ZAGREB, 9 March 2022 - The Croatian parliament on Wednesday adopted the prime minister's report on the situation in Ukraine, which strongly condemned the Russian invasion and praised the Ukrainian military and people for their heroic resistance.

Also adopted were government measures relating to the humanitarian, healthcare, financial, banking, energy, transport, defence and other sectors, and the government was called upon to consider the proposals put forward by MPs.

In the report, presented last week, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković expressed full support for the Ukrainian people "who are dying for European values".

"Supporting Ukraine and respecting the courage of Ukrainians not to flee before tanks, not to give in to blackmail, not to bow down their heads, to be inspired by love of their country as the Croats were in the Homeland War, let us stand together with Ukraine and Ukrainians today. Glory to Ukraine!" Plenković said.

Parliament adopted amendments to the Court Register Act and the Companies Act aimed at helping companies avoid a bankruptcy.

Also adopted was the proposal to declare 14 May, Croatian Diabetes Day. An estimated 500,000 people in Croatia have diabetes, and the importance of this topic will be marked twice a year - on World Diabetes Day (14 November) and Croatian Diabetes Day (14 May).

The ruling majority rejected the proposal by Marijan Pavliček (Croatian Sovereignists) to amend the Civil Protection System Act so that all decisions made by the national COVID-19 response team would be put to a vote in Parliament.

For more information on this and more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 9 March 2022 - Ivan Paladina, who has been nominated as the candidate for the new construction minister, said on Wednesday that he could not turn down the proposal made by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for his nomination as it is a call to rebuild the earthquake-affected homes of Croatian citizens.

"We have little time and a lot of work to do. I accepted this proposal as it also concerns the call to reconstruct the homes of our compatriots," Paldina said while presenting his agenda at a joint meeting of the parliamentary committees on construction and the economy today.

He said that he is always guided by principles of cooperation, inclusion of different opinions and that he always listens to the opinions of professionals and wants to make things simpler.

"Administrative obstacles must not slow down the reconstruction of anyone's home and they must not hinder progress. People, who suffered damage in the (2020) earthquakes, must not fall victim to rules", he said.

He will also focus on making legislative changes so as to accelerate the processes of post-quake reconstruction.

Concerning the criticism from the Opposition that he was an executive of the company that ran the Kupari Luxury Hotels project, Paladina underscored that he had withdrawn from that project four years ago and that he launched procedures to exit from ownership, in this case, two years ago.

"All the investments I was included in were conducted in line with the law and market principles, and I paid my taxes accordingly", he said.

In response to the questions from opposition MPs, Paladina said that to date he has completed many successful investment projects in construction and real estate and that his experience could be useful for the post-quake reconstruction.

The ministerial nominee said that he had already consulted experts and has detected the main problems in the process of the post-quake reconstruction.

For more information on this, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 9 March 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday presented the nominated minister of construction, Ivan Paladina, in the parliament, and said that the candidate's experience and enthusiasm are supposed to be a useful contribution to his cabinet.

"The government needs a man with the experience in the construction sector, project management, and real estate and with managerial and entrepreneurial skills so as to make the processes more dynamic," Plenković said at the joint meeting of the parliamentary committees on construction and the economy.

Paladina, born in 1983, graduated from a faculty of economics and has also a postgraduate degree in management. He used to be an advisor to the management of Hrvatska Poštanska Bank (HPB) and before that he had been the chair of the management board of the IGH Institut construction company.

The PM said today that the ministerial department of construction and zoning had three important tasks: to accelerate the post-quake reconstruction, to make the issuance of building permits and other documents faster and simpler in order to boost the investment cycle, as well as to make use of the state property.

For more information on this, check out our dedicated politics section.

March 8, 2022 - The government has made a decision that fixes the margin of oil traders and temporarily reduces excise duties on diesel and gasoline to mitigate rising prices. Thus, as of today, new fuel prices at Croatian gas stations are more expensive. You can follow the latest fuel prices on this page.

The new price of regular diesel is now HRK 12.51, and Class Plus diesel HRK 13.56. Ordinary petrol, ie Eurosuper 95 now costs 12.18 kuna, while Eurosuper 100 costs 13.11 kuna.

Recall, the government has made a decision which fixes the margin of oil traders and temporarily reduces excise duties on diesel and gasoline to mitigate rising prices, said Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in the introduction to the government session, writes N1.

"Fixing the price could lead to the closure of some gas stations"

If the retail price fix was extended, many distributors in the market would face the situation of operating at a loss, which could lead to the closure of some gas stations, he added.

"In order to avoid such a situation, we will enable their further business by fixing the total margin for diesel and gasoline at 0.75 kunas per liter and 0.50 kuna per liter for blue diesel," said Plenković.

Excise duties and margins will be valid for 90 days

In addition, he added, the amendments to the Decree on Excise Duties will reduce the number of excise duties on diesel and gasoline by 90 lipas per liter of unleaded motor gasoline and 20 lipas per liter of diesel fuel for a period of 90 days.

"In this way, we want to contribute to reducing the price shock on our citizens, and according to our calculations, this will lead to a reduction in state budget revenues from excise duties on energy over 150 million kunas," said Plenković

According to government estimates, the new measures will keep the price increase per liter of fuel, whether diesel or petrol, which would amount to around two kunas in real market trends, from an increase of 80 lipas to 1.20 kuna.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 6 March 2022 - The cooperation between Croatia and the United Arab Emirates will soon become more intensive and more serious, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said at a business forum between the two countries in Dubai on Sunday.

Plenković, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman and Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac arrived at Expo 2020 on the occasion of Croatian National Day at the exhibition.

They came to Dubai with numerous Croatian business people who attended the business forum.

"I would say that this stay at Expo, such a big turnout of Croatian business people and this business forum will contribute to increasing trade, which will soon pass US$ 100 million again," the prime minister said.

After meeting with UAE leaders, he said he had a "strong confidence that the cooperation between Croatia and the UAE will take a more intensive and more serious direction."

At the forum, Plenković presented the Croatian economy to the Arab participants, saying that Croatia has a stable economic growth and the highest investment rating in its history.

For more, check out our business section.

ZAGREB, 6 March 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Sunday attended the marking of Croatian National Day at Expo 2020 Dubai, saying Croatia is a "country of investors" and that it has centuries-long ties with the Arab world.

Croatia is attending Expo for the first time since 2010 in China.

Today the Croatian Pavilion at Expo 2020 was visited by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, a member of the United Arab Emirates government and commissioner of the exhibition.

"UAE-Croatia relations have been growing considerably in the last decade and we wish to expand the cooperation in the commercial, political and cultural spheres," he said, adding that the Croatian pavilion symbolises the "growing relations" between the two states.

Plenković said he was proud of the "history, talent and creativity" of the Croatian people and the "beautiful and preserved nature and the diversity of the cultural heritage."

He mentioned the necktie, Faust Vrančić as the first man to jump with a parachute in 1617, criminalist and fingerprinting creator Ivan Vučetić, modern seismology founder Andrija Mohorovičić, and Nikola Tesla.

"Thanks to him (Tesla), in 1895 Šibenik became the first city whose street lighting received energy from a hydroelectric power plant," Plenković said and also mentioned the Rimac Automobili company, which made the fastest electric car in the world, which is displayed in the Croatian Pavilion.

"Besides an innovative and creative spirit," Croatia is also full of talent in sports, culture, music and art, he said, calling on those present to visit Croatia.

Plenković said the relations between Croatia and the Arab world dated back to the Middle Ages.

"For centuries, the Croats were the only Slavic people which maintained relations with the Arabs in the Mediterranean, and the Croatian republic of Dubrovnik traded intensively with the Arab states as a mediator between East and West," he said.

"Therefore it's no coincidence that the first mention of Croatia on the world map was on the one designed by the great Arab Islamic geographer and cartographer al-Idrisi in the 12st century," Plenković added.

He also mentioned Croatian philosopher Hermann the Dalmatian, one of the most important translators from Arabic to Latin, the author of the first Latin translation of the Qur'an, and the fact that Croatia was the third European country to officially recognise Islam as a religion in 1916.

Plenković was accompanied to Dubai by Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman and Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac.

For more, check out our business section.

ZAGREB, 2 March 2022 - Croatia cares for stability and security in its immediate environment, promoting peace and good-neighbourly relations with the countries in southeastern Europe on their way to integration into the European Union and NATO, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in the Croatian Parliament on Wednesday. 

"We want everyone to refrain from any incidents, any inflammatory rhetoric or anything that might destabilise the otherwise tense situation in at least three countries in our neighbourhood. We can't have two hotspots in Europe at the same time. The chaos that we now have is enough," the prime minister said in response to questions from MPs during discussion on the situation in Ukraine following Russia's military invasion.

MP Bojan Glavašević (Green-Left Bloc) recalled the statement by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik in which he supported Russian President Vladimir Putin and called Ukrainian defenders "an armed gang".

"As for Dodik and his view on the Ukrainian defenders, I condemn it unequivocally," Plenković said.

Plenković said that Croatia was taking care of the security of the LNG terminal on the northern Adriatic island of Krk, a strategic installation thanks to which Croatia has changed its position on Europe's energy map, and making sure there were sufficient supplies of food and at affordable prices.

Asked by Andreja Marić (Social Democratic Party) about the readiness of the healthcare system for a nuclear threat, the prime minister said that the Health Ministry had formed a task force to take care of all aspects of healthcare in all scenarios.

"As for threats with nuclear weapons, I sincerely hope such a scenario will not happen because it would be the end of the world as we know it," Plenković said.

Mario Kapulica of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union recalled that President Zoran Milanović had recently mocked the possibility of Russian aggression and spoken of extremists in Ukraine.

"This is when we have to give those who were not precise enough a chance to take the right side," Plenković said, agreeing that there had been "misjudgements and poorly worded sentences" and calling for "unity in the time ahead of us".

Condemning the aggression on Ukraine and expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people, Plenković said that Ukraine was not a country that deserved the concept of neutralisation and being without a democratic leadership and its own armed forces.

The Croatian prime minister rejected the idea that the war in Ukraine was prompted by NATO's expansion. "That's not true," he stressed.

"This is a time when we have to uphold the fundamental principles no matter the cost, even if that may require giving up our way of life. This is a situation in which we must not have any doubts," he added.

Independent MP Karolina Vidović Krišto remarked that the prime minister should have submitted a report on the situation in Croatia and corruption, rather than the war in Ukraine on which he had no influence.

Plenković described her speech as inappropriate, harmful, untrue and defamatory. "We are working, while you are obstructing. We are winning and you are losing," the PM said.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 2 March 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that the government would examine in detail the request by the State Attorney's Office that Labour Minister Josip Aladrović be stripped of immunity before making a decision, adding that this is the first such case in the government's history.

The government received the request yesterday so that a procedure could be launched for a crime, that if convicted, is punishable with up to five years' imprisonment.

Speaking to the press, Plenković dismissed the interpretation that stripping the minister of immunity was a routine move. "There is nothing routine about this."

According to the media, Aladrović is suspected of illegal hiring at the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute, which he headed before becoming a minister.

Asked if a candidate for the new minister of physical planning, construction and state assets, after the resignation of Darko Horvat, would be known this week, Plenković said, "We'll see. Consultations are under way."

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 2 March 2022 - Croatian Ambassador to Ukraine Anica Djamić has left Kyiv and is en route to Lviv, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday.

"Given the deteriorating security situation in Kyiv and the attacks on Ukraine's capital, yesterday I instructed our Ambassador Anica Djamić to leave Kyiv," he told the press.

The ambassador is en route to Lviv, where she will stay and do her duty, helping Croatian nationals and following the situation in Ukraine.

"She is fine and we are believe that in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, she will be safe," Plenković said.

For more on the Ukraine crisis and Croatia, as well as breaking news, follow our news section.

ZAGREB, 2 March 2022 - The future of Europe depends on the fate of Kyiv, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in the Croatian parliament on Wednesday, once again condemning Russia's aggression in the strongest terms and commending the Ukrainian army and people for a heroic resistance.

"A quarter century after the Homeland War, a war is raging on European soil again. To the shock of the whole world, Russia's unprovoked brutal aggression on Ukraine is in its seventh day. There has been no war of such force and such extent in Europe for 77 years," he said, presenting a report on the Ukraine situation.

The "gross violation of international law" already has "far-reaching consequences for the whole world" and this crisis will most likely last a while, Plenković said.

He reiterated that Croatia "condemns the Russian aggression in the strongest terms and extends full support to the Ukrainian people who at this moment is once again dying for European values."

He congratulated Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on their courage.

Plenković said this was "a war between David and Goliath in which Russia is attacking the 28 times smaller Ukraine," adding that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine the victim.

Croatia is sending Ukraine HRK 124 million worth of weapons, ammunition and protective gear for the infantry. The European Union (EU) has ensured €500 million for the procurement of protective and military equipment.

Ukrainians won't bow down

Plenković said that Croatia had shown, with its partners in the EU, determination, solidarity and unity, and that this war had identified the need for energy autonomy and strengthening defence capabilities.

He said Croatia had always advocated Ukraine's European perspective, recalling that he and Zelenskyy signed a Declaration on that perspective in Kyiv last December.

Plenković said the war in Ukraine revived memories of Croatia's Homeland War. "All those images revive in Croatia painful memories of the Milošević regime's Great Serbian aggression and the horrors of war that we went through."

He congratulated Croatian MPs on the unanimous condemnation of Russia and solidarity with Ukraine, saying he was pleased that the parliamentary majority and the opposition are "on the right side of justice and freedom."

Attending the parliamentary debate were Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Kyrylych and members of the Ukrainian minority. The Ukrainian flag was also displayed.

"By supporting Ukraine and respecting the courage of Ukrainians not to run away from tanks, not to give in to blackmail, not to bow down, to be inspired by love for the homeland like the Croats were in the Homeland War, let's stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians today. Glory to Ukraine," Plenković said to a round of applause.

For more on the Ukraine crisis and Croatia, as well as breaking news, follow our news section.