Politics

ZAGREB, 29 January, 2021 - The presidency of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has decided to dissolve the party's organisations in Zagreb and Vukovar, SDP leader Peđa Grbin announced at a press conference after a presidency meeting on Thursday evening. The SDP leadership has asked the party's Vukovar branch not to support former mayor Željko Sabo as a mayoral candidate in May's local elections because Sabo had been convicted of corruption for trying to bribe a local councillor. "The SDP in Vukovar ignored this recommendation, so the presidency today adopted the only possible decision - to dissolve the SDP's Vukovar…

ZAGREB, 28 January 2021 -  Žarko Tušek stepped down on Thursday from his position as county head of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) branch in Krapina-Zagorje County after a recording of his contentious meeting with a local councillor Viktor Šimunić on possible pre-election cooperation was made public. "This ugly episode which was illegally recorded and released in public is a heavy blow to the HDZ and for that reason in fact, after nine years of heading the HDZ Zagorje branch, I have decided to step down as president of the Krapina-Zagroje HDZ branch," Tušek told a press conference on Thursday. The 24 Sata daily…

ZAGREB, 28 January 2021 - Cooperation between Croatia and Hungary can serve as an excellent example to others as there is almost no area in which the two countries' armies are not cooperating in, Croatian Defence Minister Mario Banožić said during an official visit to Hungary, his ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Banožić, accompanied by the Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff, Admiral Robert Hranj, led a Croatian state delegation on a visit to Budapest during which the minister held his first bilateral meeting with Hungarian Defence Minister Tibor Benkő at which the two countries' excellent cooperation in the field of defence was…

ZAGREB, 28 January 2021 - Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved said on Thursday that 928 housing containers had been set up in the earthquake-hit area in central Croatia whereby the largest part of urgent requests for accommodation were resolved.  "We have on the most part resolved priority requests for urgent accommodation because the local response teams initially submitted 880 urgent requests," said Medved during a cabinet meeting. Medved, who is at the helm of the task force for dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December devastating earthquake, informed that 278 housing containers were set up this week in Sisak-Moslavina, Karlovac and Zagreb counties.…

ZAGREB, 28 January 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Thursday the COVID-19 crisis had cost Croatia over HRK 2.5 billion to date. "I don't know what awaits us, what new viruses will bring, but so far we have responded to the threat well. As far as I know, no one has been denied a service," he told the opposition in parliament in a debate on the first report on the COVID measures taken from March 2020 to mid-January 2021. All the measures have been aimed at protecting health, proportionate, and they have not affected anyone's basic rights, Beroš…

ZAGREB, 27 January 2021 - Unlike the opposition parties, who raised a number of objections to the proposed National Development Strategy until 2030, the parliamentary majority commended it as a comprehensive and ambitious document with a clear vision of Croatia's development. "The strategy is a step forward compared with the existing documents and it is not true that it cost a lot. It was prepared by Croatian experts and we received the money from the EU," Marko Pavić of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said in response to criticisms from the opposition during the debate on the document proposed by the…

ZAGREB, 27 January 2021 - The Ministry of Science and Education said on Wednesday it was encouraging higher education institutions to take the necessary measures and decisions to prevent and fight any form of discrimination, abuse or inappropriate conduct. It said that Minister Radovan Fuchs had sent a letter to the College of Rectors and the Council of polytechnics and higher education institutions regarding recent complaints of sexual harassment and abuse at several university faculties in Zagreb. Establish an efficient mechanism against all forms of abuse These decisions should establish mechanisms for an efficient fight against all forms of abuse, discrimination and harassment at…

ZAGREB, 27 January 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković presented the National Development Strategy until 2030 to parliament on Wednesday, expressing hope that a consensus would be reached on the document. "We welcome all MPs to participate in the debate and hope to reach a consensus on this document today," the prime minister said, reiterating that ten years from now he saw Croatia as a competitive, innovative and safe country of recognisable identity and culture, with preserved resources, good living standards and equal opportunities for all. Four development areas, 13 strategic goals Plenković said that in order to achieve this vision the…

ZAGREB, 27 January 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday that there was no influence-peddling in the meeting between HDZ MP Žarko Tušek and independent councilor Viktor Šimunić on alleged cooperation in local elections, but that it was influence-peddling pro futuro. Milanović said this in a statement to the press following a wreath-laying ceremony at Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetary on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. He added that it was good that the public could see what kind of methods political parties used, what they offered and what their intentions were. The case could not be equated…

ZAGREB, 27 January 2021 - Switzerland has donated 20 fully equipped mobile housing units and 12 sanitary containers to earthquake-hit areas of Croatia, and they were on Wednesday delivered to Lekenik and symbolically handed over by the Swiss Ambassador to Croatia, Emilija Georgiev Regamey. The ambassador said she sympathised with citizens of Sisak-Moslavina County and other counties struck by the earthquake for their losses and the trauma they had gone through. She said it was unfortunate that the earthquake had occurred amid a pandemic and affected an area that had also sustained damage in the Homeland War. The ambassador said…