Politics

ZAGREB, 7 June 2022 - Minister of Justice and Public Administration Ivan Malenica said on Tuesday that he empathized with judicial staff who protested across Croatia over low salaries and announced the adoption of a new law to introduce an equal pay for equal work model. "I am aware that some of the staff have low salaries and I can understand their dissatisfaction. However, this issue must be addressed comprehensively through the new law on wages. That law is part of the activities we are implementing through the National Recovery and Resilience Program (NPOO). We have about HRK 51 million under the…

ZAGREB, 7 June 2022 - Inflation in 2022 could reach 9%, which is higher than the current IMF estimate of 6%, Croatian National Bank (HNB) Governor Boris Vujčić said at the conference "Eurotransformation of Croatia", organised by Motus Media Group in Zagreb on Tuesday. Inflationary pressure has been growing by the month, notably food prices, and the world, including Croatia, is faced with the first major wave of inflationary pressure after many years, Vujčić said. "The invasion of Ukraine and sanctions against Russia have worsened global expectations of growth and inflation," he said, noting, however, that price growth had been…

ZAGREB, 7 June 2022 - Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević on Tuesday opened the Festival of Equal Opportunities, an international event in which persons with disabilities perform in a musical, theatre and art programme together with artists as well as in recreation and sport games. The festival celebrates diversity and equal opportunities, which must be ensured for all persons with disabilities in Zagreb, he said, adding that all barriers to feeling equal must be removed. The festival is taking place in Zagreb's central square until 9 June and has been organised by the Zagreb Association of Physically Disabled for the 20th year in a row.…

ZAGREB, 6 June 2022 - The economy in the City of Vinkovci grew in all key segments last year and achieved the best business results in more than 30 years, according to data from the FINA - Financial Agency for 2021, this eastern Croatian city reported on Monday. A total of 755 Vinkovci enterprises generated revenues of almost HRK 5.6 billion in 2021, which is HRK 240 million or 4.49 percent more than in 2020 or as much as HRK 2.8 billion more than in 2017, with an increase of 104.60 percent, according to Vinkovci City authorities. The local businesses…

ZAGREB, 6 June 2022 - On Monday, 16.4 tonnes of humanitarian aid worth HRK 247,311 (€33,000) collected by Vukovar-Srijem County in cooperation with cities and municipalities in this eastern Croatian county was sent from Vinkovci to Ukraine. At the initiative of County Prefect Damir Dekanić and with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in Croatia, Vukovar-Srijem County organized the collection of aid for the friendly Transcarpathian region, mainly durable food, baby food, water, and cosmetics. "We are a region that has experienced the horrors of war in the worst way and it would be sad if we did not recognize someone's…

ZAGREB, 6 June 2022 - Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds Nataša Tramišak presented the first grant agreements within the Croatia-Serbia cross border cooperation programme for 2022, with a total value of HRK 3 million. "For the first time, we are implementing a programme to strengthen Croats abroad, in this case, cross-border cooperation between Croatia and Serbia and have secured HRK 3 million from the state budget for 20 various projects for that," Minister Tramišak said. She added that 65 projects applied worth more than HRK 10 million. Tramišak recalled that during the pre-accession period and especially since it…

ZAGREB, 6 June 2022 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Monday that everything will be done so that the introduction of the euro as legal tender does not trigger a price hike. "We will do absolutely everything, regardless of inflationary pressure and our efforts to relieve it, to prevent euro introduction from becoming an additional trigger (of price hikes) for individual market stakeholders," Marić said, adding that this was why the dual display of prices would start on 5 September. Addressing the conference "Croatia in a New Economic Environment", organized by the 24sata daily, Marić recalled that the law on the introduction of the…

ZAGREB, 6 June 2022 - This is no time to sit on two chairs and Serbia must take a side, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday in a comment on the cancellation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Belgrade. Plenković said that the visit "has nothing to do with Croatia" and is a matter concerning relations between Moscow and Belgrade but stressed that "in the current circumstances Serbia should be very careful about who it sides with." "If it has the ambition to continue its journey to the EU, one has to know how it stands. This is…

ZAGREB, 5 June 2022 - Commenting on the first year of Mayor Tomislav Tomašević's term, Opposition representatives in the city assembly agree that the new mayor and his administration have not showed aptitude in running the capital city and solving the crucial issues. Gordana Rusak of the Labour and Solidarity Party says in a statement for Hina that she has nothing to assess as the new mayor and administration have not launched any of their projects. "The city has never been so filthy and neglected. Grass is everywhere, holes are on roads, projects are left on the shelf," she said. Rusak also criticises the…

June the 5th, 2022 - What with the war still raging in Ukraine following Russian invasion earlier this year, and the negative economic consequences left by the global coronavirus pandemic still very much in evidence, is a crisis really the best time for Croatian Eurozone membership? Here's what the Croatian National Bank's governor Boris Vujcic and the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic have to say on the topic. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, the recent assessment that Croatia is ready to introduce the euro as its currency is the achievement of one of the two strategic goals of the current…