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ZAGREB, 19 Jan 2022 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that Croatia would react "clearly and resolutely" if Russia attacked Ukraine. Russia has caused concern in Kyiv and the West by amassing troops and equipment near the border with Ukraine and there are fears that it is preparing for an attack. Moscow denies this and says it has the right to deploy its troops on its territory any way it wants. Speaking in the Croatian parliament, Plenković said that the situation in the east of Ukraine was very worrying and the tensest since 2014 and conflicts between…

ZAGREB, 19 Jan 2022 - A total of 5,590 new COVID-19 infections have been identified in the last 24 hours using rapid antigen tests, while PCR tests have identified 10,427 infections, which puts the total number of infected persons at 16,017. Rapid antigen tests were used in the last 24 hours to test 22,344 persons, and 25% of the tests came back positive, officials at the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Data from the national coronavirus crisis management team show that on Wednesday Croatia saw a record high number of new infections, 10,427, as well as 45 COVID-related deaths. Previously the highest…

ZAGREB, 19 Jan 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that the insider trading case involving Croatian National Bank (HNB) employees had nothing to do with his Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party. "This thing at the HNB has nothing to do with the HDZ," Plenković said in response to a question from Sandra Benčić (We Can!) during Question Time in Parliament. She accused the prime minister that he had made it possible through rules and regulations for HNB employees to trade in bonds and shares of banks supervised by the central bank and thus allowed the elite to…

ZAGREB, 19 Jan 2022 - During Question Time in the Sabor on Wednesday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the government might once again limit the prices of fuel if they increased again next week. "If we estimate that prices will increase next week, we will again limit the prices of all fuels, except for premium fuel," Plenković told MP Miro Bulj (Bridge) who claimed that Croatia currently had the most expensive fuel and that fuel prices were increasing while the price of crude oil was decreasing. Plenković recalled that the government had capped the fuel prices three months ago at HRK…

ZAGREB, 19 Jan 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday called out Social Democratic Party MP Siniša Hajdaš Dončić for alluding in his questions about the purchase of Rafale fighter jets to corruptive activities between him and French President Emmanuel Macron. The MP asked during Question Time how much the 12 French aircraft cost. "Since you are the president of a party convicted of political corruption and a French commission investigated a procurement of planes with India, I'd like to know why you don't show citizens that agreement. Will you make it public or not?" "You are directly alluding to…

ZAGREB, 19 Jan 2022 - Minister of Science and Education Radovan Fuchs said on Wednesday that schools won't close automatically but will stay open as long as possible because "we can't gamble with the education of children and younger generations." "As the number of infections is increasing in the general population, it is also growing among students. We have been informed that about 120 schools could go online. We are staying with our initial doctrine and that is that we will not fully transfer to online classes nor do we recommend to counties to do so," Fuch told reporters in…

ZAGREB, 19 Jan 2022 - The government will design a package of measures to buffer energy price hikes for citizens if prices continue to rise, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in parliament on Wednesday during Question Time. If prices continue to rise, besides capping fuel prices, we will raise allowances for socially vulnerable households, and as for electricity and gas prices, we will rely on (power utility) HEP, which can share the burden and buffer the blow to citizens, he told Mirela Ahmetović of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who asked what he planned to do about price rises. As a third…

ZAGREB, 19 Jan 2022 - Croatia registered a new record in daily COVID numbers on Wednesday with 10,427 cases, while 45 people have died as a consequence of the virus, the national COVID response team reported. The latest number is based on PCR tests taken and does not include Rapid Antigen Tests. The last time a record number was detected was last Wednesday with 9,894 cases. There are currently 56,208 active cases, including 1,796 hospitalised patients, 204 of whom are on ventilators. Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Croatia, a total of 836,807 cases of the novel coronavirus have been registered,…

ZAGREB, 19 Jan 2022 - During Question Time in the Croatian Parliament on Wednesday, Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković announced a plan to buy six new ships for the Jadrolinija shipping company. "This year we plan to buy six new ships - three passenger ferries and three catamarans - through the National Recovery and Resilience Programme. Construction of those ships will begin this year and continue in 2023. Dubrovnik can expect a new ship," Butković said in response to a question by Mate Frankovića (HDZ) who warned of the obsolescence of the Postira ship which currently connects Dubrovnik with…

January 19, 2022 - The Croatian Basketball Federation and the Croatia men's national team coach, Veljko Mršić, have reached an agreement to terminate cooperation. Veljko Mršić took over the national team by the decision of the HKS Board of Directors in May 2019, led the first games in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, and together with his professional staff, and great effort of players, successfully passed through the qualifications for the European championship. At the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Split, Croatia did not secure a spot in Japan. In November 2021, a new cycle of qualifications for the World…