ZAGREB, July 12, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday evening that he would nominate Ivan Malenica, the Dean of Šibenik Polytechnic, as the new Administration Minister.

"Malenica is a young man, a lawyer, who is well versed in issues relating to public administration," Plenković told the press after a meeting with the coalition partners at government headquarters.

The PM said that consultations on other government posts would be held in the coming days, which would be followed by a vote of confidence in Malenica and other nominees.

Ivan Malenica was born in Šibenik in 1985. He graduated from the Faculty of Law in Split, and in 2013 he enrolled in the Public Law and Administration postgraduate doctoral program at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb. He has held the post of Dean at Šibenik Polytechnic since October 2017.

His professional interests include public administration and administrative law.

More news about the Ministry of Administration can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 10, 2019 - Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday evening that he had been supported by the party leadership to reshuffle his cabinet.

"Members of the HDZ presidency and the national council gave me the support to take measures I find necessary to refresh the government," Plenković said after the meeting of the HDZ leadership in Zagreb.

He said that the purpose of this refreshing will be to streamline the efforts aimed at achieving the goals from the government's agenda and to prepare Croatia for the chairmanship over the European Union in the first half of 2020.

Furthermore, all that will be done with the aim of consolidating the HDZ and providing full support to President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović in the race for her second term.

He added that the meeting had revolved around a few important topics and that all the participants supported the course taken by the government and by the HDZ which enabled Croatia to enjoy a political stability and conditions for the committed reform activities.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 2, 2019 - The Social Democratic Party's (SDP) candidate for President and former prime minister, Zoran Milanović, said on Monday that with his "private behaviour" Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was harming Croatia's interests in the EU and would therefore have to explain, upon his return to Croatia, whose interests he defended and promoted in Brussels.

"I still hope Plenković can become the President of the European Commission. Only that can help lessen the damage to Croatia's interests in the EU he has caused with his behaviour," Milanović wrote on his Facebook wall.

Commenting on Plenković's stay in Brussels where talks are underway on a set of appointments of top EU officials, including the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Milanović said that Croatia's "adhering to the positions of a people's party" was unacceptable.

"And it's also unwise, given that Germany, which is still represented by Angela Merkel, holds a different opinion and supports a nonetheless acceptable Timmermans as head of the European Commission. Plenković continues to support Weber, who is slowly denying himself support," said Milanovic.

He said that because of that, Croatia was at the risk of suffering damage in a potential conflict with the EU's most powerful countries and reputable democracies such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain and others "who are trying to muster a majority for a decision."

"Croatia is siding with a weird minority group that is blocking decision-making; unlike Croatia, those countries are already in both the Schengen and the euro area or are not because they do not want it. Croatia allegedly does," Milanović said.

"In short - when he returns to Croatia, Plenković will have to explain whose interests he defended and promoted in Brussels. His or those of some People's Party members who are worth nothing without the support of Berlin. Not to speak of siding with defective democracies. Croatia must be a western democracy. It must choose who to associate with. Anything else is a road to pitiful Balkan despotism," Milanović wrote on his Facebook wall.

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković is protecting national interests and has secured a strong position for Croatia in the EU, the HDZ said on Monday, in a comment on a statement by presidential candidate Zoran Milanović, saying that it was ironical that Milanović, who had "the shameful Lex Perković voted in and caused a conflict with many partners even before Croatia joined the EU", was warning of alleged damage to be suffered by Croatia in the EU.

"Apart from evidently not being familiar with talks that are underway at the European Council, it is ridiculous that of all people, Milanović should be the one to warn of alleged damage to be suffered by Croatia in the EU because he was the one who had the shameful Lex Perković voted in and caused a conflict with many partners, notably Germany, even before Croatia entered the EU," the HDZ said in a post on its Facebook wall.

Germany was one of Croatia's strongest critics when two days before joining the EU on 1 July 2013, during the term of the Milanović government, Croatia amended the European Arrest Warrant law, preventing the extradition of Yugoslav-era intelligence officer Josip Perković for the assassination of Croatian dissident Stjepan Đureković near Munich in 1983.

In August 2016, a Munich court sentenced Perković and another Yugoslav-era Croatian intelligence agent, Zdravko Mustač, to life, finding them responsible for the Đureković murder. The perpetrators remain unknown.

The HDZ stressed that Plenković, unlike Milanović, was protecting national interests and had excellent relations with leaders of key EU countries. "He has also secured a strong position for Croatia in the EU. And the respect Croatia enjoys on the foreign policy front is evidenced by the appointment of Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić as Secretary-General of the Council of Europe," the HDZ said.

More news about Croatia and the EU can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 1, 2019 - EU leaders, who gathered at an emergency summit in Brussels on Sunday evening to elect new heads of European institutions, spent most of the night in bilateral talks, with no compromise in sight early on Monday morning. Talks dragged late into the night after it emerged that Dutch Socialist Frans Timmermans did not have the support of the European People's Party (EPP) to become European Commission President.

"The proposal that circulated in the media in the morning has no support from heads of state or government and the EPP presidency. The consensus on this is very clear and firm, so I expect long, tough and very complicated negotiations today," Croatian Prime Minister Plenković told the press after a meeting of EPP leaders and before the EU summit on Sunday evening.

The EPP meeting took longer than planned and the summit began with three and a half hours delay.

The reported deal to award the post of Commission President to Timmermans was reached on the margins of the G20 summit in Osaka last week. Under the deal, if there ever was one, the Liberal group was to get the post of European Council President and the EPP would receive the post of European Parliament President and the post of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The Osaka summit was attended by the incumbent European Council President Donald Tusk, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. If such an agreement was indeed reached, it means that Merkel did not receive support from the EPP.

Responding to a reporter's remark that it had seemed that Merkel supported the deal from Osaka, Plenković briefly said that he was talking about the position of the entire EPP. He said that the EPP's position had been clear from the start, and that is its support for the concept of spitzenkandidat under which the political group that wins the most votes, and the EPP won the most votes in May's election for the European Parliament, gets the post of Commission President.

Plenković said that "this entire tirade" against the EPP candidate Manfred Weber was initiated by the Socialists and Liberals who do not want the next Commission President to be from the EPP again.

"This entire tirade against Weber is totally unsubstantiated, that he doesn't have the necessary experience, that he doesn't speak all the languages and so on. I think that is totally irrelevant and only a pretext on the basis of which they want to achieve their goal that the Commission is not led by the EPP. That, of course, is unacceptable to us because the same arguments can be used to disqualify the lead candidates of the Socialists and Liberals," Plenković said.

He pointed out he was not sure that an agreement would be reached at this summit.

Plenković, who is one of the two EPP negotiators on the appointments, was again asked about his possible candidacy for one of the top EU jobs. "I've been telling you all along this is just speculation by the media. I am doing this with full confidence, solidarity, friendship and respect for the mandate we have been given by our colleagues, and that's the only mandate that we have, and for Manfred Weber whom I respect personally. Everything else is just speculation."

The emergency summit was convened to agree on the distribution of the top EU jobs before the first plenary session of the new European Parliament.

More news about Croatia and the European Union can be found in the Politics section.

Just what did Prime Minister Andrej Plenković take away from finally attending a meeting with Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac at Rimac Automobili in Sveta Nedjelja?

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes on the 30th of June, 2019, after Mate Rimac reached out with apparently little response from the HDZ leader, this is now the second time in one week that entrepreneur Mate Rimac, owner of Rimac Automobili, and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković have spent time together.

The pair held a meeting at the headquarters of Mate Rimac's company in Sveta Nedjelja, along with representatives of both Hyundai and Porsche, as well as five government ministers, and discussed the potential of attracting investment and stength to the car industry in Croatia.

"The car industry is changing and this is a chance for Croatia. We want to bring the best quality industry, not one based on cheap labour. We have the support of our investors. We want to work together on it and not end up saying that we've missed out on the car industry of the future. Let's create the conditions for foreign investors to make it interesting for them to come to Croatia,'' said Mate Rimac, when presenting the Croatian Government delegation his concrete guidelines for attracting investors to the car industry, a study which has taken him two years to complete.

When it was recently announced that Croatia's GDP grew by 3.9 percent in the first quarter, this news triggered the politicians' sense of self-praise and the disbelief of numerous experts, including those who doubted the fiture, and claimed it was a mistake.

That alone is the precise picture and opportunity of the Croatian economy which is continually growing faster than its potential ever can. Slow and expensive administration, high taxes, too large a share of the state in the economy, a generally fixed set of labour prices; all of this is extremely off-putting to Croatian entrepreneurs, and makes the country very uninteresting to foreign investors (with the exception of those wanting to flash their cash in the otherwise successful field of Croatian tourism) and as such, limits any prospects for a better future in terms of foreign investment in Croatia's other economic branches. Not counting tax breaks, the Croatian Government had to rather dramatically put out fires in two large and significant companies - Agrokor and Uljanik.

That's a meeting with the likes of Mate Rimac and his company's investors from Hyundai and Kia, as well as an extensive presentation on the possibilities of attracting foreign investment to the car industry in Croatia was an excellent and likely eye-opening opportunity for the head of the Croatian Government and his delegates.

Mate Rimac has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams thanks to the killer combination of sheer talent, stubbornness, and enthusiasm, but large car makers will pay much more attention to their investment decisions through comparative advantages, which implies exclusive figures, and not sentiment, emotions or feelings.

"Croatia needs interest in the car industry like the level of interest that exists for the football team, you'll get our support in technology and our experience, but that isn't going to be enough," said Porsche's Lutz Meschke, vice chairman of the executive committee.

Initiatives always come from the private sector, which best knows any real economy, but then the state gets involved. With concrete moves and reforms, Croatia could attract investment and entrepreneurship development. A sample example is the Czech Republic, where industry makes up a third of the economy, with the car industry accounting for about six percent of gross added value. The Czech Republic is now at an impressive 90 percent of the EU's development average, and Croatia is currently at 63 percent.

It's unrealistic to expect that Croatia will repeat the successes of the Czech Republic or Slovakia and employ tens of thousands of people like it once did in shipyards, but the tectonic changes in that industry are a chance we must not miss on. It opens the door to creating high value-added jobs for the highly educated, for innovators and creatives, as well as opening the door for productivity growth. And finally, that we import intelligene.

''I think we'll continue to cooperate, work synergistically, and see which concrete moves the Croatian Government will make," the prime minister promised.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more.

ZAGREB, June 25, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday that the whole "guilt" of Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević was actually his omission to enter his two properties in the local geodetic registry, and that since the very beginning his cabinet had been exposed to criticism orchestrated by "prompters".

"The fact that somebody has omitted to register two properties in the geodetic registry is omission. However, this omission does not have such proportions to make us question his (Kuščević's) political and human integrity," Plenković said, while responding to questions from the press after a wreath-laying ceremony on the occasion of Croatian Statehood Day.

Plenković said that he had talked lately with Kuščević about the recent developments and media reports, and insisted that arguments given by Kuščević and his declaration of assets show that Kuščević could only be blamed for failing to register the properties with the local geodetic office.

In this context, Plenković noted that Kuščević was the 10th minister from his cabinet who has become the target of some people whom he labelled as prompters who choose an opportune moment to disseminate information they find interesting to media in a bid to create an impression that there are problems.

"Those prompters have clear political intentions of causing destabilisation, destruction and collapse," the premier said adding that since the very beginning his cabinet has been faced with such attempts.

More news about administration minister’s affairs can be found in the Politics section.

As Novac/Filip Pavic writes on the 24th of June, 2019, Mate Rimac, the founder of the Croatian supercar company Rimac Automobili and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković met in the afternoon a couple of days ago in Banski Dvori. During their 45-minute-long talk, which was also attended by Economy Minister Darko Horvat, Rimac agreed with the prime minister for him to finally pay a visit to his facility in Sveta Nedjelja near Zagreb.

Since Prime Minister Plenković has not yet visited Rimac's supercar factory, he has three-hour tour awaiting him on Friday, and there will also be a presentation on how to attract investment and improve the economic climate for investment in the Croatian car industry. Along with Prime Minister Plenković, Minister of Labour Marko Pavić, Minister of Economy Darko Horvat and Finance Minister Zdravko Marić confirmed their planned arrival to Sveta Nedjelja, and the arrival of Education Minister Blaženka Divjak is also possible.

This delegation of the Croatian Government will meet and list, first of all, to the experiences of investing in Croatia from Rimac's prestigious shareholders, made up of representatives of international automotive companies including Porsche, Hyundai and Kia, who have invested 100 million euros in Rimac Automobili over the past few years. Listening to their stories will hopefully be a wake up call for the group of politicians.

In addition, Rimac will share the likely damning results of an intensive two-year study, which analyses why Croatia lags so miserably behind other nearby European countries when it comes to the car industry, and why so many rounds of investment in that field over the past few years have totally, and intentionally, bypassed the Republic of Croatia.

The recent meeting between the two is the result of a multi-month agreement between Plenković and Rimac, which Jutarnji list recently covered, stating that Rimac was finding it all but impossible get an actual date for a meeting with the prime minister. A fact much of the public were unhappy with the HDZ leader for, especially given the positive publicity and investment Rimac has brought to Croatia.

''They know about my ideas. I've already mentioned them on a couple of occasions. I want to present them to the very heads of the government, but we've not been able to sort a date out yet. I gave them some dates over the next two months when I'm available and I'm waiting for their response as to when Plenković can come and see the presentation,'' said Rimac back then.

Despite the fact that Plenković hasn't visited Rimac Autmobili yet made little difference to Rimac's personal and professional drive, the innovative Croatian entrepreneur didn't hang around waiting for his arrival.

Back in May, he published nineteen measures to develop the car industry in Croatia at the Croatia E-mobility Forum. He let the Croatian Government know that we could have up to 50,000 new jobs in that industry alone, as well as the equivalent of nearly half a billion dollars more in the budget, enough for "one and a half Pelješac bridges, 23 university homes, or 53 schools'' had Croatia set its sights on that type of investment at the correct time, just as other countries in the vicinity, such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary already have.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more.

ZAGREB, June 21, 2019 - Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on early Friday morning that a four-hour-long discussion on the hopefuls for the European Commission's president revolved around the three known candidates and that no new candidates had been mentioned.

Leaders of the EU member-states ended the discussion on the distribution of EU top jobs inconclusively and therefore an extraordinary summit meeting is scheduled for 30 June.

"During the four-hour-long dinner the necessary majority was not secured for the support for any of the three candidates, nominated by the European People's Party (EPP), the Socialists and the Liberals" Plenković said after the dinner.

The three contenders for the next EC president are Manfred Weber of the EPP, Frans Timmermans of Party of European Socialists (PES) and Margrethe Vestager of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ELDE).

Plenković answered in the negative when asked if any other names were mentioned.

The European Council president, Donald Tusk, has been now tasked to continue consultations with the heads of state or government and with the political groupings in the EP in the run-up to the extraordinary summit.

The summit in Brussels endorsed a strategic agenda for the 2019-2024 period, which is blueprint for the future activities of the Commission.

Plenković expressed satisfaction that at his proposal, the agenda includes also recommendations for tackling the demographic challenges.

"What is particularly important, and I raised this issue at the Sibiu summit on 8 May is the matter of demographic revitalisation. A half of of the 28 EU member-states have a negative birth rate. We have managed to include through our amendment the topic of demographic challenges to that document," Plenković said.

He explained that this could pave the way for providing the European-level assistance to efforts to address this issue.

The summit briefly discussed the enlargement of the Union. Plenković expressed regret at a failure at a recent ministerial meeting to give North Macedonia and Albania a date for opening the accession negotiations.

More news about Croatia and the European Union can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 20, 2019 - European Socialists and Liberals are strongly opposed to German Christian Democrat Manfred Weber's bid for European Commission President, but they agree that this post is filled by the candidate of the European People's Party (EPP), which is now seeking new candidates and among these undeclared candidates are two senior Croatian officials, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, the Belgian daily Le Soir said on Thursday.

Citing unnamed sources, Le Soir says that the EPP is looking for a new candidate who could receive wider support. It says that Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, could be such a candidate but none of the sources have mentioned his name.

On the other hand, the name of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović has cropped up in the last 24 hours when the EPP, pressed by the need to abandon the candidacy of its leader Manfred Weber, intensified the search within its ranks, the newspaper said.

It recalled that Grabar-Kitarović had served as assistant to NATO's secretary general before becoming President of Croatia in 2015. "There is a greater consensus about her than Prime Minister Plenković, who is also mentioned, but she has a somewhat more prominent nationalist profile," Le Soir said.

The newspaper says that Plenković is appreciated among his colleagues, but that he has been chosen by heads of state or government from the EPP to represent them in tripartite prime ministerial negotiations on the appointment of heads of EU institutions. "He could be a useful and consensual solution," it says.

According to Le Soir, if the EPP received the position of Commission President, the position of Council President would go to the Liberals, who have joined forces with MEPs elected on the list of French President Emmanuel Macron, and it could be filled by Charles Michel, acting Prime Minister of Belgium. The Socialists would get the position of Parliament President, which they would relinquish mid-term to the Greens, the position of High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, who at the same time is Commission Vice-President, and an important economic department in the Commission. The newspaper notes that this is a highly uncertain scenario.

Although it is not very likely that either of the Croatians could get the post of Commission President, the fact that as many as two Croatian candidates are mentioned can be interpreted as an expression of confidence in the newest EU member, Le Soir says.

The leaders of the 28 EU member states are meeting for a two-day summit on Thursday to discuss the appointment of new heads of European institutions.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in Brussels on Thursday declined to comment on the media reports. "Never mind the media reports. We've seen all sorts of things, such as articles in Politico and the Financial Times," Plenković told the press on arrival for a meeting of the leaders of the European People's Party (EPP), who traditionally meet before each EU summit.

On Thursday morning Plenković met with five prime ministers who represent their political groups to discuss the appointment of new heads of European institutions.

Plenković and Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins are negotiating on behalf of the EPP, the Socialists are represented by Spain's Pedro Sanchez and Antonio Costa of Portugal, and the Liberals are represented by Belgian and Dutch Prime Ministers Charles Michel and Mark Rutte.

Plenković said that the negotiations were demanding and tough, with each group holding their own line. "Now we are having consultations with our respective political groups, after which we are continuing negotiations before the European Council meeting, and then comes a key dinner this evening. It will really be demanding, the negotiations are more than tough."

Asked if he and Karins were defending Manfred Weber as their 'spitzenkandidat', Plenković answered affirmatively. "That's the only mandate that we have," he said.

Karins also said that the negotiations were difficult. So far, we have heard a lot of negative things, and I am trying to find what is positive. That's what Andrej Plenković and I are working on with the representatives of other political groups. We must think how we can build something positive in Europe rather than focus on the negative, he said.

Karins would not comment on the media reports about Plenković and Grabar-Kitarović as possible candidates for Commission President. There are a lot of speculations being talked about and I'll leave them to the speculators, the Latvian prime minister said.

More news about Croatia and the European Union can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 14, 2019 - The Conflict of Interest Commission chairwoman, Nataša Novaković, said on Friday that that she did not consider herself biased and that there was no need for her to exempt herself from deciding on a case involving Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the Hotmail case.

"Had I thought myself biased, I would not have been at all included in the work on that case. I do not consider myself biased. That would be against me and against the professional rules. Our rule book clearly specifies when we exempt ourselves and this is not such situation," Novaković said.

Members of the ruling coalition in the parliamentary Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System on Friday outvoted the opposition with regard to whether the matter of the exemption of the chairwoman of the Conflict of Interest Commission should be put on the committee's agenda.

Novaković today would not comment on some of the remarks claiming that this issue fell within the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court.

As for her exemption, Novaković says that the body responsible for the supervision of the Commission's work would have the jurisdiction of that matter too. They could actually be some of the parliamentary committees, according to her explanation. However, she admitted that the question could be raised whether that should be the Committee on Elections and Appointments or the Committee on the Constitution and the Standing Orders.

She also said that these were not good solutions as they involve "a political context", however, an extended consideration shows that it is the Administrative Court that supervises the work of the Commission.

As for the latest imbroglio, Novaković proposes that the parliament can consider the possibility of proposing amendments to the Conflict of Interest Law in fast track procedure, specifying which body can decide on exemptions and which deadlines must be honoured.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that "there is a trend of disseminating misinformation" considering criticism that the request for the Conflict of Interest Commission chairwoman's exemption from a case involving him is perceived as an attempt of his manoeuvre to avoid the accusations that he was in the conflict of interest.

Plenković made it clear that in that case involving him and the Agrokor law, the Conflict of Interest Commission was actually debating if he had breached the principle of the conduct of public office. "The Commission has already established that there was no conflict of interest," Plenković said in his address to the press calling on journalists to be accurate when reporting on this case. This is about the element concerning the conduct of public office, he underscored.

He went on to say that it was up to the institutions to decide on whose jurisdiction it is to handle the request for chairwoman Nataša Novaković's possible exemption.

More news about the conflict of interest issues can be found in the Politics section.