Politics

ZAGREB, 24 March, 2021 - Three representative railway workers' unions whose members are employees of the HŽ Infrastruktura railway company have called off a strike announced for noon on 25 March after reaching a compromise solution and signing a new collective agreement with the employer. The leader of one of the three unions, Mario Grbešić, told Hina that the dispute with the employer had been about two provisions, one being a non-taxable wage supplement and the other meal allowances. "An agreement has been reached concerning these two issues in a satisfactory way. One will be implemented immediately and the other will be…

March the 24th, 2021 - The subject of Croatia joining the Eurozone has been put on the backburner, at least in the public eye, ever since the coronavirus pandemic spread across the globe. Despite other things now taking priority in the media space, the matter of Croatian Eurozone membership is still very much a hot topic. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, Croatian Eurozone membership can officially begin on January the 1st, 2023 at the absolute earliest, and the biggest advantages of the country's adoption of the common European currency could be in the form of export-oriented companies within the area. The…

ZAGREB, 23 March, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović on Tuesday commented on the Constitutional Court's decision made earlier in the day, saying in a Facebook post that rigging a competition for a post was a criminal act and that Judge Zlata Đurđević continued to be his candidate for the Supreme Court president. "Zlata Đurđević is still my candidate and the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union), regardless of how difficult it may find it, will have to take a vote on her. For or against, and that will make everything clear," Milanović said after the Constitutional Court earlier in the day concluded…

ZAGREB, 23 March, 2021 - Croatia expects a law to be adopted and technical preparations to be completed by June to enable the introduction of a digital green certificate proving that its holder has been vaccinated against COVID-19, has recovered from it, or has tested negative, an official said on Tuesday. Andreja Metelko-Zgombić, the State Secretary for Europe, today took part in an informal conference of European affairs ministers, at which she stressed the importance of ensuring a stable, predictable and faster delivery of vaccines so that the common EU goal of inoculating 70% of the EU population by summer could be…

ZAGREB, 23 March, 2021 - The parliamentary Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously supported a proposal to call a session focusing on the situation in the Croatian judiciary. The schedule and the list of guests is to be defined by the end of the week, after which the date for the thematic session of the committee will be set, Committee chair Mišel Jakšić of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said. He said the committee could invite Justice Minister Ivan Malenica, Supreme Court President Đuro Sessa and State Judicial Council (DSV) President Darko Milković. "It is clear from the public perception that…

ZAGREB, 23 March, 2021 - The Constitutional Court on Tuesday concluded that the Croatian President can select a nominee for the Supreme Court Chief Justice only from those applicants who sent their applications for that post after the State Judicial Council (DSV) publicly advertised the position.  After receiving requests to test the constitutionality of the provision regulating the selection procedure under which the DSV advertises the position for the Supreme Court President, the Constitutional Court, which considered this issue, said that the provision concerned does not restrict the head of state's constitutional powers whereby he/she can nominate the candidate for the said post while…

ZAGREB, 23 March, 2021 - The latest assessment of Croatia by the Standard & Poor's (S&P) credit rating agency shows that Croatia is stable, and the agency's projection of Croatia's growth is similar to to our forecasts of 5% and the forecasts made by the European Commission, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday. The Standard & Poor's agency has affirmed its 'BBB-" credit rating on Croatia, with the stable outlook, the government stated earlier on Tuesday. The credit agency's report says that Croatia's stable political climate and plans to enter the euro area are conducive to reform efforts. The agency…

ZAGREB, 22 March, 2021 - A Zagreb Mayor hopeful, Tomislav Tomašević, warned on Monday on the first anniversary of the Zagreb quake that nothing had been done in the post-quake reconstruction and promised the rebuilding of the city in four dimensions if he won the 16 May local election. "We have come to know that we do not have not one decision forwarded to the Reconstruction Fund nor has any action been taken," Tomašević told a press conference in front of the City Hall, which was organised by his We Can party and its partners: "Zagreb is Ours " and OraH parties. He warned that the…

ZAGREB, 22 March, 2021 - The government has taken steps to make sure that  €3.8 billion (HRK 28.5 billion) can be provided for reconstruction and revitalisation in the quake-affected areas, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković underscored on Monday at the first Croatian conference on earthquake engineering - 1CroCEE. The conference was organised by the  Faculty of Civil Engineering in Zagreb on the first anniversary of the 5.5-strong tremor that struck Zagreb and its environs on 22 March 2020. Plenković recalled today the extent of the damage to Zagreb and its environs and then later to the Banovina region which was struck by the 6.2-strong quake on 29 December was truly…

ZAGREB, 22 March, 2021 - The Homeland Movement candidate for Zagreb mayor, Miroslav Škoro, warned on Monday about the slow process of post-earthquake reconstruction in Zagreb one year since the city and its environs were struck by a 5.5 magnitude quake, noting that Zagreb was not only about the city centre. "Zagreb is not just the city centre, it is also its environs, where the epicentre of the quake was. Zagreb is also Čučerje, Markuševec and Podsljeme," Škoro told reporters on the first anniversary of the earthquake while touring the neighbourhood of Čučerje. He recalled that the Construction Ministry had issued…