at least €50 million a year, says a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, describing Serbia as an important destination for migrants because it borders with four EU member states. The report notes that Serbian police have discovered several tunnels, three to seven metres deep and up to 30 metres long, under the wire fence along the Serbia-Hungary border near the Hungarian town of Szeged and village of Ásotthalom and the Serbian village of Kelebija. The tunnels are considered relatively risky due to the possibility of arrest…

ZAGREB, 11 May, 2021 - Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) secretary-general Giovanni Sponza and MP Katarina Nemet on Tuesday pointed to a problem concerning ballots that makes it more difficult for members of the Italian minority to exercise their additional right in the 16 May local election. Sponza said that in towns and municipalities where this is so regulated, as well as at the county level, deputy heads from the Italian minority are elected on separate slates, which, he said "is a novelty of the coming election because until now they were elected on the main slate together with mayoral candidates." "In…

ZAGREB, 11 May, 2021 - Successful Croatian stories and a plan to include citizens in Europe's development were presented on Tuesday at the Croatian parliament, during the first part of the "Conference on the Future of Europe - A Vision of Croatia," during which Speaker Gordan Jandroković entered a debate with a robot. The Conference on the Future of Europe is a pan-European, democratic project during which citizens have an opportunity to decide on how the EU should develop. This is a project in which "citizens are in the centre," European Commissioner for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica said. Citizens can participate in panel discussions, debates…

May the 11th, 2021 - With Brexit finally over after what seemed like an endless period of news headlines about the 2016 referendum which caused a deep rift for the British public with the question of all questions - mopping up and tying up loose ends has begun. The Justice Ministry has just confirmed that Brits may purchase Croatian property. As UK in Croatia, the British Embassy in Croatia's platform announced on Twitter, British nationals are free to purchase Croatian property despite no longer being citizens of the EU.  As the Ministry of Justice writes, if you're a citizen or a legal…

May 11, 2021 - Ahead of the local elections, following the death of Milan Bandić and troubling issues Zagreb is facing at the moment, TCN reporter Ivor Kruljac wondered who is the best Zagreb mayor by historians. With the local elections happening in Croatia this Sunday, just as every year, 2021 is no exception, with all eyes directed on Zagreb. This is no surprise, given that, for better or worse, Zagreb is the capital city, the center of politics, culture, science, education, and the spot where Croatians from other smaller towns, villages, etc. come in search of a job and…

ZAGREB, 10 May 2021 - Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac said on Monday the National Recovery and Resilience Plan's goal regarding tourism was to increase the sector's resilience and sustainability through green and digital transition. Speaking in Rovinj about the development of sustainable, innovative, and resilient tourism as part of the national plan, she said another goal was to contribute to tourism's recovery from the crisis caused by the pandemic and to increase tourism's added value and indirect effects on other industries. Investments in tourism's environmental, economic and social sustainability safeguard resources and build tourism for the long term because, she said, "in the…

May 9, 2021 - The Conference on the Future of Europe, a citizen-led series of debates and discussions that will enable people from across Europe to share their ideas and help shape our common future, was officially launched on Sunday on the occasion of Europe Day. The formal ceremony of the opening of the event was held in Strasbourg. French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the ceremony, European Parliament President David Sassoli, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Prime Minister Antonio Costa of Portugal, the current chair of the Council of the EU. About 500 participants, citizens of the EU, and civil society associations…