Politics

ZAGREB, 18 June 2022 - The president of the Styrian Green Academy Sigrid Binder and the head of Croatia's Green Alternative, Zorislav Antun Petrović, on Saturday held a meeting at which they concluded that the bilateral cooperation between Green parties in Croatia and Austria was very good and vowed to further it. Binder was quoted in a press release issued by the Green Alternative Orah as saying that she arrived in Zagreb to see how the local red-green coalition is functioning in the city. She recalled that also in the Styrian capital of Graz, a coalition of the Greens, the…

ZAGREB, 18 June 2022 - Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković said on Friday that the HDZ was committed to modern sovereignism and that the present-day sovereignism meant the construction of Pelješac Bridge to connect southernmost Croatia with the mainland. Addressing a ceremony held to mark the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of the HDZ party in Zagreb, Plenković said that the priorities of the present-day sovereignty differed from the sovereignty's priorities some 30 years ago, and in this context he underscored the forthcoming inauguration of Pelješac Bridge on 26 July that will connect southernmost Croatia…

ZAGREB, 18 June 2022 - In winter, particularly when strong southern winds blow, sea currents bring garbage from Albania along the coast of Montenegro to Croatia's southern Adriatic areas, which is an important environmental issue raised also in bilateral and multilateral meetings. Therefore during a recent Adriatic-Ionian Forum in Tirana, reporters asked Albanian Tourism and Environment Minister Mirela Kumbaro about his topic, and on that occasion she said that sea pollution was a very important topic and she promised to provide answers in greater detail by e-mail. A month after the forum, Minister Kumbaro said in her response that she…

June the 18th, 2022 - Croatian MP Miro Bulj has boldly claimed that there could be no worse time possible for Croatian Eurozone accession, for which it has had the green light and into which it will enter on the 1st of January 2023, replacing the kuna with the euro. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian MP Miro Bulj (MOST) spoke recently with N1 television about possible changes to the Law on Referendums. He says that MOST is against the way of defining which topics could be decided in a referendum. Bulj also believes that the imminent introduction of the euro…

ZAGREB, 17 June 2022 - PM Andrej Plenković and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu agreed on Friday that the two countries share the view about the importance of the full equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina's three constituent peoples and of closer relations between Croats and Bosniaks in the country's Federation entity.  The Croatian prime minister and the visiting Turkish minister discussed security-related topics, energy challenges and the economic cooperation between Croatia and Turkey, as well as the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Croatia and Turkey share the view about the importance of the full equality of the three constituent peoples in Bosnia…

ZAGREB, 17 June 2022 - Economy Minister Davor Filipović said on Friday that the government was monitoring the situation regarding fuel prices and that calculations would be made over the weekend and all options would be considered. "Fuel prices on the global market cannot be influenced by anyone, not even Croatia. Last week and this week fuel prices went up. We will wait today to see when trading closes. We will make some calculations over the weekend and then make decisions at the beginning of next week," Filipović told reporters when asked if the government is ready to react again to address the fuel price…

ZAGREB, 17 June 2022 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Peđa Grbin warned on Friday that inflation in Croatia had reached a record high of 11% and that the government was not using measures at its disposal to fight inflation systematically. "Inflation affects all people, but not equally. It affects people with the lowest incomes the most. That's why the bulk of our measures is aimed at the poorest people," Grbin said while presenting his party's package of anti-inflation measures at a press conference in the northern Adriatic city of Pula. The SDP is proposing a change to the pension indexation method,…

ZAGREB, 17 June 2022 - EU finance ministers on Friday approved a recommendation on Croatia's readiness to join the euro area, another procedural step towards a final decision on 12 July. The finance ministers, who met in Luxembourg, also confirmed a letter that the Ecofin chair, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, will forward to European Council President Charles Michel ahead of a discussion at an EU summit, when member states' leaders are expected to support the recommendation. "This is a great day for Croatia, the last step towards a formal decision on accession to the euro area on 1 January 2023," Croatian Finance…

ZAGREB, 17 June 2022 - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Zagreb on Friday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would visit Croatia soon, adding that he hoped for a positive outcome of talks on the election law reform between Croat and Bosniak political officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cavusoglu and Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman arrived in Zagreb together aboard the Turkish minister's plane from Ohrid, North Macedonia, where they had attended the Prespa Forum. Speaking at a news conference at the Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Ministry, whose post-earthquake reconstruction would be taken…

ZAGREB, 17 June 2022 - Not only Croatia but also the euro area will have benefits form our country's entry into that zone, Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Friday in Luxembourg where he arrived to attend a meeting of the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin). Economy and finance ministers are expected to complete several steps in the procedure to allow Croatia to join the euro area: they will discuss Croatia's convergence report and they will adopt the recommendation by the euro area member states to the Council on the adoption of the euro by Croatia on 1 January 2023.,"…