May the 13th, 2023 - PM Plenkovic and his government ministers faced threats to their lives yesterday. Despite the relatively low threat of terrorism in Croatia when compared to numerous other European countries including the UK and France, the police were quick to intervene.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to information which was issued yesterday, the police received a phone call yesterday morning about a threat to murder PM Plenkovic and members of his government. Because of this, an intervention team was sent out and the police procedure was ongoing throughout the day.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic commented on the latest report of the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) and confirmed that the attempt to establish a paramilitary group had been prevented, and he also revealed that yesterday morning, himself and members of the Croatian Government were once again threatened.

He issued a statement while paying a visit south in Dubrovnik as part of Dubrovnik-Neretva County's day. You can read more about what he had to say and more about what has been going on in the weird world of Croatian politics here.

When asked to comment on the SOA report, Andrej Plenkovic said while in the City of Dubrovnik that there were "two groups that had been very clearly identified, which connected a circle of people who had the shared aim of violently overthrowing the nation's constitutional order."

It is important to note that as touched on above, while Croatia's terrorism risk is very low in comparison to other European countries, the threat is still there and has increased owing to various radicalised fringe groups forming in neighbouring countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. The controversial return of some former ISIS/ISIL fighters to their home countries has also heightened the general risk, but it remains incredibly low.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated news section.

May the 5th, 2023 - This week in Croatian politics, we've had a visit from the Serbian Prime Minister and from the Albanian President, a desire for a new Labour Law with more flexibility, protests from healthcare staff and non-healthcare staff employed in hospitals for more recognition (and more money) for their work, and more.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic visits Zagreb

As Index reports, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic recently received Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic at Banski dvori, as HRT reported. At the aforementioned cabinet meeting, the Croatian Prime Minister was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Anja Simpraga, while the Serbian Prime Minister was accompanied by Minister for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue Tomislav Zigmanov. The meeting was then followed by the fourth Great Assembly, organised by the Serbian National Council in Zagreb.

The SNV Grand Assembly gathered together numerous elected councilors and representatives of the Serbian national minority in Croatia from over 150 municipalities, cities and counties, over a thousand and a half of them to be more precise. In addition, the representatives of all relevant organisations of the Serbian community in Croatia and minority and human rights protection institutions were also present.

Brnabic spoke of the ''deep wounds'' left after the Homeland War and owing to historically tense Croatian-Serbian relations. She stated that relations between the two countries - one of which is an EU member state, a Eurozone country and part of the Schengen zone - and one which isn't any of the above, continue to be burdened by a multitude of difficult questions and a lack of trust. Despite that, significant progress is going to be made in that regard this year, according to her. 

Croatian Employers want Labour Law amendments and sit down to talk with Labour Minister Marin Piletic

The issues surrounding the increasing number of foreign (non-EU) workers arriving in Croatia coupled with Croatia's ongoing problems with a demographic crisis, an aging population and the mentality of not wanting to work has seen members of the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) sit down with the labour minister.

Igor Skrgatic of HUP has clearly stated that previous amendments to the Labour Law have been unsatisfactory to employers and that much more flexibility is needed, as is a proper immigration strategy from MUP. Many deem the influx of foreign workers from non EU countries to be harmful to the Croatian workforce who have chosen to remain in the country, and that something needs to be done to prevent problems from spiralling out of control. More can be read about the meeting with Minister Marin Piletic here.

Croatian healthcare professionals protest once again, this time citing their dissatisfaction with Health Minister Vili Beros and their salaries

It hasn't been long since the last protest of healthcare professionals, primarily doctors, who stated their lack of satisfaction with current working conditions, salaries and expectations. Health Minister Vili Beros made a rather scandalous statement which totally missed the mark by claiming that ''most people protesting earn more than he does''. The fact that the Croatian healthcare system is in crisis is far from new information to anyone who hasn't been living under a rock, and most doctors protesting are just as concerned with the fact that patients are having to suffer these shortcomings just as much as they are.

Healthcare professionals and other employees from Dubrava Hospital (Zagreb) are the latest to protest, this time turning most of their attention on Beros himself, and looking more deeply at the state of wages.

The half-hour protest held on Wednesday demanded that the coefficients for medical workers in the public healthcare system who aren't doctors be increased by 10 percent.

"We'd like to express ourdissatisfaction with the behavioyr of Minister Vili Beros and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic towards those employees who aren't covered by the government decree. We're asking for a minimum 10 percent increase in the coefficients for all other healthcare workers who aren't doctors," said the president of the Independent Union of Health and Social Welfare of Croatia, Stjepan Topolnjak. He also stated that non-healthcare personnel in the system, from administrative workers to kitchen staff deserve "much higher wages than they currently take home for doing their jobs".

The protest in front of Dubrava Hospital on Wednesday was part of a wave of protests organised by the Croatian Professional Union of Nurses and Technicians (HSSMS-MT) and SSZSSH. The current level of dissatisfaction is caused by unequal increases in the coefficients in the healthcare system, Ivana Suton from the nurses' union pointed out, adding that last week the government increased the coefficient for doctors by 10 percent, while for others it was increased by just 3 to 5.4 percent.

"We consider an increase in the coefficient of 3 to 5 percent to be degrading," Suton pointed out. She stated that nurses, of whom there are more than 30,000 in the Croatian healthcare system, make up 47 percent of the total number of healthcare staff. "The work and contribution of nurses and technicians continues to go unrecognised, and it's unacceptable for nurses and technicians when differences in the healthcare system like this are created," she said. Ana Cudina also addressed the crowd present and said that healthcare and non-healthcare personnel are both seeking dignity and equality.

"The unions have been warning about deficiencies in the healthcare system for years now, they've demanded an increase in wages for all employees, appropriate working conditions for all, and above all 0 respect for the collective agreement," she told the crowd, adding that one group cannot be in a more favourable position than the others.

Another protest of healthcare (not doctors) and non healthcare workers has been announced for May the 12th, 2023.

Plenkovic claims that his government's aim is to increase wages

PM Andrej Plenkovic recently reiterated that the goal of the announced tax reform is tax relief for the most vulnerable and an increase in peoples' net salaries. "The idea is to financially relieve the most vulnerable among us, those who have the lowest salaries, and in this way we'll also increase the net salaries people take home with them," Plenkovic said after the recent session of the wider HDZ Presidency.

Once the package is completed, the first reading in parliament will take place before the summer break, and the second reading will take place in autumn in order for it all to come into effect on January the 1st, 2024, he announced. He noted that the government relieved both the public and the economy in several rounds of tax reforms by more than 11 billion kuna, as well as that the revenues of counties, cities and municipalities have increased by a total of 11 billion kuna since 2017.

He also emphasised the drop in the inflation rate, the reduction of the share of public debt in GDP, the upward revision of growth projections for this year, the surplus in the state budget for 2022, the maintenance of the investment credit rating, the growth of average wages to 1,100 euros net, and so on.

In response to the claim from the opposition that it was all a mere a pre-election move, Plenkovic replied that their entire rhetoric has been reduced to this for a year. "That theory is deeply ridiculous, especially when you see the consistency of our policies in terms of tax relief and in strengthening the fiscal and functional decentralisation of local self-government units," he said, adding that this narrative simply does not hold water.

At the beginning of June, Plenkovic has announced a large meeting with Croatian county prefects and expressed his belief that in the end they will all support legal changes that will enable higher salaries.

"It's important for us that the net salary increases, that's our goal," Plenkovic said.

"We want to reduce the workload and raise average wages. They've grown by 48 percent since back in 2016, so we'll have a dialogue, we'll hold a meeting with the county prefects. It will take place at the beginning of June. Everything will be specified and I believe that in the end everyone will support the legal changes that will provide people with higher wages," Plenkovic said.

The Albanian president pays a visit to Croatia

President Zoran Milanovic and his wife Sanja Music Milanovic recently welcomed the President of Albania Bajram Begaj and his wife Armanda Begaj to Zagreb.

For this occasion, the first lady of Croatia chose a fashion combination in the colours of the Albanian flag - a red shirt and jacket and black trousers, while Armanda arrived in Zagreb in a dark blue suit.

After meeting at Pantovcak, Sanja and Armanda visited the Oton Ivekovic exhibition, a retrospective at the Klovicevi dvori gallery with the professional guidance of the author of the exhibition. There, the first ladies readily posed for photographers.

Otherwise, Zoran Milanovic emphasised that the friendship between Croatia and Albania is "now a deeply established fact", while Begaj said that the relations between Albanians and Croats are "traditionally of high quality and friendly" and at a "historical maximum".

For more on Croatian politics, make sure to keep up with our dedicated section. A dedicated Week in Croatian Politics article is also published every Friday.

April the 21st, 2023 - This week in Croatian politics, we've seen HDZ still being chosen as the favourite on the political scene, Croatia's WWII past has been revisited once again, and two big names from the OECD and the EU have paid visits to Zagreb.

A new survey has revealed that HDZ is still the favourite among voters, for some reason

As Index reports, just how much the constant turbulence within the weird world of Croatian politics really affects the popularity of the main actors on the ''stage'' was checked in HRT's recently carried out HRating. This monthly survey included 1,100 respondents, with the largest possible error being +/- 3.54%, and the reliability standing at 95%. This data was collected from April the 14th to the 18th, 2023.

No event or situation has yet appeared within Croatian politics that would quicken the pulse of the Croatian voter and change their long standing political sympathies. Remarkable, I know. The survey proves that - the months go by, the surveys are taken, but everything remains the same. This "same" means that HDZ is still somehow the favourite of the Croatian voter. Followed by... you guessed it! SDP.

Along with HDZ and SDP, only three other parties managed to cross the electoral threshold

The strongest among them - Mozemo! (We Can!), is close to 10%. It is followed by Most (Bridge) with the support of 9% of the country's voters. Domovinski pokret (Homeland Movement) concludes this group of five safe parliamentary parties. This month it is at 6%. From the "powerless" crowd for whom the parliamentary mandate should be just a fiction, the party headed by the mayor of Split jumps out - and Centar (Centre) is currently at 3.4% and its rating is currently stable.

All the others, and there are still 13 of them in the survey, may as well not even really exist. They stand little to zero chances of making it into any sort of powerful political position in Croatia as a single constituency unless some big changes occur. These are: HSS and Radnicka fronta (Workers' front) which tie in terms of their voter support, followed by Fokus (Focus) and Hrvatski suverinisti (Croatian sovereignists).

At a recently held government session, Plenkovic spoke about Jasenovac and claims that the behaviour of some MPs isn't acceptable

At the most recently held session of the Croatian Government, the decision on granting prior consent and the decision on granting a state guarantee for long term credit to the company Hrvatske ceste/Croatian roads were on the agenda. That consent and credit would be given in order order to finance ongoing projects and the company's business plan this year. The opening speech at the session was delivered by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

"The Ston ring road is very well made, it's an extremely valuable strategic project for Croatia," he began, before also referring to the latest assessment by the Fitch agency, which confirmed Croatia's BBB+ rating. "They recognise the direction we're going in, as well as the reform efforts and resistance to the crisis we've shown. We can also see that our trend is going better than planned, and that inflation is decreasing," Plenkovic said, adding that OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann had paid a recent visit to the country.

"This is an organisation that has very, very high standards, both in combating corruption and in numerous sectors, so we'll further stimulate our reform process with activities related to the OECD. For us, it's the last step for Croatia's international positioning," Plenkovic added.

The Prime Minister condemned some opposition MPs and their apparently "unacceptable" behaviour

He referred to the recent chaos in parliament which unfolded during the debate on amendments to the law on offenses against public order and peace. To quickly remind you, it was especially stormy when the discussion started about the greeting "Za dom spremni'' (Ready for the homeland), which is generally deemed an "Ustasa" phrase with Nazi connotations and for which an individual could be fined up to 4000 euros for using. Of course, the history behind that phrase is deeper than just "It was used during the brief period of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and so it must be banned'' but we won't get into the ins and outs of that (or any connotations with the Homeland War) in this article.

"We consider the performances and statements of individual members of parliament yesterday to be inappropriate, and we believe that this is unacceptable, especially the aggressive approach that was directed towards the president of the parliament (Goran Jandrokovic)," said Plenkovic.

This Sunday, a joint commemoration will be held at the location where the Jasenovac concentration camp stood, where representatives of Jewish municipalities will also be present, who in previous years refused to come because they were dissatisfied with the government's attitude towards Croatia's position during WWII and the Ustasa regime in general.

"We're glad that this year, the Council of the Jewish Municipality of Zagreb and the Coordination of Jewish Municipalities in Croatia will also respond to the invitation of the Director of the Public Institution of the Jasenovac Memorial Area to participate in the commemoration,'' concluded Plenkovic.

Is the new Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime's new boss going to be the woman put ex PM Ivo Sanader behind bars?

Zeljka Mostecak, the deputy chief state attorney, has been mentioned as a potential new director of the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) after the departure of Vanja Marusic, reports Dnevnik.hr.

To be clear, we're talking about a female prosecutor who has many years of experience under her belt and who was the main prosecutor in some of the most famous cases related to corruption in independent Croatia. Mostecak was, it should be mentioned, the main prosecutor in the very well known Fimi Media affair, a multi-year proceeding that led to the final conviction of former PM Ivo Sanader (HDZ) and seeing him banged up.

It should also be noted that HDZ itself was actually convicted in that case, but as a legal entity. For that case, Mostecak received the prestigious state attorney's award. Mostecak was also a prosecutor in a series of cases arising from the Fima Media affair, including the HAC affair. Before Mostecak worked at DORH, she was the main prosecutor in the HAC-Remorker affair. Former HDZ Minister of Transport and Mayor of Zadar Bozidar Kalmeta was also accused of wrongdoing in that affair.

Kalmeta was acquitted of sharing over 15 million kuna and 850,000 euros from road maintenance and construction companies with his associates. Three of Kalmeta's co-accused were found guilty.

The former minister was also acquitted of part of the indictment according to which he damaged the Ministry of Transport for 600,000 kuna by ordering the promotional film "The Transport Renaissance of Croatia" from the marketing agency Fimi Media. The company was tried for filling HDZ's ''black fund'' with money from various state companies and institutions.

The Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Union, Thierry Breton, visits Zagreb

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic received the Commissioner for the EU's Internal Market, Thierry Breton, in Zagreb this week. The pair discussed the state and ongoing development of the Croatian economy, the consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine on the supply of energy sources across Europe, and the strengthening of the European defense industry as a whole.

Plenkovic explained to Breton that the Croatian economy is fully expected to grow more rapidly in 2023 than the initial expectations of the government, the European Commission and other international organisations initially predicted. They both also emphasised the need for continued military aid to Ukraine. The Prime Minister made sure to bring it up to the commissioner that Croatia offers the potential of energy support to its neighbouring countries by expanding the LNG terminal on Krk from 2.9 to 6.1 billion cubic metres of gas per year.

Plenkovic and Breton both expressed their ongoing sympathy and firm support for Ukraine as Russian attacks continue, both believing in the very pressing need for continued military aid being sent over to Ukraine. It was precisely in this context that they also discussed the production of ammunition for Ukraine, the overall security of the European Union and taking measures to increase the production capacity of the European defense industry, as touched on above.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Secretary General, Mathias Cormann, visits Zagreb as Croatia edges closer to membership

As Novi list writes, the OECD's Secretary General paid a visit to Zagreb recently, and he had nothing but praise for Plenkovic's government in its swift and fruitful responses to all sorts of issues we're currently facing in this economically unfavourable climate.

''For now, the Croatian Government is reacting very quickly and efficiently, and I have no reason to doubt that this will continue,'' said Mathias Cormann.

The HRT team spoke with OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, and he talked about the areas will he focus on when it comes to implementing reforms and whether or not Croatia's accession process can be completed in two years.

''We cover the entire spectrum of economic, social, environmental, and public order. So, from competition, public management, the fight against corruption to environmental protection standards, agricultural policy, and trade. We review the entire spectrum of public order in order to assess Croatian practices, legislation and policies and assess how far they are already aligned with the OECD standards or to what extent further reforms are needed to improve either policies or practices,'' said Mathias Cormann.

When it comes to what sort of key reforms Croatia needs to implement to improve, Cormann said that this is an ongoing process, and that this isn't really a political procedure but a technical review. What we do know is that there are 25 OECD policy committees with experts from 38 member states that will review all Croatian legislative policies and practices in the economy and society and assess their alignment with the proper standards.

 ''At the end of that process, they will recommend what improvements should be made. I can get back to you at that point so we can talk about it,'' Cormann stated, adding: ''I will say that Croatia is obviously very committed. It's progressing as fast as it can to meet all the conditions it needs to,''

 The Croatian Government ambitiously mentions a deadline of two years for OECD membership, but can these goals be achieved in two years? Cormann says there's no time frame.

''I say we're making progress as fast as we can, but it will take whatever amount of time it takes. This is a thorough and very serious procedure. Ultimately, it depends on how quickly the government provides the requested information and how quickly the government and parliament introduces the necessary reforms to implement all of the recommendations. For now, the Croatian Government is reacting very quickly and efficiently, and I have no reason to doubt that this will continue. But it is very difficult to determine the time frame,'' he concluded.

For more on Croatian politics, make sure to keep up with our dedicated section and keep an eye out for our Week in Croatian Politics articles which are published every Friday.

April the 7th, 2023 - This week in Croatian politics, we've seen ex Prime Minister but current prison inmate Ivo Sanader's art collection begin being sold off, Plenkovic has been accused of encroaching on peoples' rights by a law expert, another HDZ official has been accused of inappropriate behaviour, and more. Happy Easter!

Former PM Ivo Sanader's art collections are being sold off

Ivo Sanader is arguably HDZ's most infamous criminal of all, currently serving his sentence in Remetinec prison for corruption. His art collection is now being sold off. 

As Index reports, the state confiscated art works belonging to former PM Ivo Sanader and will put many of them up for public auction to be sold off. Although the former prime minister once claimed that he had works of art worth 1.5 million kuna in his collection, it's now clear that their value is actuallty much higher. Among the paintings that will be auctioned off are five works by no less than Vlaho Bukovac.

However, the road to the public auction was arduous. Back at the end of December 2010, investigators spent a massive sixteen hours cataloging all of his works of art. Taking them out around midnight was not an easy task at all, but there were no Bukovac paintings among the seized materials back then, so a month later, the police issued a warrant for them. They were removed after twelve years.

Five paintings by that famous painter are being kept in the Museum of Contemporary Art. As Dnevnik Nova TV writes, appraisers assessed a total of twelve works of art by Ivo Sanader at a total value of more than 240,000 euros. The state is demanding slightly more than 11 million euros from ex PM Sanader. What will happen to Bukovac's works is also being closely monitored in the painter's birthplace (his former home) down in Konavle, in the extreme south of Dalmatia, which has been converted into an art gallery.

"Until now, we've witnessed a large number of auctions where various Bukovac works were sold off, including very important examples, and, unfortunately, we can't obtain such material," said Antonika Ruskovic Radonic, the director of the Public Institution for culture, museums and galleries in Konavle. In the opinion of many people, it's somewhat absurd that now, when the state finally has the paintings of the most valued Croatian painter in its possession, it's selling that material off.

"For the Bukovac house, those works would be exceptional because that represents the beginning for everyone who researches Bukovac, his life and his work. It's the first place you come to because of its archive and the valuable materials kept here," said Ruskovic Radonic. However, not all of them are available to the public because many of Bukovac's works are privately owned. They can be purchased from private collectors.

Euronews claims certain Croatian MEPs have been downplaying crimes committed during Croatia's time as an Axis country and beyond

Croatia, then the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna drzava hrvatska/NDH), was aligned with the Germans (perhaps better to say with the array of Axis states) during the second world war. The government back during those days was led by Dr. Ante Pavelic, and numerous crimes were committed in Croatia much like they were across the majority of Europe in that dark period of history. Euronews has accused Croatian MEPs of downplaying Croatian crimes committed between 1941 and 1945, and beyond it.

Recently, Croatian representatives in the European Parliament in Brussels organised events where, it seems to some, they dragged up controversial issues related to terrorism and Nazi collaborators from a certain period of Croatian history that nobody really likes to talk about.

Zeljana Zovko, representative of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), attended a seminar last week as part of a series of events of the European People's Party group in the European Parliament, according to Euronews. According to the panel's premise, they focused on the terrifying secret services of former communist nations, because "the totalitarian regimes of the past may no longer exist, but their secret services and networks live on," Zovko said.

As Index reports, Zdravka Busic, a member of the Croatian National Resistance or Otpor back during the 1970s, gave a presentation at the event. Many consider Otpor to be a ''far-right organisation responsible for several terrorist attacks around the world.'' Of course, things run a little deeper and are more complex than that, as with all things Croatian, but I digress.

"I'm sure that Zdravka Busic will contribute significantly to this seminar with her deep knowledge and personal experience on this issue," continued Zovko.

Back in September 1976, Zdravka's brother Zvonko Busic participated in the hijacking of a Trans World Airlines plane flying from New York to Chicago and planted a bomb at Grand Central Station in New York, demanding that an appeal for Croatian independence be published in a leading American newspaper. The plane was diverted to Montreal and then to Newfoundland, where 35 passengers were released. After negotiations with the American ambassador in Paris, the hijackers surrendered.

One New York policeman was killed while dismantling the bomb, and the perpetrators were convicted of air piracy. This leads some to the question of: just why did Zdravka Busic feel the need to speak about these topics in the European Parliament? The panel appealed for the opening of state archives of the former communist secret services, "so that they can be fully investigated and deal with the existing structures from the communist era and their crimes". This is a request that has been being revisited and reopened for many years now.

Zdravka Busic and her brother were rehabilitated after the breakup of Yugoslavia and the declaration of Croatia's independence. She was a member of the Croatian Parliament and a member of the European Parliament after Croatia joined the EU in 2013. In her presentation, Busic focused on the actions of Yugoslavia's state security, or UDBA, which she accused of committing heinous crimes, including imprisoning, torturing and killing those deemed to be participating in "hostile activities against the state."

"Many individuals from the young Croatian generation believed that the creation of an independent and democratic state of Croatia was of crucial importance," Busic explained at the meeting.

Busic did not directly address - or even mention - the activities in which she, her brother and husband were convicted, although she expressed several views on the activities of Croatian emigrant communities or the diaspora, according to a recording of the panel obtained by Euronews. Why are communist crimes being talked about today, you might ask? Zdravka Busic insisted that "the biological descendants and ideological followers of communists have great power even now in the modern age" and that communist ideology left a "clear mark of contamination" on all of Croatian society. Most with any knowledge of the period wouldn't disagree, and although the topic of the discussion might seem reasonable at first glance, Busic and other speakers failed to mention the fact that the conversation about communist crimes is still a platform for gathering the far right, ultra-nationalists and Nazi apologists who promote ideas that promote discrimination even today.

These topics are meant to stoke fears and justify their beliefs, believes Michael Colborne, a journalist and researcher at Bellingcat who has covered Croatia and the Balkans extensively.

Former HDZ Parliamentarian is going to court for allegedly threatening a journalist

The county court in Split has now confirmed the legality of the indictment against the long-time mayor of Seget Municipality and former HDZ MP, Vinko Zulim, who is being charged with threats against Slobodna Dalmacija journalist Vinko Vukovic.

The prosecution, without specifying any of the actual identities of the individuals involved, reported that the court had accepted the state attorney's appeal against the earlier decision of the indictment panel of the Split Municipal Court against Zulim, with the explanation that the words uttered were not specified and that the factual description of the indictment didn't represent a serious threat. It was also said that ''there was no intention [that could be taken from his words] of frightening or disturbing Vukovic.

According to the opinion of the indictment panel of the first-instance court, it's an inappropriate and offensive form of communication, and not a serious and specific threat, as was added by the prosecutor's office.

Zulim told the journalist that he knew who he was and where he lived, which I'm not sure could be taken in any other manner than a threatening one. The High Court, the prosecution added, in the explanation of the ruling on the merits of the indictment stated that the indictment contains everything necessary to be able to act on it, including the content of the words which the state attorney considers to be the legal features of the criminal act of threat.

At the same time, the court states that the state attorney correctly indicates in his appeal that the words spoken by the defendant should be viewed in the context of the entire event and that all the words spoken indicate the existence of well-founded suspicion of the alleged criminal act. The prosecution accuses Zulim that during a telephone conversation on January the 20th last year, when outraged by a question about his son's employment in the Seget Municipality, he first used insults in raised tones of voice, and then made a serious threat, which caused the journalist a feeling of anxiety and fear for the safety of himself and his family.

According to the indictment, Vukovic called Zulim to ask him if an individual called ''M. Z.'', whom he states is employed by the Seget Municipality, is in actual fact his son. At that, Zulim burst into anger and told Vukovic that he knew who he was and where he lived, and that he had two little girls. He insulted him and mentioned the possibility of coming to Vukovic's residential address. When the journalist asked what he would do if he came, Zulim told him that he would kiss him on the forehead, according to the indictment.

This particular indictment against Zulim came to the attention of the authorities last summer, and in the autumn of 2022, USKOK also came to suspect him of unjustifiably spending municipal money on the national team in both 2017 and 2018. He was accused of ordering that the municipality of Seget Donji, while he was at its head, issue purchase orders for the consumption of food and drinks from private gatherings in various catering and hospitality facilities, which he gave the green light with his signature, and although there was no basis for this, he ordered such services to be paid for by the municipality.

Based on the purchase orders issued in this way and Zulim's verbal orders, the catering and hospitality facilities issued invoices to the municipality for the services provided. At the same time, according to USKOK, he allegedly wrote explanations for such gatherings with his own hand, claiming that members of various commissions, associations and representatives of state institutions were hosted, when in actual fact they were members of HDZ as the municipal ruling party, as well as individual municipal employees.

Ivan Rimac, a Professor of Law has stated that PM Andrej Plenkovic is ''directly encroaching upon peoples' rights''

Ivan Rimac, a professor from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, analysed the Sortirnica and Agrokor affairs and other current topics from the sphere of justice and legislation on N1 television. Referring to the Sortirnica affair, i.e. the new action of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in which five people were arrested because of the waste sorting plant in Rijeka, Rimac said that all HDZ members probably now feel relieved because they can point the finger at someone else after a lot of fingers having been pointed at them by others.

"Plenkovic directly encroaches on the peoples' rights,'' Rimac believes. When asked if he expected the announcements of changes to the CPC to stop data leakage to be followed through, Rimac said the following:

"The solution offered by Plenkovic is a direct encroachment on peoples' right to be informed about what state services do and how state money is spent. The introduction of such an institute, especially with the slowness of our judicial system, means a practical embargo on the publication of any information about the actions taken by government officials. It is the same as having a censorship of the press. I see nothing further than that that could go in favour of such proposals. I believe that it would be good for judicial processes to make decisions with calm heads, but the public has the right to know what goes on in this regard.''

For more on Croatian politics, make sure to check out our dedicated section and keep your eyes peeled for our Week in Croatian Politics articles which are published every Friday.

March the 31st, 2023 - This week in Croatian politics, we've had discussions around the hypothetical arrest of Vladimir Putin, donations of helicopters and a huge sum of cash to Ukraine, gas price worries and Ivica Todoric is back where he loves to be the most - in the spotlight.

Former Agrokor boss Ivica Todoric is thrilled that Index readers stated they'd sooner vote for him as prime minister than current PM Andrej Plenkovic

If you're a follower of politics (and scandals) in Croatia, you'll more than likely recall one of the most enormous events in independent Croatian history - the Agrokor saga. I wrote a lot about it back at the time, and you can get a feel of it here, in an article entitled Requiem for a Company. Ivica Todoric, the former boss of this huge company, fell into troubled waters and there was a huge amount of drama surrounding the entire story. It eventually ended with him being extradited back to Croatia from London after handing himself in at Charring Cross police station following his stay in the United Kingdom in an attempt to avoid Croatian courts. 

Todoric is currently a free man, and despite all of the dramatics of that situation from back in 2017, he is still more popular than Andrej Plenkovic in the opinion of some Index readers. Index recently carried out a poll asking their readers who they'd sooner vote for as prime minister, the current one (Plenkovic), or the somewhat Godfather-like character, Ivica Todoric. They chose the latter, and he's thrilled about it.

Todoric is known for his humour (no, really), and the inspiration for that poll was provided by Todoric himself, who published a similar one on his own Facebook profile and, examining the pulse of the people, asked whether the citizens of Croatia wanted him or Andrej Plenkovic as prime minister. In his Facebook poll, Todoric received 92% of the votes in his favour, and Index readers who share a similar sense of humour also gave Todoric a shining 72% advantage in its own poll.

Would Croatia arrest Vladimir Putin if he entered the country? Plenkovic says yes

Plenkovic recently made a statement during his stay in the Belgian capital of Brussels after a two-day spring meeting at the summit of European leaders. The main topics of the summit were further support for Ukraine, especially in sufficient quantities of ammunition, the competitiveness of the European economy, especially in relation to the United States and China, and the internal market and issues of energy and migration.

"Once again, we showed our commitment and solidarity to Ukraine in all aspects. We also discussed the topics of economic management, competitiveness and the energy situation, where everything that has been happening for the past three years in the context of the coronavirus crisis, the energy crisis, the food crisis and inflationary pressures essentially requires greater coordination of the economic policies of EU member states," Plenkovic said.

In response to the question of whether or not the Croatian authorities would arrest Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin if he arrived here in Croatia, Plenkovic said an emphatic and blunt - yes.

''The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, so if he were to visit Croatia, he would be arrested in accordance with the procedure stipulated by that law,'' Plenkovic said.

Croatia otherwise acceded to the statute of the International Criminal Court and a law was passed on cooperation with that court. "That law provides for all the procedures in case there is a warrant issued for the arrest of a person, and as far as I know, immunity does not apply here. Accordingly, the procedure would go exactly as provided for by that law, and of course the Croatian police and competent authorities would react to Putin arriving in Croatia," said Plenkovic in response to a journalist's question.

President Zoran Milanovic makes a strange statement about the Russia-Ukraine war once again, this time about donated Croatian helicopters

Croatia, much like the rest of the EU and indeed most of the world, has stood firmly by Ukraine's side ever since the beginning of the shock Russian invasion back in February 2022. Having been through a horrific war just one generation ago and with those painful memories still very fresh, Croatia is able to understand the Ukrainian struggle against Russian aggression like few other countries are, given that the now shared experience both countries have is so recent. Milanovic, however, has continuously been vocal about his rather odd stances for over a year now. He has invited endless criticism and even questions from other politicians from across Europe about just what Croatia's official stance is.

Of course, Milanovic's strange statements and stances are not remotely in line with the official Croatian position - firmly by Ukraine's side and staunchly against Russia's actions. Plenkovic, with whom Milanovic is constantly butting heads, has spoken about this numerous times, attempting to distance not only himself personally but Croatian politics as a whole from the president's baffling and politically damaging remarks. 

The latest such remark from Milanovic regards helicopters Croatia donated to Ukraine, and which should be delivered there very soon. Milanovic was quick to tell journalists that these helicopters "needed getting rid of anyway'' because Croatia no longer has the conditions for their maintenance.

To keep you in the loop, Croatia is donating fourteen transport helicopters to Ukraine, of which twelve are MI 8 MTV-1 models and two are MI 8 T models. Defense Minister Mario Banozic said on Wednesday in the Ukrainian city of Odessa that he expects these helicopters to arrive in Ukraine soon.

Milanovic dressed his comments up in a fashion which makes it seem as if Croatia is simply doling out its useless cast-offs to the Ukrainian people, which has angered multiple people in Croatian politics and beyond. "Those helicopters aren't something promising anyway, we wouldn't have the conditions or the ability to maintain them anymore, because we have a lot of those helicopters and we need to get rid of them,'' he claimed.

Croatia also recently agreed to provide another 500,000 euros to Ukraine.

As the Croatian Government alters its decision on price controls, milk prices shoot up

On Thursday, the Croatian government changed the decision on direct price control measures for specific food products in such a way that the highest retail price of UHT milk with 2.8 percent milk fat per liter has now been raised by 5 cents and the price it cannot exceed amounts to 1.03 euros.

You can read more detail about that by clicking here.

Economy Minister Davor Filipovic has claimed that energy (gas) prices won't go up as of tomorrow, when the current measures are due to expire

A cabinet meeting was held recently in the National and University Library, as Index reports. On the agenda of the session was the decision to approve the granting of a shareholder loan to Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP) and the initiation of the recapitalisation procedure. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced that HEP will be given a shareholder loan, first of 400 million euros, and then another 500 million euros. Minister Davor Filipovic also made a statement after the session, where he discussed the topic on everyone's minds - price increases following the expiration of government measures on the 1st of April, 2023.

"The price of gas will not change from April the 1st. Everything will be fine, as it has been until now. People don't have to worry about it. We're protecting the people and the economy, and there will be no problems in that regard, people don't need to worry about any of that," he added.

"The government has now made several important decisions. One of them is the granting of a shareholder loan to HEP and recapitalisation. This is being done so that HEP will continue to bear the burden of this crisis and so that people can continue to have a favourable price for electricity. We've agreed that HEP will extend the repayment of the loan in order to be able to continuously purchase the energy products that are necessary for the functioning of the domestic economy," said Filipovic.

"We're moving in the direction of recapitalisation, and as for HEP's financial results, you should ask the HEP Management. We haven't yet received any financial results from them, the obligation for us to be given those results is just after March, so everything is still within the legal deadline. HEP's management is responsible for that and it's up to them," he added.

For more on Croatian politics, make sure to keep up with our dedicated section. You can also follow our Week in Croatian Politics articles which provide an overview and are published every Friday.

March the 24th, 2023 - This week in Croatian politics, we've had ongoing issues with post-earthquake reconstruction, more arguing between Plenkovic and Milanovic, and former President Ivo Josipovic thinks its time for the Constitutional Court to get involved.

Zagreb mayor Tomislav Tomasevic has openly discussed his relationship with Andrej Plenkovic, saying that "of course there is some tension..."

Tomislav Tomasevic recently appeared as a guest on Dnevnik N1, where he discussed, among other things such as the post-earthquake reconstruction process, his relationship with the prime minister. In his words, there are tensions, but the pair still need to work together.

"We have to work together, and we need to cooperate because of EU funds, I guess it is in everyone's interest that this money is spent. I think that so far, we've managed to cooperate in a good way, and yes, of course there are conflicts, one concrete example is the increase in water prices. Several dozen cities raised their water prices without any hype about it,'' Tomasevic said.

When it comes to Zagreb, he says they don't have a single affair to discuss.

"A new tram line is being built for the first time after 20 years, new buses and trams are here, some order has been introduced on the street terraces... Before that, not a single new tram had been bought for 17 years, we have trams running in this city that are even older than me,'' remarked the Zagreb mayor.

The European Commission is set to get a much more detailed insight into what's going on with Croatia's post-earthquake reconstruction process

I don't know about you, but I personally didn't think anyone would still be saying the words ''post-earthquake reconstruction process'' three entire years after the Zagreb earthquake of March 2020, and well over two years since the Petrinja earthquake struck in December of that same year. Alas, things move slowly in the world of Croatian politics, and we are still uttering those words. The European Commission is going to be getting a detailed look into precisely what's going on. 

Today, the European Commission will be informed of the review of the state of Croatian post-earthquake reconstruction, which is being financed from the EU Solidarity Fund, as well as Croatia's view of costs across all of its ministries.

This meeting was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction, Branko Bacic, who, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the Zagreb earthquake (March the 22nd), assessed that the aforementioned segment of Croatian post-earthquake reconstruction is being implemented in full as planned, so this gives some hope that the money will be spent within the prescribed deadline.

You can read more by clicking here.

Has the much talked about Jarun bridge project been kicked into the long grass?

A large project which would have connected the western part of the capital city to Novi Zagreb appears to have stalled completely, with Tomasevic saying that he'd much rather strengthen the city's already existing bridges in case of another earthquake than build another. That all sounds alright, but there are people stuck in limbo because of this decision. People with properties situated along the route that would lead to the would-be bridge can't do anything to repair or reconstruct their houses which were damaged during 2020's earthquake. This issue affects 150 houses situated along this route which are awaiting demolition, but owing to only some things having been formally agreed upon and legalised by the state and other items having been simply disregarded, the situation sits stagnant. Experts say that the Jarun bridge is a classic example of the violation of various laws that ultimately put the City of Zagreb into a deeply unfavourable situation.

You can read more on that by clicking here.

Plenkovic claims that foreign leaders are set to come to Zagreb but none of them want to meet with President Zoran Milanovic

The trolling, mud slinging and arguments between Plenkovic and Milanovic have become somewhat iconic at this point. The pair were even depicted as part of the Rijeka carnival process this year. Endlessly taking swipes at each other, these two powerful figures in the world of Croatian politics can never resist a chance to throw each other under the bus.

In this case, however, Plenkovic has a point in the eyes of most when he says that Milanovic's often rather strange comments about the Russia-Ukraine war are simply not in line with Croatia's official position and that he is sending a very wrong message out to the rest of Europe and indeed the world with many of the statements he makes.

His politically damaging statements in regard to Russia and Ukraine have seen political figures from abroad question Croatia's official position, ask how he is ''being allowed to say such things'', and even had Russian media claiming Milanovic supports their country's disgraceful actions. A poor image for Croatia indeed, especially after the absolutely praiseworthy approach it has towards Ukrainian refugees and Ukraine's unfortunately all too familiar struggles.

Plenkovic went more deeply into the above during a recent official visit to Istria, where after initially emphasising everything the government has done so far, he once again referred to the strained relationship his government (HDZ) has with Zoran Milanovic (SDP), and why they refuse to cooperate with him. He enumerated the cases of him blocking the government's proposals for the appointment of various officials and representatives and said:

"This is just to make the general public aware of where the problem is and where the issues stand. Milanovic's views are completely opposite to the natural position of Croatia,'' he said bluntly, before touching on the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine back in February 2022, when Milanovic refused a meeting of the National Security Council.

"If there was a moment when we should have met because of serious security threats, that was the moment. After that came his distancing from Croatia's position and his repeating of pro-Russian positions that are completely contrary to what the stance of Croatia is as a European country, a country that is neither neutral nor non-aligned. We have diametrically different views," he said, as N1 reported.

He pointed out that foreign officials don't want to meet with or cooperate with Milanovic, who has isolated himself with his strange statements and views.

"To make you aware, the Spanish Prime Minister was here recently, he didn't meet with him, the Danish Prime Minister was also here as well, she didn't meet with him either, the President of the Canadian Senate came and he didn't meet with him, the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy was here and he did not meet with him. Do you understand what messages our allies and partners are sending him? They're saying; we hear what you've been saying for a year and we don't want anything to do with it,'' Plenkovic said.

Former president Ivo Josipovic says that Plenkovic and Milanovic are the only ones responsible for their poor relationship

Former Croatian president Ivo Josipovic was a recent guest of N1 Studio live, and during that appearance he commented on the constant conflict between President Milanovic and Prime Minister Plenkovic, as well as the elections that are coming next year.

"Both of them are responsible for their poor relationship and I'm sorry that it's happening," Josipovic said in regard to the constant arguing and insults being thrown around between the president and the prime minister. He says that he used to talk to Milanovic from time to time, but not about things going on in the sphere of Croatian politics.

"It's dangerous in a way even if there was a completely regular situation, and this isn't a normal situation [referencing the war in Ukraine]. This conflict creates a bad political climate and damages Croatia's international reputation, as well as the view of Croatian politics here at home,'' he added.

The war in Ukraine has implications for Croatia's immediate neighbourhood and our security, and it isn't a good situation when the two leading statesmen don't talk,'' warned the former president, reminding that both have responsibility for the functioning of the entire political system.

"I have the experience of being in a mandate with a government of the opposite political orientation as well. Did you ever hear such conversations between me and Jadranka Kosor? There was no idyll between me and Milanovic either, but it's important that everyone sticks to their political competence," said Josipovic, who believes that the Constitutional Court could declare this entire situation unconstitutional and force the president and prime minister to sit down and talk properly.

The situation with Croatia not moving quickly enough to absorb the EU cash given to it continues to be a burden

"Over the next 100 days, we must spend 403 million euros. A large number of projects are being implemented in the areas affected by the Zagreb and Petrinja earthquakes, and this gives us hope that we will be able to use this money. The works are now in full swing, the construction sites are filled with workers, and we keep receiving requests for reimbursement of funds daily", it was said by Spatial Planning Minister Branko Bacic.

As most people who have dealt with anything even remotely administrative here, Croatia tends to move at a snail's pace, and those of us who are better acquainted with this had our heads in our hands from the very day the earthquake struck. Of course, what Bacic is saying isn't good enough for most, and the University of Zagreb's rector claims that what Bacic has stated is simply not in line with previous forecasts. 

You can read more by clicking here.

For more on Croatian politics, make sure to keep up with our dedicated section and follow our Week in Croatian Politics articles which are published every Friday.

March the 17th, 2023 - This week in Croatian politics, we've had an HDZ politician accused of drink driving, causing an accident, defrauding an insurance company and also seeing three police officers arrested alongside himself. On top of that, we've had more talk about healthcare reforms, resignations, and freedom for the Murter mayor who spent municipal funds in an Austrian brothel. It's been a busy week.

Goran Jandrokovic says the ''institutions are doing their job'' after an HDZ prefect was accused of driving under the influence, causing an accident, faking the circumstances of said accident and then defrauding the involved insurance company for over 13,000 euros

Another day, another very uncomfortable scandal to deal with for HDZ. On the basis of the criminal complaint filed by PNUSKOK, USKOK has issued a decision on conducting an investigation against six Croatian citizens (born in 1970, 1976, 1985, 1968, 1989, and 1970 respectively) due to well-founded suspicion of criminal offenses of influence peddling, the abuse of positions of authority and assisting in the abuse of positions of authority.

The police, as well as USKOK, published a statement about HDZ's Vukovar-Srijem County Prefect Damir Dekanic.

''In addition to faking the circumstances of a traffic accident in which he was involved in order to avoid attracting any negative publicity, he also caused damage to an insurance company and obtained an improper financial benefit for himself,'' they wrote, adding that he was over the limit (under the influence of alcohol) and that he was driving 87.9 km/h when the traffic accident occurred.

"The criminal investigation established the suspicion that the 53-year-old county prefect in question was driving the county's official car under the influence of alcohol (1.44g/kg) at an illegal and unadjusted speed of 87.9 km/h in the area of Zupanja and Cerna, shortly after midnight on April the 17th, 2022. As a result of the above, he lost control of the steering wheel in Cerna and the vehicle went off the road and hit the front end of a car which had county registration plates owned by a 47-year-old woman, parked in front of a house, and then into the fence of the said house," the police wrote.

The belief is that, in order to avoid misdemeanor liability and thus the negative publicity that this event would have for him as a county prefect, Dekanic asked the owner of the damaged vehicle not to call the police and that she'd be compensated for the damage caused. Dekanic also allegedly called his cousin to arrange with him to lie to the police. Then three police officers were also arrested related to the accident.

The accident took place near Cerna last year and the saga goes on, and there's little point in rehashing the entire thing in this article, but the story has ruffled feathers within HDZ and within Croatian politics in general, with Milanovic and Plenkovic of course butting heads over it. Parliament Speaker Goran Jandrokovic has also thrown in some of the most famous last words in Croatian politics - that the ''institutions are doing their job''.

This line has been made the brunt of many a joke, because it appears to be code for ''nothing will ever be done about it, but please stop asking about it''.  Jandrokovic's recent comments on the arrest of Vukovar-Srijem prefect Damir Dekanic were that he ''couldn't say anything new about it'' and that ''the institutions are doing their job,'' adding that ''the investigation will show what exactly happened. The barty bodies will make the decisions. We'll see what happens next.'' Rather vague, one might say.

"It's important that the state bodies can work freely without any pressure and they'll come to adecision in accordance with the law, and if there's been a violation of the law, he will be sanctioned," he added, reported N1. He says that he himself did not ask the prefect about the traffic accident in question. "I didn't ask him about it, but I heard from other officials that he said he wasn't driving."

Marin Miletic steps down as the vice president of Most/Bridge

Croatian Parliamentarian Marin Miletic has stepped down as the vice president of Most, claiming that he is resigning irrevocably from the position. He stated that he decided on this move as a sign of "personal responsibility for the complete failure in the elections for local committees in Rijeka". Here's his statement translated in its entirety:

Dear all, I entered politics with a clean face and with a sense of great responsibility towards my voters. My Istrian and Rijeka people, the inhabitants of Kvarner, elected me to the Croatian Parliament to fight for the freedom of every single person and for the dignity of every human being. I've done this since the first day of my representation and will continue to do so until my last day. My fellow citizens of Rijeka also trusted me in the local elections by almost 12%, and Most had more than 10% of the support of the people of Rijeka. In the city council, we've been working with both dedication and strength.

Because I personally believe in political responsibility, in the importance of taking personal responsibility - I'm hereby informing the public and my fellow citizens of Rijeka that I am resigning irrevocably from the position of vice president of Most due to a complete failure in the elections for the local committees in Rijeka. I'll continue to humbly work in the Croatian Parliament, in Kvarner, in my beautiful Rijeka and wherever the party wants me tobe, to build a more beautiful and just Croatia. However, I can't demand high standards of morality from other people if I don't behave like that myself. That ' why I'm irrevocably resigning from the position of vice president of Most.

Keep me in your prayers," Miletic posted on Facebook.

Murter Mayor Tonci Turcinov is enjoying freedom once again after having spent municipality cash in an Austrian brothel

Yes, you did read that correctly. Whoever said Croatian politics was boring?

Murter's mayor Tonci Turcinov was released from custody this past week and photographed in Murter, standing in front of the municipality building. Several days ago, his lawyer Fran Olujic confirmed for Index that he was then due for release, after spending almost a month in pre-trial detention due to possible influence on witnesses.

Turcinov was released from custody one day before the deadline because the investigating judge had already questioned all twenty witnesses. Pixsell photographers snapped Turcinov while he was throwing some rubbish away and was standing in front of the Murter-Kornati municipality building. The proceedings against Turcinov continue and he will await his final verdict in freedom.

After receiving an initial police report, USKOK launched an investigation and requested detention for Turcinov, who was arrested for alleged illegalities with which he damaged the Municipality of Murter-Kornati for at least 60,000 euros. The prosecutor's office previously reported that it suspected that Turcinov had used municipal money for private purposes from the beginning of 2018 all the way until the middle of 2022, that is, to pay for travel expenses and other services and expenses in Croatia and abroad. In April 2019, Turcinov paid with said municipality money in a brothel in Austria. He even allegedly shamelessly used the official card of the Municipality of Murter, Telegram revealed. He spent 1,560 budgeted euros in the Austrian La Cocotte club.

He claimed that he used the card in the club by mistake because it was similar to his private card and that he then personally covered the cost of the municipal delegation's accommodation in the Schlosswirt Ebenthal hotel in Klagenfurt in order to indemnify the municipality. The hotel disputed the authenticity of the invoice to Telegram, so the portal announced that Turcinov had falsified an invoice for the expenses at the hotel in order to cover up the expenses of the Austrian brothel.

After the affair broke out in the media, he announced that he was resigning from his position of councilor in the county assembly, but also that, with the support of his associates and fellow residents, he would continue working on the projects he had started in the Municipality of Murter-Kornati. In other words, he remained the boss despite the lurid accusations against him.

Finance Minister Marko Primorac says Croatia doesn't need to worry about its banking system

Minister of Finance Marko Primorac recently spoke about the new package of government measures and other topics as a guest on HRT's Dnevnik. Following the deeply concerning cases of Credit Suisse and the collapse of the American bank Silicon Valley, he said that we here in Croatia need not worry about the situation with the banking system.

"We've been continuously pointing out that the measures that end up being adopted must be targeted, short-term, aimed at those who need help the most, and this is how we've structured all of our packages of measures so far. The total amount of this package of measures, which is comprehensive and targeted at people who need help the most, as well as at business owners, stands at one billion and 700 million euros. In addition to ensuring the continuity of our energy supply and acceptable energy prices, it will also ensure a more peaceful life for our business owners and for people in general,'' Primorac assured.

''Income support, first of all for groups that need this help, pensioners, people who only receive the minimum guaranteed help, child benefit, long-term unemployment, vulnerable groups who need help... rest assured that we'll provide it,'' he pointed out.

"HEP has borne a significant burden of this crisis. Of course, we're going to do everything, not only to keep HEP on its feet, but also to ensure the continuity of the healthy and stable operations of HEP. This isn't in dispute, the funds are being provided for this in the budget but the mechanism by which we will do this it depends on several factors that we are now discussing,'' he said, adding that he is also discussing this with the EC.

''We will not allow HEP's operations to be jeopardised in any way, and its projects such as GoGreen or solar power plants will have the total support of the government,'' he emphasised.

He said that the condition of the state treasury is standard. "Revenues are of course growing, financial appetites - expenditures, state costs are growing, aid packages are also costing. The state's finances are stable. We've been monitoring the developments within the tax system and designing the tax policy, and we will continue to do so. Our tax system is consumption-oriented, which is why it's dominantly related to the collection of value-added tax revenue," he said.

"Income tax is first and foremost the income of local units. I'd like the questions to be directed towards them a little bit more. Opposition MPs should talk to their mayors, if they're ready to bear that burden, let them, for example, reduce the surtax to the minimum level. If they're able to do that, then we'll consider some further measures in the context of income tax relief," he said.

Minister Primorac also commented on whether we here in Croatia should be worried about the situation with banks - referring to the cases of Credit Suisse and the collapse of the American bank Silicon Valley from California.

"What happened in America was due to highly specific circumstances. The Croatian banking system is adequately capitalised - compliant with Basel standards, for example, this wasn't the case in America. In the context of the discussions we held at the Council of EkoFin and the Eurogroup, of course it was an issue that worried us. According to the reports of the European Central Bank and all relevant stakeholders, we can all remain calm for now," he concluded.

Health Minister Vili Beros claims that 2400 Croatian doctors take home a higher monthly wage than Plenkovic

As they should.

Health Minister Vili Beros was a recent guest of Croatian Radio's Interview of the Week. It was during that appearance that he pointed out that the goal of this government is to reform the healthcare system. He then explained the steps of the reforms that are currently being planned. He announced the presentation of new preventive health examinations for next Friday, after the first amended laws are submitted to the parliamentary procedure.

He said that he isn't at all interested in his level of popularity as a minister and that he's only interested in his efficiency and what he does for the betterment of the healthcare system. "I'm interested in my efficiency and functionality in relation to the healthcare system, primarily in regard to patients, and then for all other parts of the healthcare system," said the minister.

A lot of remarks are coming in about the inefficiency and problems within the healthcare system, which the minister himself says. He recalled that on the first day after he was appointed minister, he was a guest on the Croatian Radio programme and spoke about the healthcare system, which is flawed.

"However, the coronavirus pandemic came and we lost a year and a half defending ourselves against the coronavirus. During that period, and even after that, we also found strength, opportunities, and the will to establish a certain reform. The reform that is being planned, which is founded and which has its own content and meaning, is precisely there to eliminate all these allegations. There are also a number of complaints about it, but I can say that we've also received praise for the functioning of the healthcare system," he added.

When asked whether he would continue his mandate, Minister Vili Beros replied that it was a difficult question to answer, but that he would do his best to implement the elements of the reform.

"I'll do my best to implement these elements in the context of our reform that we set as a task. I will tell you this - strengthening public health is our priority," said Beros. The minister added that the next Friday will be the presentation of new preventive health examinations, and he also referred to health literacy.

"We're talking about the development of health literacy, we already have some concrete results, an agreement with the Ministry of Education on that path. We need to develop health literacy from a young age," said Beros, adding that national preventive examinations for the early detection of numerous tumors are all that we really do in the context of prevention.

Considering that this is a pre-election year, Beros was asked whether or not it was a bit late for any reforms, to which the minister replied that such thoughts are calculative.

"I don't have the time or ability, nor am I the kind of person to calculate. I really want to establish those changes in the healthcare system that will be positive for everyone, especially for patients. My personal mission is to bring the patient back into focus," he explained, adding that government determination on this issue is strong.

"Things can always be better, let's not forget that I'm a doctor myself, and of course I understand their fight for higher salaries. But you have to look at the broader context, we're in the post-pandemic era. Since 2016, their incomes have grown by 43 percent. I will clearly answer their requests and listen to all of their objections," he said, adding that he suspects that there are other motives in the whole story.

"I wouldn't go to a protest, that's not the way to solve this problem... In the end, there are over 2,400 doctors in Croatia who have a higher salary than the prime minister. And I won't even tell you how many of them earn more than me, which doesn't even matter. I'm only saying it in the context of talking about the material rights of doctors," he said.

For more on Croatian politics, make sure to keep up with our dedicated section. Our Week in Croatian Politics articles are published every Friday.

March the 10th, 2023 - This week in Croatian politics, we've had a rather poor response to Plenkovic making it illegal to leak information from active investigations, Milanovic has claimed that people are drowning in corruption, and pensioners have had some relief from paying certain health insurance contributions. Oh, and there's been talk of price increases, again.

Plenkovic made leaking information an act punishable by law last month, and it's proved wholly unpopular

Index writes that the Promocija plus agency recently conducted some research for RTL regarding the announcement of changes to the Criminal Procedure Act and the Criminal Code. These alterations to the law would make the leaking of information a punishable act, and a survey was conducted from March the 1st to the 3rd on a sample of 1,300 respondents with a standard error of plus or minus 2.7 percent and a confidence level of 95 percent.

Most respondents have indicated that they don't support criminalising the leaking of information from investigations, which is the government's plan. The majority, i.e. 51.4 percent of respondents are against this idea, while 34.5 percent support it.

14.1 percent didn't know or didn't want to answer. Among those who are in favour of making the leaking of information a punishable act, as expected, are HDZ voters (55.6 percent of them support it), followed by those who vote for HNS (80.6 percent of them support it), those who would vote for the Suverenisti (64.5 percent) and Bandic's party (59.1 percent).

While the Prime Minister is making little to no effort to hide that he is bothered by the political damage that results from the disclosure of information from investigations, the respondents see this very reason as the main trigger for changing the law. 51.1 percent of respondents think this is the sole reason for the idea. At the same time, 13.1 percent of them think that the reason is the protection of the rights of all persons involved in investigations, and even the protection of the investigative procedure, which is what 10.1 percent of respondents think.

People believe that the biggest victims of such a change would be journalists

Only 4.9 percent of respondents believe that the main reason for changing the law is the independence of the judiciary. According to Prime Minister Plenkovic's announcement, leaking information from judicial investigations will become a criminal offense, and the goal, as stated, is to prevent information and details from investigations from being released to the media.

The prime minister claims that he isn't trying to stifle any media freedom, but the main victims of this kind of judicial maneuver are precisely journalists, and this is what almost 37.5 percent of respondents believe. 8.9 percent believe that judges and court officials will suffer, and 8.4 percent of the survey participants believe that the public itself is the main victim.

President Zoran Milanovic says that the Croatian public is ''drowning in corruption'' and that the current situation is worse than it was during Ivo Sanader's reign

Milanovic is no stranger to simply blurting out whatever he thinks, with little to no regard for anyone he might offend, and the arguments between him and PM Plenkovic have become somewhat iconic. He has taken another swipe at Croatian politics as run by Plenkovic and stated that the Croatian public is ''drowning in corruption'' and in a ''worse state than when Ivo Sanader was in charge''. 

"When someone comes and tells me that they're ending their cooperation with the president of the republic [in reference to Plenkovic allegedly saying that to him], who was elected democratically, then that's a clear violation of the Croatian Constitution, I'm surprised that that person is still the prime minister, and that someone in the parliament supports that. Let's take a good look at ourselves because Plenkovic is now violating the constitution,''

Milanovic then went on to quote a list of names and positions within either the government or within society that he believes Plenkovic arranged for his own benefit, and even dragged members of his family into it all.

''You people are absolutely drowning in corruption, this whole situation is worse than the one Ivo Sanader caused. At least he only stole for himself,'' Milanovic stated, before continuing with more quite jarring statements about Plenkovic being arrested in Brussels.

Government session closes with the abolition of health insurance contributions for pensioners and VAT amendments

The amendments to the VAT Act proposed by the government at the most recently held session have resulted in the retention of lowest VAT rate yet on gas and some other energy products, and the amendments to the Contributions Act have abolished additional health insurance contributions payable by pensioners.

Amendments to the Law on VAT

According to Plenkovic, the government is proposing changes to the VAT Act, which will see it retain the VAT rate of five percent on deliveries of natural gas and heating from thermal stations. This includes fees related to these deliveries, as well as for deliveries of firewood, pellets, briquettes and wood chips even after March the 31st of this year.

"We're continuing with the reduced rate of VAT on gas, pellets, briquettes, wood chips, and we're going to extend this measure for another year. In this way, we're successfully enabling everyone to be supplied with these types of energy sources on time and at the lowest possible rate," Plenkovic said.

"We support pensioners"

When it comes to changes to the Law on [Health Insurance] Contributions, the proposal is to abolish the payment of an additional contribution for health insurance, which includes about one million pensioners, to whom the said contribution will be paid at the expense of the state budget. This will refer to around 32,000 such individuals.

"We support Croatia's pensioners, and another 32,000 of them will keep what they have been paying so far as part of their regular pension," Plenkovic said.

Freedom House says corruption continues to represent a very serious problem for Croatia

Political rights and civil liberties are generally respected in Croatia, but corruption and discrimination against certain minorities remains a very serious and real concern, Freedom House stated in its 50th annual report on the level of freedoms across the world.

Compared to last year, Croatia lost a point and now has 84 - 35/40 for political rights and 49/60 for civil liberties. Civil and political rights are generally respected in Croatia, but corruption in the public sector remains a serious problem, according to the Freedom House report.

As key events last year, they cited the arrest of various big names from the world of Croatian politics, the staggering INA affair and the fulfillment of the conditions for Croatia's entry into the Eurozone and Schengen despite these issues. The American non-governmental organisation warned that Roma, Serbian nationals, ethnic Serbs and members of the LGBTIQ+ community continue to face discrimination. It also noted the presence of far-right groups and people who promote discriminatory values in public spaces as a legitimate concern.

Irena Weber, the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) president, talked about price increases and about Croatia's lack of competitiveness economically

Irena Weber from the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) commented on various economic topics for N1 television, from tax policy to government measures to unjustified price increases and the issue of non-working Sundays.

HUP's salary taxation model

HUP has proposed an increase of salaries through tax relief in such a way that the non-taxable part of an individual's salary rises from 533 euros to 663 euros and that the tax bracket of 20 percent is reduced to 15, and that 30 percent of the income tax is applied only to salaries greater than 50,000 kuna. The amount that local self-government units would lose would be compensated by the introduction of a 10 percent tax on apartment rent. Commenting on the HUP initiative, Finance Minister Marko Primorac said that it was not particularly well thought out.

"The idea was to draw attention to the fact that the income tax burden in Croatia is very much an issue, while, on the other hand, income from other sources is practically not subject to taxation. The intention was to point out that in this country, in which we continuously swear by education, work and similar, work is heavily taxed while we have a large number of people who don't participate in payng income tax whatsoever,'' said Weber.

"The idea is to start discussing all of that. We're arranging a meeting with the Minister of Finance and we need to open this topic properly because there is a large amount of unfairness in the distribution of the tax burden from labour in relation to property tax. With this kind of tax burden on labour, low productivity and the like, we're quite uncompetitive as a country,'' she added

She also pointed out that the government has relieved the tax burden on wages in several rounds already, but also that this increase coincided with strong GDP growth. "Croatian GDP grew by over 20 percent, which is an excellent result even in European Union terms, but that also coincides with the increase in income into the budget."

When asked how much employers raised prices, Weber says: "The domestic labour market continually lacks the staff, employers are fighting to get their hands on every possible worker, there's a real struggle. The problem of labour shortage is also being solved by importing labour from abroad, which isn't efficient either. The State Bureau of Statistics (CBS) announced that wage growth stood at 9.3 percent. We have information from our survey that HUP members increased the wages they pay out by over 15 percent, and yesterday morning we had a meeting with the trade unions, the merchants had raised their wages by over 20 percent. We really must keep raising wages."

"There were no unjustified price increases''

Weber and other HUP members support the continuation of the government's measures to limit energy prices. However, she believes that the issuing of fines for retail chains and others in the trade sector that didn't send the government a list of their products and their prices for the so-called ''white lists'' will not come to pass: "I think all of that was nothing more than speculation.''

She added that inspections carried out showed that almost no irregularities were found even in several hundred checks. "In addition, the CBS published data on price growth in January and February - 1.3 percent in the beverage, food and tobacco sector, which confirms that there was no unjustified price increase there. Retail chains played perhaps the most significant role in the conversion of the euro as an important channel."

"It's not pleasant for me to see any kind of jump in prices either, but we need to look at the bigger picture, inflation is a global problem, we know how the prices of energy, the cost of labour, the price of packaging, and raw materials have risen. With such a price shock, it's logical that the price of the final product also rises. I think that prices will start to stabilise," added Weber.

At the end, she commented on the government decision on non-working Sundays: "We cannot support any ban. HUP is against any restriction of the right to work. This is not the time for that."

For more on Croatian politics, make sure to check out our dedicated section. For a weekly roundup of what's been going on, keep an eye out for our Week in Croatian Politics articles which are published every Friday.

March the 3rd, 2023 - This week in Croatian politics, we've had government failings and alleged GDPR violations, the plight faced by doctors and other healthcare professionals being ignored by the powers that be, and Plenkovic was put to the competency test.

The government's proposed "white list" of stores fails spectacularly, here's how

The state has proven once again that it likes to interfere in things it doesn't actually remotely understand, according to Branimir Perkovic. When it comes to thinks in which it should not be involved at all, it ultimately does badly. The most recent blunder of all is the famous so-called "white list" of stores and others operating within the trade sector, hastily drawn up to protect the government from having to deal too much with politically unpleasant price comparisons of stores in Croatia and other Eurozone countries.

This "application" (which it actually isn't) had been being announced for weeks by many at the helm of Croatian politics, primarily by Minister Davor Filipovic. On the eve of its presentation by Filipovic's ministry, a media conference was held where the project, which they persistently and wrongly referred to as an app, was presented.

"We think that this way of informing the public is very good and that white lists will help people make decisions when purchasing things and will be able to give confidence to retail chains that have decided to be transparent," Filipovic said the day before the price movement ''app'' was released to the public. In the weeks leading up to the site's launch, he repeatedly spoke about this, praising the project and emphasising its importance.

After no more than a few days, according to Filipovic's announcements, it became clear that practically nobody anywhere was making any purchase decisions based on the government app that isn't an app. For starters, although it's persistently presented as an "app", it's actually just a regular website. Someone in the Ministry of Economy should know that the apps are intended for use via mobile phones and tablets, and currently the so-called white list of Croatian traders exists only as a website.

Nobody uses the government website, it allegedly violates the law and it's impractical

The real problem is that it isn't useful at all, as evidenced by the low to no use of it. The ministry boasted that it was visited a total of 34,789 times from February the 17th to March the 2nd, but most of these visits (a massive 60 percent of them) were made in the first two days alone.

After the first seven days of the site being live, the daily number of visits dropped to less than 1000, and in the past seven days it is less than 700. It's obvious that the users have assessed that it isn't a useful tool, and most of don't return after visiting once. There was such a rush to create the "app" that the Electronic Communications Act and the General Data Protection Regulation, i.e. GDPR, were entirely forgotten. The state has therefore managed to do something new that allegedly violates the laws of that same state. Not only that, but the state would severely punish both private companies and individuals for the same omission.

In this way, the Personal Data Protection Agency (AZOP) will only inform the competent institutions, in this case the Ministry of Economy, that they should comply with the GDPR as soon as possible. Because as things currently stand, according to Croatian and European Union law, this app, site, or whatever it is, violates the privacy of its users.

"The analysis of the website found that the site does not have a cookie banner for consent to the processing of personal data, and stores two cookies on the equipment of the user/visitor of the site, which requires the prior consent of the user,'' replied the Agency for personal data protection upon receiving Telegram's inquiry about the GDPR issue.

It's hard to believe that all of the listed prices are the same in all branches of certain stores across the whole country

The truth of the data on it is also not being checked by anyone. Maybe the prices in the three retail chains (Konzum plus, KTC and Tommy) really are as they are stated on it, although it's quite hard to believe that the same price is valid for so many products throughout Croatia. Every regular store visitor has noticed that the price of a certain product is often not the same even in the same city/municipality in different stores of the same retail chain.

"That site was created only so that politicians would give the impression that they're doing something"

"The goal is to influence possible price increases and the trend of inflation, because when people see who is correct, they will know how to appreciate it," said Minister Filipovic when launching the "app". But the people ignored his little project. Money was spent, no effect was had.

"I don't see how a movement-price page can be relevant for anyone on any topic," IT expert and analyst Marko Rakar commented for Index. "That page was created only so that politicians would give the impression that they're doing something," he concluded.

An app that isn't app, that no one uses, that doesn't protect the privacy of its users and the accuracy of which is questionable. For "only" 26,000 euros. It could have been worse. In fact, there were worse projects, if we only take a trip back in time to the infamous CRO card saga, a more or less forgotten failure of the Tourism Ministry.

A vote of confidence (or no confidence, as the case could have been) in PM Andrej Plenkovic took place recently

The world of Croatian politics is a turbulent one, and Plenkovic is usually somewhere in the limelight. The vote of confidence in Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic confirmed recently that the majority of MPs remain behind him, and it also revealed that as many as seventeen MPs from the opposition that rather loudly initiated the proceedings in the first place didn't bother to show up for the vote at all.

Who among the opposition didn't even bother to come cast a vote?

Davor Bernardic (Social Democrats)
Erik Fabijanic (Social Democrats)
Katica Glamuzina (Social Democrats)
Rajko Ostojic (Social Democrats)
Sanja Udovic (Social Democrats)
Emil Daus (IDS)
Marin Lerotic (IDS)
Sinisa Hajdas Doncic (SDP)
Ante Kujundzic (Most/Bridge)
Zeljko Lenart (HSS)
Natalija Martincevic (Reformisti/Reformists)
Marijana Puljak (Centar/Centre)
Zeljko Sacic (Hrvatski suverenisti/Croatian sovereignists)
Dario Zurovec (Focus)
Vinko Grcic (Independent)
Stjepan Kovac (Independent)
Miroslav Skoro (Za pravednu hrvatsku/For a just Croatia)

Who abstained?

Milan Vrkljan (Za pravednu hrvatsku/For a just Croatia)

There were 74 opposition MPs in the parliament, and 56 of them raised their hands as a vote of no confidence in Plenkovic and his leadership as Prime Minister.

"Those who didn't even bother to turn up and aren't sick or have no other valid reason not to come will have to explain this within their own parties," said Pedja Grbin (SDP). "The ruling majority is still at 77, and that says we still have those who don't see, don't want to see, pretend not to see, or are completely aware of everything and don't really care what's happening to this country at all," he asserted.

Nikola Grmoja (Bridge/Most): We didn't even think it was possible to gather enough hands anyway

Regarding the fact that the opposition didn't come out in full force, Nikola Grmoja from Most pointed out that they didn't even think it was possible to gather enough hands to topple the prime minister anyway.

"A vote of no confidence is an instrument used by the opposition to warn people about the state of society, about all the scandals, the fact that Plenkovic's associates are trading in influence and that he himself is mentioned as the one in whose office Gabriela Zalac's controversial software was presented... So the opposition did everything it could could, we can't do more than this. If we could, then we would be the government," Grmoja pointed out, adding that this is the largest number of votes the opposition has collected in a vote for an initiative.

Bencic: They voted with their absenteeism

When asked what about those who didn't bother to come to vote, Sandra Bencic (We Can!/Mozemo!) said that not coming is justified for some who have a medical reason for not being present or were prevented by legitimate obligations. But those who don't have it, she added, voted by not attending anyway.

Bencic clarified to a journalist's question that Milan Vrkljan will no longer be invited to opposition meetings and agreements because he cannot participate as a member of the majority in opposition agreements.

The European Union provided the funds to help Croatia in its post-earthquake mess one year ago, but the government is only now ordering prefab housing for those affected by December 2020's Petrinja earthquake

The Ministry of Spatial Development, Construction and State Property has published the Draft Procurement Documentation in EOJN - Prior consultation with interested economic entities for the subject of procurement: The procurement of mobile and modular prefabricated/dismantled houses, including technical specifications.

What kind of housing has been ordered?

The plan is to acquire 500 wooden houses with a size of 25 m2 for one to two people and the same housing spanning 35 m2 for two to four people. The total estimated value of the procurement is 14 million euros (without VAT), and the open high-value public procurement procedure is divided into six groups that refer to the area of Sisak-Moslavina County.

As prescribed, the housing unit must have one space that serves as a kitchen and living room, then a bathroom and one or two bedrooms. It will be equipped with basic equipment - sanitary facilities, kitchen elements, basic appliances, such as a stove and refrigerator, a dining table, beds, and so on.

"Aside from the primary use for the purpose of temporarily taking care of the users whose houses were damaged during the Petrinja earthquake, the houses in question are planned to be moved and used for other purposes later. Accordingly, they must be made in such a way that they can be quickly dismantled and transported to another location without damage,'' reads the competent ministry's documentation preceding the public tender.

EU money has been available for this for more than a year now

Minister Branko Bacic also spoke about the initiation of the preliminary consultation procedure for the procurement of the aforementioned wooden mobile homes for the temporary accommodation of users at a recent government session. He invited Croatian manufacturers and builders of wooden prefabricated houses to participate in this consultation and assist in the procurement of such wooden houses.

The ministry also plans to finance the wooden houses with money from the European Union Solidarity Fund. The problem with the whole story is that this money has been available to Croatia for more than a year now, i.e. since December the 30th, 2021. Things move painfully slowly in Croatian politics, and it should be noted that volunteers had been erecting similar wooden houses in Banovina for several months after the earthquake, and the government is only now starting this process, years after the terrible Petrinja earthquake struck Central Croatia.

A temporary solution once again, and at the last minute before the chance to use EU money expires - again

Instead of wooden houses, which typically make for much more comfortable accommodation, many victims of the Petrinja earthquake are still living in small, cramped tin containers. The government is only now planning the acquisition of more comfortable accommodation, but again it's temporary. There isn't much talk about proper, permanent replacement houses yet.

In addition, the government found itself in a race against time, because the opportunity to spend European Union money from the Solidarity Fund expires in just four months, which means that the work must be completed by the end of June. If nothing else, the government at least, after more than two years, finally realised that tin containers and container settlements are an ugly picture that says everything about the non-existent state of the reconstruction ''process''.

The plight of doctors is still being ignored by the government, and the Croatian Medical Chamber is growing frustrated

The Croatian Medical Chamber (HLK) recently announced that a government decision on amendments to the Regulation on job titles and job complexity coefficients in public services is a clear message of them simply continuing to ignore requests from doctors and other healthcare professionals.

The aforementioned government decision on amendments to the Regulation on job titles and job complexity coefficients in public services, which again doesn't contain changes to the coefficients for the three groups of doctors that were agreed with the Ministry of Health last year in August, is a clear message of continuing to ignore doctors' requests, it is stated in the Chamber's press release.

HLK assesses that it is obvious that, for the time being, there's absolutely no political will to meet the demands of grossly underpaid and overworked doctors, and thus neither to make key decisions for the sustainability of the public health system and the remaining doctors in Croatia. The Chamber referred to the meeting back in August last year at the Ministry of Health, when doctors were promised concrete deadlines for correcting these coefficients.

Croatian doctors are demanding the urgent regulation of the salary coefficient system

The Croatian Chamber of Physicians, the Croatian Physicians' Union, the Coordination of Croatian Family Medicine and the Croatian Association of Hospital Physicians demanded urgent regulation of the existing system of salary coefficients for certain categories of physicians.

Medical associations demanded that the government equalise the coefficients of focused specialists with narrow specialists who specialised according to earlier rules, equalise the coefficients of doctors working in primary healthcare with doctors working in hospitals, and to raise the coefficients of residents as well.

Back in August of last year, HLK reported that it had agreed with the Ministry of Health that the deadline for correcting coefficients for doctors was to be the end of 2022, i.e. that these costs must be planned in the budget proposal for 2023. That deadline expired more than two months ago.

For more on Croatian politics, make sure to check out our dedicated section. For a weekly overview, keep an eye out for our Week in Croatian Politics articles which are published every Friday.

March 2, 2023 - The Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic met with Ukraine's Minister of Energy German Galushchenko, and on that occasion he emphasized that Croatia shall continue helping Ukraine in the country's ongoing struggle. Croatia's help will continue to cover all the key aspects. 

"During the meeting, full support was given to the Ukrainian people in the fight for freedom, and it was pointed out that Croatia will continue with political, economic, financial, humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine," the official press release by the Croatian Government states, as reported by Index (HINA).

At the same time, readiness for cooperation in the fields of energy, restoration of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, as well as ensuring energy security of Ukraine in conditions of Russian aggression was expressed, to which Croatia has already contributed as part of international efforts to help Ukraine, the press release further concludes.

P-TECC covers 24 countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Incidentally, the Ukrainian Minister of Energy German Galushchenko is participating in the 4^th ministerial meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC). P-TECC is a multilateral initiative led by the US Department of Energy.

P-TECC covers 24 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and is complementary to the Three Seas Initiative with an emphasis on energy infrastructure, interconnection and security. This year's meeting of P-TECC in Zagreb started yesterday with a business forum, while a ministerial meeting will be held today.

Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic will also participate in the opening of the meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation, today, on Thursday, March 2, 2023, at 8:30 a.m., at The Westin Hotel in Zagreb, at Izidora Krsnjavoga 1.

For that occasion, the Croatian Prime Minister will be accompanied by Croatia's Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Davor Filipovic.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.