Politics

ZAGREB, July 13, 2020 - Turkey is an important partner with which it is necessary to talk so as to turn around the negative trend in its relations with the EU, Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said on Monday. Grlic Radman participated at the first physical meeting of EU foreign ministers since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The main topic was a comprehensive and strategic discussion of the complex relations between the EU and Turkey whose activities in the eastern Mediterranean are causing concern. There was also talk of Turkey's intention to reconvert Hagia Sophia back to a…

ZAGREB, July 13, 2020 - Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union leader (HDZ) Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that the new government would be somewhat smaller than the previous one and its members will be known on Thursday. "The government will be somewhat smaller than it was. It will be functional, some of the current members in government will remain, others will be in the Sabor. Some new people will join," Plenkovic said ahead of the meeting of the party's presidency and national council after official complete results of the July 5 parliamentary election that HDZ won were made public today. He confirmed that the…

ZAGREB, July 13, 2020 - In the first half of this year, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party received HRK 560,000 in donations for its regular political activities, a report published on Monday shows. The HDZ received more than about 30 other political parties combined. The bulk of donations, slightly over HRK 500,000, were made in money and HRK 57,000 in products or services. Not one donation exceeded HRK 30,000. About 30 political parties have so far submitted their reports on donations and they are available on the Electoral Commission's website. The report by the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), published…

ZAGREB, July 12, 2020 - A man arrested for attacking Split Mayor Andro Krstulovic Opara has been released because it was not established that he participated in the incident, Split police said on Saturday night. A criminal investigation into the attack is under way, police said. According to local media, Opara was attacked in the street on Friday night by two youths who first insulted him, after which one of them hit him. The mayor said on Saturday he was feeling good and that nothing serious had happened.  

July 11, 2020 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović spoke at the opening of Dubrovnik Summer Festival and compared COVID-19 to tooth decay. President Zoran Milanović said yesterday, and Slobodna Dalmacija reports, that we will have to learn to live with the coronavirus, but that everyone is under a lot of stress caused by a large amount of not-easily-understandable information. He added that especially when watching American and other western TV stations, it appears to him that the whole thing is getting out of control mentally and the people will go crazy in the end, considering how much information they're being…

ZAGREB, July 11, 2020 - Prime Minister Janez Jansa said on Friday that Croatia's admission to the euro area and the Schengen zone of passport-free travel was in Slovenia's national interest. He criticised the policy of the Slovenia's two previous governments which advocated the blocking Croatia's membership of those two areas, underlining the futility of that conditionality policy. "The recent past has shown us that Slovenia's vociferous opposition to Croatia's entry (into the OECD,  the Schengen or the euro area) has led us into this situation which we have with the (border) arbitration agreement, and there is no use of that,"…

July 11, 2020 - In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, the Croatian Public Health Institute published yesterday evening the new set of recommendations and instructions for passengers trying to cross the Croatian national borders.  Croatian Police Publish New Official Border Guidelines, Effective July 11, 2020 You can find the document in Croatian here (link to the .pdf document), and read the article to see what it says:  - Nothing changes for the EU, Schengen area and associated countries passport holders, their families and the third-country citizens that have permanent residence in the EU. - Third-country nationals are not allowed to enter Croatia,…

ZAGREB, July 10, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday that Croatia's admission to the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) meant a lot for the country's financial stability and strengthened its reputation. After the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission informed that the Croatian kuna was included in the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), Plenkovic told a news conference in Zagreb that it was realistic to promise that Croatia would enter the euro area until the end of the four-year term of the new government which is likely to be inaugurated in next few weeks. The agreement on participation of the Croatian…

ZAGREB, July 10, 2020 - The rationalisation of the number of ministries will not only lead to the rationalisation of costs but will also improve the functioning of government, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric told the press outside the government offices in Zagreb on Friday. Speaking of the budget, Maric said the government wanted to restore balanced public finances as soon as possible. "On the one hand, we need control and responsible behaviour towards the expenditure side of the state budget, and as for the revenue side, any room that we find or create we will use to reduce the tax…

ZAGREB, July 10, 2020 - The Chief of Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, Admiral Robert Hranj, has attended a meeting of the EU Military Committee which discussed EU-led military missions, strategic guidelines and the reorganisation of EU bodies in charge of security and defence, the Defence Ministry said in a statement on Friday.  The meeting, held in Brussels on Thursday, was chaired by General Claudio Graziano and opening remarks were made by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. Hranj was accompanied by Croatia's military representative to NATO and the EU, Rear Admiral Predrag Stipanovic,…