The Croatian Diaspora

ZAGREB, February 16, 2020 - The Croat member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) tripartite Presidency and its current chair, Željko Komšić, on Saturday had an audience with Pope Francis during which the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the status of the Church in the country were discussed, the BiH Presidency said. Komšić also met separately with the Holy See's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Vatican will continue providing constructive political support to Bosnia and Herzegovina as a multi-ethnic country and it will continue supporting its bid to join Euro-Atlantic associations, it was said at the meeting…

ZAGREB, February 11, 2020 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović ended her visit to Germany on Monday by visiting Mainz, where she presented the Croatian Charter to local Croatian associations and met with Croatian and German business people, thanking expatriates for their support during her term in office. "By awarding this charter, I wish to symbolically complete my presidential term, during which I paid special attention to Croatian expatriates, Croats from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who exchanged their home for life outside the homeland," she said. The charter was awarded for patriotism, volunteer work on the cultivation of Croatian culture,…

ZAGREB, February 3, 2020 - The fifth Croatian World Games, which will be held in Zagreb from 21 to 25 July, will gather about 1,500 athletes and Croats who live, work and study on all continents, the office of the Croatian World Congress announced last Friday. "The largest amateur sports competition, which brings together Croats from all over the world in a unique way, aims to connect young people through sports and cultural gatherings," said Croatian World Congress president Vinko Sabljo. Every year, he added, the games show an increase in the number of sports events and in the number…

Croatian Doctor Alen Juginović, a recent graduate of the Faculty of Medicine in Split, will be leaving Croatia in two weeks to start a Postdoctoral Researcher position at the most prestigious college in the United States. Dr. Juginović graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Split in 2018. In September 2019, he was in Houston, Texas completing the second of two US observership programs. Then, he had an idea. Since he was in the US, why not visit the top universities with Neuroscience programs? So, he reached out to the Neuroscience departments at Stanford, MIT, Harvard and Columbia to arrange…

ZAGREB, January 8, 2020 - The leader of the Democratic Alliance of the Vojvodina Croats (DSHV), Tomislav Žigmanov, has said that he hopes Croatian authorities' interest in the Croat community in Serbia will continue after Zoran Milanović's election as Croatia's new president. In a Twitter message on Wednesday, Žigmanov congratulated Milanovic on his victory, noting the election proved that Croatia "is a highly consolidated democracy." In a subsequent statement to the Vojvodina Radio and Television (RTV) public broadcaster, Žigmanov said he hoped the cooperation between Croatian authorities and the Croat community in Serbia and the support that community had received…

ZAGREB, December 29, 2019 - The Central State Office for Croats Abroad has announced it will award 500 scholarships to Croatian students living abroad for the current academic year, of which 100 for study programs in Croatia and 400 for programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Scholarships are given for a period of 10 months, in monthly amounts of 700 kuna. The total budget is 3.5 million kuna. Applications are invited until 22 January 2020, and eligible are Croatian students residing and studying in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and…

December 28, 2019 - The Croatian diaspora is diverse and complex - a look at voting patterns in Croatian elections and referenda.  There are an estimated 4 million Croatians living abroad, a diaspora numerically as large as those living in the homeland itself. They are located literally all over the world, with the latest official estimates a few years ago claiming the largest group (1.2 million) are in the USA, followed by Germany (350,000), Argentina, Australia (250,000) and Chile (200,000).  EU entry has increased the number of those living in Germany considerably, and new diaspora centres, such as Ireland, have…

ZAGREB, December 23, 2019 - Councillors of the DSHV party representing the Croat community in Serbia on Monday walked out of a Subotica Council meeting in protest against obstruction of the formation of a Croat school centre in the northern city. DSHV president Tomislav Žigmanov said after the DSHV representatives left the meeting that although a year ago this party had proposed amending the decision on Subotica's network of pre-school institutions and elementary schools as a precondition for the registration of the Croat school centre, this item had not yet been added to the council's agenda. "This is a more…

December 15, 2019 - Small steps to change the business mindset in Croatia are underway - a first business breakfast from returnee business consultants, Venatus Jones.  Last week I met with a group of returnees from Australia, Germany and Canada who have a very lofty goal. Gathering impressive experience from working abroad in Western free-markets under the umbrella of Venatus Jones, a consulting agency, they vowed to become an agent of change that will totally shift Croatia’s mentality toward business.    "It’s part of the Western mind frame isn’t it, to aim high?” asked Associate Director Gerhard Saric from Munich…

ZAGREB, December 14, 2019 - The Croatian government on Friday awarded 90,000 euro to the Croatian minority in Serbia for the construction of the Croatian House in the northern city of Subotica and for staffing purposes of the Croatian National Council (HNV). An agreement to that effect was signed at HNV headquarters by the state secretary of the Central State Office for Croats Abroad, Zvonko Milas, and HNV president Jasna Vojnić. The agreement was signed on the occasion of the national holiday of the Croatian minority in Serbia. Milas said that by supporting a strategic project of this kind the…