Politics

ZAGREB, October 23, 2019 - The first round of presidential elections in Croatia will almost certainly be held on December 22, three days before Christmas, which means that the second round would be held on January 5, the Večernji List daily learned from sources at the ruling HDZ party, who said that other dates were possible only in the event of extraordinary situations. The formal decision on elections is made by the government, which must call elections 60 days at the earliest and 30 days at the latest before the expiry of the term of incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the…

ZAGREB, October 23, 2019 - Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said on Tuesday the European Commission's decision that Croatia met the technical conditions to join the Schengen Area was political, and insisted that Croatia implement the arbitration ruling on its border dispute with Slovenia. "We regret that the European Commission decided on such an important matter, the assessment of Croatia's preparedness to join Schengen, just before the end of its term and that it adopted a political decision," Šarec said, according to a press release from his office. "We expect Croatia to meet all the conditions for joining Schengen, technical…

ZAGREB, October 22, 2019 - The European Commission assessed on Tuesday that Croatia met the conditions for joining the Schengen Area and asked the Council of the EU to include Croatia in the area without internal border controls. "The European Commission considers that, based on the results of the Schengen evaluation process initiated in 2016, Croatia has taken the measures needed to ensure that the necessary conditions for the full application of the Schengen rules and standards are met," a press release said. "Croatia will need to continue working on the implementation of all ongoing actions, in particular its management…

ZAGREB, October 22, 2019 - Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava said on Tuesday that the model of segregated schools and pre-school institutions in Vukovar was implemented pursuant to the law and it remained to be seen whether or when the time would come to take steps to change that model. "The model of segregated schools and a similar model, although a little less stricter, in kindergartens, are not my personal choice. In my opinion, children should go together and be able to learn their own language, history, culture regardless of which minority they belong to. That (learning the language of one's…

ZAGREB, October 21, 2019 - European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said on Monday that the Commission would adopt a report on Croatia's compliance with the Schengen Area requirements on Tuesday. Tomorrow the College of Commissioners will evaluate Croatia's progress in meeting the criteria required for joining the Schengen Area, she said after the chiefs-of-staff of all commissioners defined the agenda of Tuesday's Commission meeting in Strasbourg. Numerous prerequisites must be met to join the passport-free travel area, including taking responsibility for controlling the EU's external borders, issuing visas on behalf of the area's other member states, and establishing efficient cooperation…

ZAGREB, October 21, 2019 - The chairman of the Croatian parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, Miro Kovač of the ruling HDZ party, said on Sunday that for progress to be made in its relations with Croatia, Serbia needed a statesman like former German Chancellor Willy Brandt, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize almost 50 years ago. On October 20, 1971, 25 years after World War II, Brandt was awarded for concrete initiatives designed to defuse tensions in relations between West Germany and the Soviet Union and Poland because he extended a hand of reconciliation between the peoples that had been…

ZAGREB, October 21, 2019 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković told the France 24 TV channel that his goal at the time of negotiations on the distribution of key posts in European institutions had been for the European People's Party (EPP), whose negotiator he was, to get the post of European Commission President, which was eventually achieved. At the end of an EU summit on Friday, Plenković gave two interviews to France 24, one in English for its Talking Europe programme and one in French for its Ici L'Europe programme, which was aired on Saturday and Sunday. In the interview…

ZAGREB, October 20, 2019 - Milijan Brkić, Deputy Parliament Speaker and vice-president of the ruling HDZ party, will not be charged with unlawfully monitoring four women's electronic communications, and neither will his brother Jozo, his close friend Blaž Curić, and former police computer expert Franjo Varga. Even though prosecutorial authorities have still not formally decided on the case, the Jutarnji List daily of Sunday says that Brkić and the other three men in this case will almost certainly not be indicted because the investigation did not support the initial suspicion that the Brkić brothers, Curić and Varga had committed the…

ZAGREB, October 20, 2019 - Several nongovernmental associations and non-parliamentary parties on Saturday staged a rally in Zagreb against Croatia's treaties with the Vatican which they labelled as detrimental. Activist Sanja Sarnavka said that this was the seventh rally of this kind at which protesters criticised the treaties with Vatican as being in contravention with the interests of Croatia. She called on both believers and non-believers to read the texts of those treaties more carefully. The organisers also accused the Croatian authorities of non-transparent allocation of tax payers' money to Church institutions and organisations. Vesna Puhovski of the Protagora association…

ZAGREB, October 19, 2019 - Slovenian members of the European Parliament have sent an open letter to current and new EU leaders opposing Croatia's accession to the Schengen area of passport-free travel, the Večernji List daily reported on Saturday. The daily says the letter is the newest means of pressure ahead of the European Commission's decision on Croatia's compliance with all technical conditions for accession to the Schengen Area, which is expected on October 22. Slovenian MEPs express reservations about Croatia's technical and legal capacity to protect the Schengen Area which is why they seek a delay of the decision…