Politics

ZAGREB, 20 April 2022 - The request for a pardon for two Yugoslav-era secret service officials came at an opportune time for Prime Minister Andrej Plenković so that he would not have to deal with real problems in the country, Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Peđa Grbin said in Parliament on Wednesday. "This whole story with Josip Perković and Zdravko Mustač comes as if on order for the prime minister, or was possibly even ordered by him, so that he would not have to deal with real problems in the country," Grbin said during Question Time, asking the prime minister…

ZAGREB, 20 April 2022 - There will be no early election, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said during Question Time in Parliament on Wednesday after MP Sandra Benčić (We Can!) said that the government should go because of a string of scandals implicating cabinet ministers and the failure of the post-earthquake reconstruction process. "We have dealt with all the challenges, and what have you do done in Zagreb about securing funds for the reconstruction?" Plenković said in his response to Benčić, whose party is in power in the capital. Benčić then congratulated Plenković on yet another issue meant to shift the…

ZAGREB, 20 April 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that Construction, Physical Planning and State Assets Minister Ivan Paladina was brought into the government to step up post-earthquake reconstruction and that it was up to him to explain everything concerning his assets. "He was brought in to step up the reconstruction process, including public infrastructure, private houses and buildings in both Zagreb and the Banovina region. That's his job," Plenković said in parliament during Question Time. He was responding to Ivana Posavec Krivec of the Social Democrats, who asked why Paladina assumed the full responsibility of a minister…

ZAGREB, 20 April 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday a request for the pardon of Josip Perković and Zdravko Mustač was an "orchestrated action" which had caused rifts among the generals, war veterans and "the Croatians in general." "Croatia has seen many orchestrated actions, this is one of them," he said in parliament during Question Time. Plenković recalled that President Zoran Milanović had said in his presidential campaign that he would not use the institute of pardon and that he had not responded to any of the 275 pardon requests forwarded by the Justice Ministry. Plenković said the government had…

ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Lawyer Anto Nobilo formally asked the Ministry of Justice and Administration on Tuesday to pardon Yugoslav-era intelligence officials Josip Perković and Zdravko Mustač, who have been sentenced to life imprisonment for their roles in the murder of a political emigrant in Germany 39 years ago. "I do not know what President Zoran Milanović will decide, but I do know that Franjo Tuđman, if he were still alive, would pardon them both and (the late defence minister) Gojko Šušak would be the first on the list of generals to sign it," Nobilo told the press. Perković…

ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved said on Tuesday the process of collecting generals' signatures and a motion for the pardon of Josip Perković and Zdravko Mustač were "created" by President Zoran Milanović's Office and Perković's attorney Anto Nobilo. "I hope that, in signing, the generals received more information about the motives and goals of collecting the signatures and that they will say more about it, as well as the attorney and the President's Office staff," Medved told the press. He said this was a political initiative started by Nobilo by applying for an early release from prison. The…

ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - The initiative to pardon Yugoslav and then Croatian intelligence agents Josip Perković and Zdravko Mustač did not come from Homeland War generals but President Zoran Milanović, the ruling HDZ party said on Tuesday. A source close to the HDZ leadership said "Milanović's initiative unnecessarily divides society and brings unrest among generals and war veterans" as well as "double criteria" towards participants in the Homeland War and the veterans. The source said a pardon had not been requested for even one veteran for his contribution to Croatia's defence, yet was now being requested for persons proven to have ordered crimes committed by…

April 19, 2022 - Šibenik Old Town, once hailed the most beautiful on the Croatian Adriatic coast by the former director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Niko Bulić, today faces a complicated reality with many buildings on the verge of danger and numerous lawsuits in order to restore them. The reason? Abandonment by their own owners. ''Don't talk about it in the press, because of my function and Dubrovnik origin, but my impression is that Šibenik's old town is the most beautiful on the Croatian Adriatic coast. And I think that Krešimir's city will experience a real tourist boom when…

April the 19th, 2022 - The Croatian Finance Ministry has proposed a new bill (law) in which multiple state institutions would be able to see into the bank accounts of those who hold them in the Republic of Croatia, which would come as an overstep of a boundary for many. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian Finance Ministry has submitted a legal proposal for public discussion, which would give access to the register of the bank accounts held by both companies and regular people in Croatian banks to the State Attorney's Office, Customs, Police and Tax Administration, in addition to the Office…

April 18, 2022 - Ombudswoman Tena Šimonović Einwalter believes that, after the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights that holds the Croatian government responsible for the death of little Madina Hosseini, the system must be changed to one that guarantees the security and respect for the human rights of the refugees who enter to Croatia. She points out, in relation to the current situation in Ukraine, that she would like a future response from the EU to be the same for all those escaping the horrors of war. Ombudswoman Tena Šimonovic Einwalter said in an interview with Hina that, following the ruling…