ZAGREB, 1 June, 2021 - The Croatian Political Science Association (HPD) on Tuesday strongly condemned the criticism PM Andrej Plenković levelled against political scientist Dražen Lalić and the RTL broadcaster, noting that it was an attack not only on an individual but on all political scientists as well as media.  

The HPD recalled Plenković's statement that "RTL hired Lalić to vilify (HDZ candidate for Zagreb mayor Davor) Filipović in the worst way possible" and his remark that "those are not unbiased media" but "hirelings paid to demonise a political camp."

"Such an unsubstantiated verbal attack by the Prime Minister against our member and prominent Croatian researcher was not only an ad hominem attack - which  as such makes his criticism invalid - but also an attack on the right to express one's opinion and on intellectual freedom. With his inappropriate act, Andrej Plenković has threatened the freedom to express one's professional views and additionally weakened the already weak position of the media," the association said.

It also notes that, considering the disproportion of powers, this type of attack by the PM on a member of the academic community and public intellectual has the potential to instil fear and insecurity in members of the academic community and media alike.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

June 1, 2021 - With the new Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević soon coming to the office, Sandra Benčić of the green-left platform Mozemo! (We Can!) spoke to Index.hr about the first moves of the new administration.

Following intense post-first round campaigns in Zagreb for the second round of local elections, Tomislav Tomašević is the new mayor of Zagreb. Additionally, Tomašević's green-left coalition Mozemo! earned 23 seats in the City's assembly, and if the previously announced support of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) that has five, Mozemo! will have the majority in the assembly. 

The new mayor is expected to take his seat by the end of this week, and as Index.hr reports, Sandra Benčić, the Mozemo! MP says that ZG Holding chief and directors can be removed from their position immediately.

However, first and foremost, the earthquake damages seem to be taking the lead.

„The most urgent thing is to prepare documentation for the reconstructions of kindergartens, schools, and institutions in the city ownership that were damaged in the earthquake. We have to do that as fast as possible because the deadline to pull money from the EU Solidarity Fund is June 2022. I'm afraid there will be a fiasco regarding how much will the State pull from the fund, but we can only take the money for estates in the city property, and the damaged kindergartens and schools are our priority“, told Benčić for Index.hr

She added that they plan to start an Office for Zagreb Reconstruction and establish mobile teams which will help citizens to fill in documentation and requests for the reconstruction of damaged homes.

Regarding the statement about the fiasco with the State pulling money from Solidarity Fund, the conflict with the government was sparked yesterday when PM Andrej Plenković talked to the press regarding Tomašević's victory. He said he didn't congratulate Tomašević yet, but he will and that he expects good cooperation.

„I see that Mozemo! is paraphrasing my message from 2016 when I said that we are changing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) so we can change Croatia. They say they are changing Zagreb to change Croatia. Clearly, they have something against this Croatia“, said Plenković, sparking controversy.

And Benčić is not the one to remain silent on such statements.

„Yes, we do have something against this kind of HDZ and evening HDZ with the State. They are not the State but an interest group that trapped our country. We want to see the country returns to all its citizens and that, of course, hurts them to the level that the prime minister allows himself these kinds of statements which, if they weren't malice, would be at minimal, unsmart“, said Benčić.

With the biggest number of votes in the history of mayoral elections in Zagreb, Benčić continues they are ready to justify this trust, and they start with work immediately.

„We are going with the financial revision of City's administration, restructuring City offices. We will do it step by step and connect offices while ensuring that functions and services need to deliver to the citizens. It should be noted that Zagreb used to have fewer offices, 17 until 2000 and then offices start to grow exponentially, only to put politically suited people to positions and raise their payments“, explained Benčić.

 And the new Mayor Tomislav Tomašević also gave an interview on Monday. As Jutarnji List reported, Tomašević also talked about his plans to improve Zagreb and fulfill his promises, particularly with so many earned votes.

„This big trust is also a big responsibility. Citizens can expect that we will lead by example from the start. The city administration and authority will be based on three things: decency, modesty, and being at the citizen's service.

He also added that Mozemo! is considering filing a lawsuit against Miroslav Škoro for the filthy instigating campaign, as Tomašević and many other public figures described it.

„I wouldn't like this to happen to anyone anymore on any other elections in Croatia, regardless are we talking about a candidate from the right, left or center," commented Tomašević.

Although no direct link can be proved at the moment, Škoro's rhetoric could've been the fuel for the attacker that set fire to the Mozemo! election headquarters at Zagreb Contemporary Museum on the election night saying to the gathered that „they are communists“ and how he will „kill them all“, on which T-portal reported. 

The elections are over, but will Zagreb continue to celebrate in such a majority as it did on election night? This is something only Tomašević on his new function can answer in the following months and years.

Learn more about Zagreb on our TC page.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 1 June, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković told reporters on Monday evening that earlier in the day, when he was commenting on the elections, he was telling the truth and that amounted to no attack on the media because the media, he said, were not sacrosanct that couldn't be talked about.

"I was just telling the truth," Plenković said when asked by reporters whether he had gone too far  when commenting on the elections and criticisng several commercial broadcasters.

All those I talked about, including your broadcaster (RTL), used the wrong name of HDZ's candidate for Zagreb mayor in their shows, he said, adding that it had happened several times, even on another TV station and in some print media.

He said "these weren't slips of the tongue" and added that these things had clearly happened "on purpose". "This isn't criticism, I was telling the truth, it isn't an attack on the media. The media aren't sacrosanct so that we cannot talk about it," Plenković said.

Commenting on the statement that the Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) called on him not do it and that it was not his first time, Plenković said that that was "a rude and inappropriate statement by the HND president, who is much more slower and evasive when it comes to criticising (President Zoran) Milanović".

Milanović, he stressed, calls out on the media in a much harsher way. He calls the HRT Yutel, HRT reporters mercenaries of a political party, he calls daily newspapers usurers, he calls on your leadership to remove commentator (Žarko) Puhovski and after that I no longer see him in your (RTL) programme, Plenković said.

He said that HND president Hrvoje Zovko was "much more considerate" when it came to reacting to Milanović. Here he dares to talk about me as Lukashenko, Plenković noted, adding that this was going beyond all bounds, which could be classified as being biased.

It is one thing when those running in the election face off in a political match, and another when someone who presents himself as an independent analyst to the viewers, and they don't know whether you are paying him for it, describes a candidate before the elections in the worst possible way, Plenković said, referring to Dražen Lalić's comments for the RTL.

He recalled that it was not unusual for the media in the world to follow one political option.

There are no newspapers in the world for which one doesn't know whether they're left-wing or conservative, he said.

We cannot, he said, live in the belief that everyone is neutral, impartial, objective and in reality they support some option. "One shouldn't be ashamed of that, but it must be clearly stated," Plenković added.

There are double standards

Plenković also thinks that the media had been generating aggression toward the HDZ and the two key candidates in two big cities.

He said that the public had to realise there were double standards.

Asked to comment on Ivica Puljak's victory in Split, he countered with a question -- how can he have an anti-Semite for deputy mayor.

"The man practically wrote a justification for the Holocaust, and if you don't realise that, then you have a dangerous problem," Plenković said, adding that if it was happening elsewhere, "all associations would attack Puljak".

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 1 June, 2021 - Professor and political analyst Žarko Puhovski said on Monday that he was shocked by the statement signed by the Croatian Journalists' Union (SNH) and the Croatian Journalists' Association (HND), wondering if Plenković's attack on analyst Dražen Lalić was more significant than Milanović's on him.

"Is it really possible that (Prime Minister) Plenković's scandalous attack on Lalić is so much more significant than (President) Zoran Milanović's much dirtier continuous attacks on me in the past months, and in the former case you reacted in the blink of an eye, while in the latter not at all?" asked Puhovski in an open letter, adding that despite his years and experience, he is truly shocked by the statement the SNH co-signed today.

"I don't know if it's about likes/dislikes, ideology, stupidity or rudeness, but I didn't expect that from you at least," Puhovski told the SNH.

The HND and the SNH said earlier on Monday that they strongly condemned PM Andrej Plenković's attack on the media, interference in the editorial policy of commercial broadcasters RTL, Nova TV and N1 and criticism of the reporters and pundits covering campaigns in the run-up to the recent local election and the elections.

PM Andrej Plenković then said HND president Hrvoje Zovko's statement was "rude and inappropriate" and said he was "much quieter, slower and more evasive when it comes to criticising Milanović".

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

June the 1st, 2021 - Croatian PM Andrej Plenkovic has claimed that despite the clear Tomasevic and Mozemo! (We Can!) win in the City of Zagreb, making him the new mayor and marking a significant political shift, that Mozemo! have something against ''this Croatia''.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, upon answering journalists' questions about the election results, PM Andrej Plenkovic (HDZ) said that he hadn't yet called Tomislav Tomasevic in person and congratulated him on his win and new title as the Mayor of Zagreb, but that he does intend to and will.

When he was asked how it is that everyone says they are winning, he simply said: "Count!"

“The numbers are always the best indicators. HDZ has 45 percent of cities and municipalities, 75 percent of the counties. HDZ has never won 15 counties before. I see that people Mozemo! paraphrased my message from back in 2016 when I said: "We're changing the HDZ to change Croatia." They're changing Zagreb to change Croatia. Obviously, they have something against the Croatia in which we managed to prevent social fragmentation, preserve 700,000 jobs, save 120,000 employers, pay 2.9 billion kuna within Zagreb alone for the salaries of 215,000 workers in the capital… I guess that's a message for change that needs to be done at the level of Croatia. I still have to listen carefully to precisely what changes they're calling for,'' said PM Andrej Plenkovic.

When asked what kind of cooperation he expects with Zagreb's new mayor Tomislav Tomasevic, he said that he has good cooperation with all leaders of local government units.

In a recent speech, he emphasised that the HDZ failed to win in only three out of six big cities. When asked by journalists whether or not the four largest Croatian cities are always the measure, Plenkovic pointed out the example of Velika Gorica near Zagreb, which, as he says, is growing, is now very large and that there is no big difference in population when compared to the likes of Osijek and Zadar as well.

"I'm delighted with the HDZ victory in Bjelovar-Bilogora County in the form of a young man of 36 years of age, who is one of those people of the new generation of HDZ. There, HDZ has returned to power after 20 years. It's the same situation in Varazdin County. For the first time in 20 years, Komadina had to go to the second round with Cappelli, where he won, although itsn't the sort of victory like he had before.

Of the 15 prefects we have, eight of them are "old" and seven are new. Of those seven, two are women and that’s just as important. The only women prefects are from HDZ - Antonija Jozic and Martina Furek Hajdin. The third candidate for mayor, Irena Hrstic, achieved the best HDZ result ever in Istria County, above 18 percent,'' he pointed out, emphasising that they also returned to power in Lika-Senj County.

He also accused RTL and Nova TV of deliberately mispronouncing the name of HDZ's candidate for mayor of Zagreb, Davor Filipovic, saying: "You should make a poster about what ideological television is like," to an N1 television reporter.

For more, make sure to follow our dedicated section on Croatian politics.

May 31st, 2021 - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Sunday evening that his party was the absolute winner of the local elections after the outcome of both rounds of voting showed that the HDZ won in 15 out of the 20 counties and in three out of the six biggest cities.

Addressing the press in the HDZ campaign headquarters after the second round of the elections on Sunday evening, Plenković said that the unanimous opinion of the HDZ leadership was that "the HDZ is the absolute, colossal winner of these local elections."

"We won 15 out of the 20 Croatian counties," he said, congratulating all the candidates who won the confidence of the electorate for their four-year terms as mayors, county prefects, or city and municipal councilors, and he also thanked voters for having gone to the polls.

Plenković said that the policy of gradual strengthening of the party in the west of Croatia yielded results.

After 20 years, Varaždin County and Bjelovar-Bilogora County have prefects from the HDZ, and the HDZ again has its prefect in Lika-Senj County, he said.

He added that the party would analyze why the incumbent prefect of Šibenik-Knin County, a member of the HDZ, was unseated.

Of the six biggest cities, the HDZ won the local elections in three: Osijek, Zadar, and Velika Gorica. Unfortunately, we did not win in Split. However, we won in Osijek for the first time since establishing our democracy, Plenković said.

Concerning recent developments in Split, he said that the elections had been smeared because the elected deputy mayor had publicly shown his antisemitism.

"This is a disgrace for him and Split. I expect the new mayor (Ivica Puljak of the Centre party) to distance himself clearly from him and the deputy to resign. It is unacceptable that the second biggest city in Croatia has such a man as the deputy mayor," Plenković said.

HDZ wins elections in 45% of municipalities, 45% of cities, and 75% of counties

As far as other cities and municipalities are concerned, the HDZ's performance in the local elections in at a similar level as four years before, according to Plenković.

The HDZ is the winner in 45% of municipalities, 45% of cities, and 75% of counties, he explained.

"We have won excellent, majority support of the electorate in the fifth year of this government's term," he said, promising cooperation with all the elected heads and councilors in local authorities.

For more on politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

ZAGREB, 27 May 2021 - The candidate of the Green-Left coalition for the new mayor of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomašević, said on Thursday that he had neither asked for the police protection nor did he have it.

Tomašević insists that the campaign in the run-up to the second round of the mayoral election in which he will face off Homeland Movement leader Miroslav Škoro is marked by hate and incendiary speech and fake news as never before.

Addressing the press in Zagreb today, Tomašević said that he had come to the venue of this news conference by tram and on foot just as he had done yesterday.

"I do not have the police protection, I have not requested it. Yesterday, you saw the stepped-up police presence as part of their regular activities at some of our gatherings," Tomašević said after on Wednesday police officers were spotted standing near the venue of Tomašević's news conference, which prompted media outlets and some politicians to speculate that Tomašević was given the police protection.

In response to reporters' questions on Wednesday, if he had been given police protection, Tomašević told reporters to ask police about that because security assessment was not what he and his colleagues did.

Concerning this topic, President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday afternoon that he would bet that Zagreb mayoral candidate Tomašević had been receiving threats given his opponent Miroslav Škoro's incendiary campaign.

Later in the day, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said the left parties in Zagreb kept quiet about the attacks on him and his HDZ party yet were now appalled by mayoral candidate Škoro's attacks. "Now you hear the aggrieved crying of all the people who otherwise keep quiet, and that's the phenomenon of the Zagreb election. You have the left which is now crying, yet is otherwise silent."

However, Tomašević said today that "nobody from the left is crying now".

"I do not have the police protection, I and my assistant have come together. There is no police here," Tomašević said adding that he feels safe and that he has not received any serious threat to date.

He reiterated that it was up to the police to assess security threats concerning the public gatherings of his political party and their sympathizers.

He said that when it came to fake news  "there is a direct connection between" his opponent Miroslav Škoro and the funding of the fake news publication on social networks.

Tomašević said that he would consider taking possible legal action after the completion of the mayoral runoff.

 "We are now focused on the second round of the elections," he added.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 24 May, 2021 - Croatia hopes its entry to the Schengen area of passport-free travel could be put on the agenda during Slovenia's EU presidency in the second half of this year, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday.

"I believe it is possible. We have excellent overall relations with Slovenia and it would be great if that happened during Slovenia's presidency of the Council of the EU," Plenković told reporters.

Plenković discussed Croatia's accession to the Schengen area and the euro area with European Council President Charles Michel and Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson.

Both the previous and current European Commission have confirmed that Croatia has met all technical criteria to enter the Schengen area and it is now up to the member-states, that is, the Council of the EU, to make a political decision on the matter.

Asked if he expected problems from some member-states, Plenković said that Croatia had succeeded in showing its partners through dialogue that it had met all criteria.

"I believe that we are heading towards a positive decision by the Council," he said.

The EC has said that on 2 June it will announce a new strategy for the Schengen area and two bills on changes to the Schengen evaluation mechanism and the Schengen Information System.

As for Croatia's other strategic goal, entry to the euro area, Plenković said that talks were underway with Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and that Croatia could soon achieve that goal as well.

"I believe that we will manage to join the euro area in the next two years," said Plenković.

The Croatian PM and European Council President Michel discussed also the situation in Southeast Europe, notably Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Plenković said that Croatia supported its neighbours' European ambitions, underlining the need to amend Bosnia and Herzegovina's election law so that it could enable parliamentary elections in 2022 and be fair for all constituent peoples and other citizens.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 24, 2021 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday after a meeting with the President of the European Council Charles Michel that the two condemned the forced landing of a Ryanair civil plane in Belarus and demanded an international investigation.

Plenković met with Michel in Brussels ahead of an EU summit.

Croatia's Prime Minister wrote on Twitter that he had spoken with Michel about "the fight against COVID-19, the vaccination process, Croatia's entry into the Schengen Area and the euro area and the continuation of enlargement."

"We condemn the unacceptable move by the Belarusian authorities and demand an international investigation," Plenković said.

Plenković then spoke with the Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson at the Commission's headquarters.

The two-day summit of the leaders of 27 EU member states starts on Monday evening, and the agenda includes meeting the set goals for climate protection, foreign policy issues, and the COVID-19 situation.

EU leaders will also address the unprecedented move by the Belarusian authorities, who on Sunday forced a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk and then arrested Roman Protasevich, one of the main opposition activists who were on board. It is expected that there will be a debate on measures the EU could introduce against the Belarusian regime.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 19 May, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that he had responded to President Zoran Milanović's request for convening a session of the Defence Council and offered that the session could be held on Thursday or Friday morning.

We offered him two appointments: tomorrow or on Friday morning, so that this advisory body could be convened and that council has no role in decision making, Plenković said after the inner cabinet's meeting in Zagreb.

Commenting on the planned purchase of military jets on Tuesday President Milanović said that he had invited Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to call a session of the Defence Council on this topic together with him.

Plenković said today that his cabinet had been working on the analysis of all the bids for the combat aircraft procurement, and on Tuesday, a few ministers were informed of the process.

This process is  extremely complex and demanding, Plenković said adding that the decision would be made public as soon as the government made it.

Plenković said that Milanović "is trying now jump on the bandwagon" concerning the combat jets decision ahead of NATO's summit meeting, whereas he had refused to appoint his envoy to the interdepartmental commission authorised to decide on the matter.

Asked by the press whether the Defence Council's meeting could be an opportunity for the heads of state and government to meet and overcome their conflicts, Plenković answered that this would not be a topic on the meeting's agenda.

"You have a deceitful man who is insulting the whole political scene, while many pundits are trying to reduce it to political one-upmanship. This is not political one-upmanship between us. This is unprecedented behaviour (of the president) towards a series of stakeholders and interlocutors on the political scene," the premier said.

For more news about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

For more news about Croatia, CLICK HERE.