Politics

ZAGREB, January 9, 2020 - The day commemorating the unification of the region of Međimurje with the parent country Croatia was marked at a ceremony in the northern town of Čakovec on Thursday. An envoy of the Croatian state leadership, Mursko Središće Mayor Dražen Srpak, said that on 9 January 1919 Međimurje had actually reunited with Croatia, its parent country, to which it had always belonged, and with the Croat people. Međimurje County remembers today an important date in its history, when at a large national assembly in Čakovec on 9 January 1919 a resolution was adopted on Međimurje's secession…

ZAGREB, January 9, 2020 - The Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, on Thursday congratulated Zoran Milanović on being elected President of Croatia, stressing the importance of cooperation between Church and State in the interest of the Croatian people. Bozanić expressed his best wishes to Milanovic in performing the duties entrusted to him, which include looking after the wellbeing of the Croatian people and all citizens of Croatia. The Church and State are called upon to pursue cooperation and dialogue in promoting harmony, justice, peace and prosperity in the Croatian society, he added. "This dialogue strives to strengthen mutual respect…

ZAGREB, January 9, 2020 - The College of Commissioners, comprised of the 27 Commissioners, is holding a meeting on Thursday and Friday in Zagreb, at the start of Croatia's six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, and the gathering is chaired by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The gathering of the College of Commissioner in Zagreb formally marks the start of Croatia's presidency in the first half of 2020. European Council President Charles Michel, who arrived in Zagreb on Wednesday, will attend the two-day meeting. Commission President von der Leyen and other members of the EC are arriving…

ZAGREB, January 9, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Thursday held talks with European Council President Charles Michel on endeavours to reach agreement on a new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) among the European Union's member-states during Croatia's presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2020. Reaching a deal on the new MFF for the period between 2021 and 2027 is a crucial challenge for the Croatian presidency after the Finnish presidency did not manage to bring the positions of the member-states closer regarding this topic. Now it is up to the Croatian presidency to…

ZAGREB, January 9, 2020 - Seven soldiers of the Croatian Army who had been relocated from Iraq to Kuwait returned to Croatia on Thursday morning, the Croatian Defence Ministry said. The seven members of the second Croatian contingent were engaged in the NATO mission in Iraq and were transferred from Baghdad to Kuwait in line with a decision by NATO to relocate its mission from Iraq to Kuwait. A total of fourteen members of the Croatian Army have been relocated to Kuwait, with seven of them completing their tour of duty. The Croatian soldiers were relocated from Iraq, together with…

January 9, 2020 - Former Croatian presidential candidate Dario Jurican, aka Milan Bandic, takes his campaign against corruption in Zagreb to the next level - a press release.  The recent Croatian Presidential election had a little more colour than the usual two-horse race between SDP and HDZ than the contest traditionally entails. In terms of votes, the biggest change was the challenge from the right from Miroslav Skoro, who captured many of the traditional HDZ votes in the first round, and he came within about 2% of beating incumbent President and HDZ candidate, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.  But in terms of colour,…

ZAGREB, January 9, 2020 - Film director Dario Juričan, who ran in the recent presidential election under the slogan "Corruption for All", highlighting the problem of corruption in Croatia, and who came in fifth, on Wednesday put up a tent outside the Zagrebački Holding multi-utility conglomerate in Zagreb, calling on "the Croatian people: criminals and others, to come and take their share of the city company". "I am a petty criminal while those sitting across (in Zagrebaćki Holding) are nice people," Juričan told reporters, calling on citizens to come to his tent as part of the campaign "100% for Croatia…

ZAGREB, January 9, 2020 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday his government would never put up barbed wire on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina to stop illegal migrants because there were natural obstacles and that would be a bad political message to the neighbouring country. He was speaking of migration at a meeting with foreign correspondents who arrived in Zagreb from Brussels on the occasion of Croatia's presidency of the European Union. Some of our neighbouring EU member states have put up physical barricades and barbed wire. We haven't opted for that because we have natural…

ZAGREB, January 8, 2020 - The first days of 2020 saw the founding assembly of the Institute for Development of Croatia-Serbia Relations (IROHS), a civil society organisation from Vinkovci dedicated to promoting, analysing and researching relations between the two countries, with former Social Democrat MP Damir Rimac at its helm. "The IROHS staff believes that by understanding the past we can build a better future in this area, regardless of whether we call it the region or Central or Southeast Europe. For quite some time, too little has been said in public about technologies, education, economy, mobility, culture, sustainable development…

ZAGREB, January 8, 2020 - The appointment of the new Croatian ambassador to Serbia can serve as the first test of cooperation between the incumbent government led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the newly-elected president Zoran Milanović, the Večernji List daily newspaper said on Wednesday. Hido Biščević, a journalist and a career diplomat, has already been nominated by PM Plenković for that post and this nomination has been approved by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. However, the whole procedure of Biščević's appointment as the next Croatian ambassador to Belgrade has not yet been completed. It needs to be also approved by…