ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The founder of the #Spasime (Save me) initiative, Jelena Veljača, said on Tuesday it was agreed at today's meeting with Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović that an action plan to restructure and improve the system should be urgently adopted.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Veljača said she was sorry if she had contributed to a campaign against social workers with a recent statement which she said "was prompted by the outcome of the monstrous event in Nova Gradiška."

In a recent Facebook post, she pushed for sacking and revoking the licences of the whole "expert" team from the social welfare centre in Nova Gradiška and establishing if they were criminally accountable for the death of a girl of two and a half who had been severely beaten by her mother.

Veljača said today "we must not ignore problems" and that this case "is not an incident," adding that the initiative had wanted to warn about problematic cases that did not end in death.

She said she was pleased that the initiative had been in dialogue with Minister Aladrović since November and that he had shown the political will and personal desire to improve the social welfare system.

She said child rights must come first, before parental rights. "We agreed that the ministry should draft an action plan to improve the system."

Veljača said decisions must be made within the system and that she hoped someone would be held to account for this "absolutely unnecessary death and that no one will hide behind the system."

#Spasime representatives said it was agreed with Justice Ministry officials that a register of domestic abuse cases should be made that would give access to everyone dealing with the problem - social services, courts and prosecutors.

Last week Aladrović's ministry instructed directors of social welfare centres that in cases of domestic violence, professionals must apply the Istanbul Convention and violence protocols. This means that in evaluating parental competence, a parent's history of violence is taken as an aggravating circumstance and that a child's interest must come before that of parents.

At today's meeting it was also agreed that oversight of social services' actions should be conducted regularly.

Vedrana Šimundža-Nikolić of the Justice Ministry said it was agreed to define as a separate crime when an official, through inaction or wrong action, failed to protect a child's rights and this had consequences

"The law already envisages punishing someone who does not execute a decision to protect a child's well-being and rights, but in (the Nova Gradiška case) we don't have failure to execute a decision, but to make it. That would be prosecuted as a separate crime."

The head of the Family and Social Policy Administration, Marija Barilić, said the Family and Social Policy Ministry had begun making analyses of children in foster care and care homes "so that we can see their situation, if they should stay in the system."

Minister Aladrović said the ministry was very determined to change the system and that he was confident the system could be improved through the joint efforts of everyone in society.

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ZAGREB, Aug 10, 2020 - The "Zagreb is Calling You" initiative on Monday staged a performance outside the Zagreb Holding multi-utility conglomerate, owned by the City of Zagreb, saying that its decision to buy new, luxury cars worth HRK 19 million "while the city is falling apart" was shameless, and it called for revoking the decision.

During their satirical performance, activists parked toy cars outside Zagreb Holding, calling for the money intended for the new cars to be reallocated for regular city maintenance.

Activist Gordana Pasanec said they were embittered by the company's decision to buy 312 new cars and sign a lease agreement to that effect, noting that the decision was shameless in the light of the March 22 earthquake and recent floods in Zagreb.

Pasanec said that regular city maintenance had been ignored for years, "which is why Zagreb has never been in a worse condition, as evidenced by the consequences of the recent natural disasters."

"A decision is being made to invest HRK 19 million to lease cars while drainage pipes are clogged and city infrastructure has not been renovated for 70 years," Pasanec said.

She said that a Zagreb Holding report said that 323,292 metres of drainage pipes and 42,260 drains had been cleaned.

"If that were true, the recent rainstorm would not have had the consequences it did," she said.

She added that the existing, old infrastructure had been additionally burdened over the past year by 1,924 new water supply and 1,056 sewerage connections.

The initiative demands that Zagreb Holding drop its plan to lease cars, that its management and supervisory boards be replaced and that Mayor Milan Bandic as the first member of the Zagreb Holding Assembly and Management Board chair Ana Stojic Deban be called to account.

It also expects prosecutorial authorities to launch proceedings with regard to criminal reports concerning decisions by Zagreb Holding, Mayor Bandic and his associates as well as that the origin of assets of members of the Zagreb Holding management and supervisory boards and city administration be investigated.

The initiative's demands were supported by city councillor and Member of Parliament Tomislav Tomasevic.

ZAGREB, May 24, 2020 - The political platforms and parties led by activists Tomislav Tomasevic and Sandra Bencic on Sunday reiterated their accusations against Mayor Milan Bandic and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) for failure to take decisive steps in the post-quake rebuilding of the city.

"We believe that the political passiveness of the HDZ and of Mayor Milan Bandic will cause a political quake in the next parliamentary elections," said Tomasevic, who together with another five activists held a news conference in front of Government House, on Sunday morning.

Tomasevic held a grudge against Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic for failing to initiate an international donor conference for the post-quake reconstruction of the capital city, and in this context he mentioned that for instance, Albania organised such conference for raising a billion euros, two months after its devastating quake in 2019. Northwestern Albania was struck by a strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake on 26 November.

Zagreb and its environs were hit by a 5.5-strong quake on 22 March.