ZAGREB, June 13, 2019 - The European People's Party (EPP) is a relative winner of the European elections and wants its lead candidate Manfred Weber to become the European Commission President, while allowing for other offices to be filled by parties that have come after it in the elections, said Croatian Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković in San Sebastian where the EPP was holding a meeting on Wednesday.

Our position in these negotiations is rather modest, and of all offices we want is that our candidate becomes the European Commission President, while other offices are at the disposal of the political groups that rank second, third or possibly fourth in the voting, Plenković said.

The EPP designated Plenković and Latvian PM Krisjanis Kariņs to participate in the negotiations with Social Democrats and Liberals on the appointment of new senior officials of the EU institutions. The Liberals designated Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Belgian PM Charles Michel, and the Socialists designated Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese PM Antonio Costa.

Those six negotiators are conducting an informal process so as to help the European Council and the European Parliament in the selection of nominees.

The Commission president should be elected first, followed by the Council president, the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, and the president of the European Central Bank. In doing so, attention should be paid to geographical, demographic, gender and political balances.

During today's meeting in the Spanish seaport, Plenković informed the EPP group of the ongoing negotiations.

The process of selection of new leaders is more complex this time considering the fact that although they are still the most numerous groups in the new EP, the EPP and the Socialists are short of securing the absolute majority and therefore they are supposed to negotiate with other pro-European political groups, primarily the Liberals and the Green.

Asked by the press whether he was optimistic about reaching agreement on a set of appointments at the 20-21 June summit, Plenković said that he was realistic. "I am very realistic. This is a very complicated process. There is a plenty to do yet," Plenković said, underscoring that any prolongation is not good.

Our voters expect us to take over responsibility for the coming five years, he explained.

He would not answer the question who might be the next Croatian member of the European Commission, explaining that it should first appoint the EC President who chooses commissioners in cooperation with their respective countries.

Plenković recalled that five years ago the current President Jean-Claude Juncker had accepted all the candidates proposed by the EU member-states.

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

ZAGREB, June 8, 2019 - Friday's meeting of six European leaders, representatives of the three strongest groups in the European Parliament, dedicated to new appointments to top posts in the EU was constructive and led to a rapprochement of positions on common challenges, according to a press release issued after the meeting in Brussels.

The six leaders met for an informal dinner. Prime Ministers Andrej Plenković of Croatia and Krisjanis Karins of Latvia negotiated on behalf of the European People's Party, Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Belgian PM Charles Michel represented the Liberals, and Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese PM Antonio Costa represented the Socialists.

The meeting was constructive and common challenges were identified, per the press release. Participants agreed to meet again in the next few days.

This informal process does not replace official debates in the European Council and Parliament, the press release added.

At an EU28 summit on May 28, two days after European elections, it was agreed that European Council President Donald Tusk should begin consultations with the heads of state or government on the news appointments to top jobs.

Negotiations between the pro-European groups in the European Parliament - the EPP, the Social Democrats, the Liberals, and the Greens - will begin on June 12. They will first attempt to agree on a coalition programme and then on a presidential candidate for the European Commission.

The three largest groups in the European Parliament - the EPP, the Social Democrats, and the Liberals - have each appointed two representatives, members of the European Council, to help Tusk, the six leaders who met in Brussels on Friday.

The Brussels meeting was the first between the six leaders. It was convened by the Belgian prime minister.

Talks will continue in European institutions in the days and weeks ahead to nominate a Commission president who can get the support of the European Council, which meets on June 20-21, and the European Parliament.

The appointment of a new Commission president is to be followed by the appointment of the presidents of the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Central Bank as well as the high representative for the common foreign and security policy.

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

ZAGREB, June 7, 2019 - The ruling HDZ party's whip, Branko Bačić, said on Friday Andrej Plenković would complete his term as prime minister and remain the HDZ's president and prime minister also after the next parliamentary election.

Bačić was dismissing Hrast MP Hrvoje Zekanović's claim in parliament that Plenković would soon leave the office of prime minister and go to Brussels.

"Numerous opposition politicians in Croatia would like Andrej Plenković to go to Brussels to a high office in the European Union. I must disappoint them because Plenković will complete the term in Croatia and lead the HDZ to victory in the next parliamentary election," Bačić told reporters.

Addressing HDZ MPs earlier, Zekanović said they would soon have to elect a new party president.

"It's absurd that a man who entered parliament thanks to the HDZ's votes and who, had it not been for the HDZ, would never have had the chance to participate in debates in the Croatian parliament, is talking about this," Bačić said.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 6, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that election interference was one of the biggest challenges facing democracy.

Plenković spoke about the security challenges of the digital era in a lecture on Croatia's EU presidency in 2020 which he gave in Zagreb.

Interference in elections "is one of the biggest challenges for the functioning of modern-day democracy," he said, warning that a large number of voters obtained information from unreliable sources.

Commenting on the recent election for the European Parliament, he said that "mainstream parties" had prevailed.

The drop in the popularity of the People's Party and the Socialists has been counterbalanced by the increase in the popularity of the liberals, Greens and conservatives, said Plenković.

Speaking of the priorities of Croatia's EU presidency in the first half of 2020, Plenković cited demography, growth, employment and the youth, noting that low population growth rates were a problem in as many as 14 EU member states.

He said that Croatia supported the policy of EU enlargement and that enlargement would help reduce the number of security problems. There is no alternative to the enlargement process, he said.

The Croatian PM believes that enlargement has slowed down the growth of extremist parties in big EU member countries, which is why mainstream parties have taken over some of their rhetoric. "Without that, Bulgaria and Romania would already be in the Schengen area," he said, but noted that the Schengen area of passport-free movement no longer existed "in its original form".

"Enabling enlargement will require a reform of the Dublin Regulation," he said.

Under the Dublin Regulation, asylum seekers stay in the first EU country they have entered, which is particularly opposed by Italy, which demands an even distribution of asylum seekers, which, in turn, is opposed by member states of the Visegrad Group (Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia).

Plenković stressed that balance should be found between "compliance with positive European regulations and agreement on how to deal with the rest of the burden of migration movements that are behind us." He also stressed that all countries were agreed that the EU's external border had to stay impenetrable.

Plenković also noted that there was not enough awareness of the benefits and possibilities of EU membership in Croatia, and that countries that had joined the EU in 2004 were today "different countries".

"Those 15 years have changed everything. They have changed the economy and mentality in those countries," said Prime Minister Plenković.

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

ZAGREB, May 31, 2019 - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) parliamentary deputy Davor Ivo Stier said on Friday that the party experienced a failure in the recent elections for the European Parliament because it had become distant from the right electorate, and he expressed readiness to work on reuniting the HDZ and its voters also as party president.

Recalling that the HDZ won four seats in the EP vote, while the goal had been to secure five seats, Stier told the press in the national parliament that voters had sent a clear message that the party had become distant from the right electorate and that the HDZ must focus on the fight against corruption and clientelism.

"We cannot run in parliamentary elections with the approval ratings of 22% or 23%. Voters have sent us a message that the struggle against corruption and clientelism is extremely important and that it must be in the centre of our political activity," Stier said.

He insists that for the HDZ to ensure a convincing election victory, the party must also win the votes of the right electorate.

Many traditional HDZ voters went to the polls this past Sunday but this time they did not vote for the HDZ, Stier said.

Stier, who used to be an HDZ MEP and foreign minister, believes that it is his mission to work on consolidating the party and uniting the HDZ and its voters.

Asked whether this means that he is ready to take over the helm of the HDZ, he replied: "Why not? However, you will receive my precise answer when the time for intraparty elections comes."

Stier underscored that he despises the conduct of those who vigorously applaud the leader when he is powerful and turn their back on the leader when he finds himself on slippery ground.

Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković said on Friday that the HDZ was a democratic party in which everybody could say what they thought as well as run for party presidency.

In his comment on Stier's statement, Plenkovic said: "It would be good if all those willing to help actually did so during campaigns and elections. As regards Stier's wish that as many people as possible support the HDZ's projects and programmes, that is a good idea," Plenković told the press while arriving at the Zagreb City Assembly for a special session on the occasion of City Day.

"We are a democratic party, everybody can say what they think, definitely. I don't think that it is a problem. When intraparty elections are held, all aspirants can submit their candidacies," Plenković said.

In his response to Stier's criticism, Plenković said that the HDZ did not become distant from anybody.

When reporters remarked that the right camp had won the support of 17% of those who went to the polls for the last EP election, Plenković said that "they voted so in this election." "When parliamentary elections come, you will see who they will vote for."

The HDZ will win the next parliamentary election, Plenković said, adding that he would certainly remain at the party's helm.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, May 31, 2019 - The chairwoman of the Conflict of Interest Commission, Nataša Novaković, said on Friday that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's request that she be exempted from that case made the commission's work harder and added that if the prime minister considers that she may be biased, he had a lot more time to have made that request before yesterday afternoon.

Novaković did not wish to respond to reporters when asked if these developments were putting pressure on the commission and whether the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and prime minister were "waging a war" against her seeing that the commission has recently come under fire from HDZ's MPs and now that the prime minister has called for her exemption.

On Friday the commission was to have discussed if the prime minister was in conflict of interest regarding his activities in the drafting of the Act on Emergency Administration in Companies of Systemic Importance (Lex Agrokor) but failed to do so as Plenković on Thursday called for Novaković to be exempted from the case.

Novaković said the request posed a procedural obstacle to the further conduct of proceedings in the case until the relevant body makes a decision on her exemption.

Plenković claimed that Novaković had been an employee of the Croatian Employers Association (HUP), which was connected with Agrokor, which was why she had to exempt herself from any segment of the proceedings concerning the government's actions regarding Agrokor, including the adoption of a decision in the case against Plenković.

If the prime minister considers that I may be biased because Agrokor was a member HUP, then "there was plenty of time to have communicated that before yesterday afternoon," said Novakovic.

After Friday's meeting, Novaković said that they still do not know who the relevant body was that is to decide on her exemption as this is the first time this has ever occurred. She added that she has consulted with several experts about that relevant body but their opinions differ considerably.

Some experts said that should be a parliamentary committee while others claim that the relevant body is the Administrative Court, others yet again have said that the remaining members of the commission should make that decision.

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

ZAGREB, May 30, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday evening in a statement for Croatian Radio Television refuted media headlines about a possible candidacy for European Commission president, saying that his appointment as one of the six negotiators from the strongest European political groups for the heads of European institutions was "a serious job of finding a consensus."

"The purpose of yesterday's meeting of the European Council was primarily to summarize the emotions after the European elections," Plenković said on Wednesday evening. He refuted media speculations about his possible candidacy for European Commission president. "This is not a candidacy, this is a serious job of finding a consensus," Plenković said.

He underscored that "the negotiations will be led by Donald Tusk on the one side and on the other by the six of us who were named yesterday."

EU member states' leaders exchanged opinions at an extraordinary summit in Brussels on Tuesday on the election of the new heads of European institutions, without discussing names, and confirmed there is no automatism whereby the European Commission president becomes one of the lead candidates whom the European political groups nominated in recent elections.

Plenković said on Tuesday that consultations would begin as of Monday to reach agreement by the end of June on the candidate the European Council would nominate for Commission president, who must be confirmed by the European Parliament.

"Two paths of negotiations have been agreed on so as to reach a solution regarding the head positions in European institutions. The first will be led by European Council President Donald Tusk, who will consult all of us heads of state or government so that we can reach a solution," Plenković told reporters.

As for the second path, the European People's Party, the Liberals and the Socialists have designated two leaders, who are also members of the European Council, to help Tusk find a solution. The EPP designated Plenković and Latvian PM Krisjanis Kariņs, the Liberals designated Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Belgian PM Charles Michel, and the Socialists designated Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese PM Antonio Costa.

The Commission president should be elected first, followed by the Council president, the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, and the president of the European Central Bank. In doing so, attention should be paid to geographical, demographic, gender and political balances.

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

More than excellent news for the Croatian job market and the domestic economy as a whole as as many as 600 jobs are set to be opened in Zagreb County thanks to a huge investment.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 29th of May, 2019, parts for the aviation giants Boeing and Airbus will be produced in the Republic of Croatia. The parts will be incorporated into the world's most famous aircraft and their engines, including names like Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, and Rolls-Royce. The news was announced on Wednesday by Večernji list, citing that the Austrian aeronautical company FACC is beginning to construct a production plant for the interior parts of planes in the business zone of Jakovlje in Zagreb County, close to the Croatian capital of Zagreb.

The investment is worth a massive 33 million euros and will open up 600 jobs. The land has already been purchased, the necessary permissions and the permit have been granted and the construction has begun. The plant should be completed by the end of 2020 and production at the plant will commence in 2021.

This great news has also been confirmed by the head of the aforementioned Austrian company Robert Machtlinger, who stated that FACC wants to grow and be quicker than the market and intends to work on strengthening the expertise of its employees. "Zagreb is offering us this because it has a highly qualified workforce," he added.

The company chose between different locations in Central and Eastern Europe and ultimately decided on Zagreb. The sale contract has already been signed, and the Austrian company has become the owner of the land in the Jakovlje business area, totalling 130 thousand square metres.

Vecernji list also revealed that a meeting will take place on Wednesday in Banski Dvori where the President of FACC AGI's management board and the president of AVIC Cabin Systems Co. Limited from China, a company which owns 55.5 percent of the Austrian company, will talk to Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Economy Minister Darko Horvat and State Secretary Zdenk Lucić about the project implementation and everything that goes into the planning and licensing phase.

The plan is that construction work on the plant will be completed by December 2020, and production will begin no later than April 2021, according to Dnevnik.

As a daughter company of the Chinese state-owned company Aviation Industry Corporation of China, one of the ten largest Chinese companies, FACC, based in Austria, is part of the global market and cooperates with world leaders in the aviation industry such as Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Rolls-Royce. FACC is otherwise a company with more than 3,400 employees from 38 countries which work in thirteen locations worldwide, Vecernji list writes.

They added that un the financial year 2018/2019, they earned 781.6 million euros in revenue, an increase of 4.5 percent compared to the previous financial year, and also the best result in the company's thirty-year history.

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

ZAGREB, May 29, 2019 - EU member states' leaders exchanged opinions at an extraordinary summit in Brussels on Tuesday on the election of the new heads of European institutions, without discussing names, and confirmed there is no automatism whereby the European Commission president becomes one of the lead candidates whom the European political groups nominated in recent elections. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said consultations would begin as of Monday to reach agreement by the end of June on the candidate the European Council would nominate for Commission president, who must be confirmed by the European Parliament.

"Two paths of negotiations have been agreed on so as to reach a solution regarding the head positions in European institutions. The first will be led by European Council President Donald Tusk, who will consult all of us heads of state or government so that we can reach a solution," Plenković told reporters.

As for the second path, the European People's Party, the Liberals and the Socialists have designated two leaders, who are also members of the European Council, to help Tusk find a solution. The EPP designated Plenković and Latvian PM Krisjanis Kariņs, the Liberals designated Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Belgian PM Charles Michel, and the Socialists designated Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese PM Antonio Costa.

The Commission president should be elected first, followed by the Council president, the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, and the president of the European Central Bank. In doing so, attention should be paid to geographical, demographic, gender and political balances.

All European People's Party leaders are unanimous in their support to Manfred Webber for European Commission president, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Brussels on Tuesday.

“It is the unanimous stand of all EPP leaders, after such results, to support our candidate Manfred Weber for president of the European Commission, and this is the position we are taking today," Plenković told reporters after a summit of party leaders, before the informal dinner. "We analysed the election results at the EPP summit today. We are satisfied. We are again the strongest political party on the continent, the relative election winner," he added.

He said no decision would be made at today's informal summit as it was a chance to crystallize positions. He said that in the distribution of new positions it was necessary to take geographical balance into account and that it would be good if a position went to a country in central and east Europe.

Asked how much truth there was in an article in the latest issue of the Croatian Nacional weekly, which says that German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants Plenković in a leading position in the EU, that Dragan Primorac would replace him as PM, and that this was the main reason for her visit to Zagreb ahead of the European elections, Plenković responded ironically. "That certainly was the main reason. That's all we talked about. The whole article and everything it says is news to me."

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

ZAGREB, May 28, 2019 (Hina) - The Prime Minister and president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Andrej Plenković, on Monday evening again commented on the results of the European Parliament election at which his party won four seats in the EP, saying he did not have complaints about the HDZ slate, platform and campaign, that all county and town HDZ branches would analyse the election results by the end of the week and hat this was only one game but that the championship continued.

Asked if the party  would continue to run independently in elections, Plenković said this was the best decision.

Reporters asked Plenković if he would now place a conservative candidate on the slate given that the conservative part of the party had turned their backs to him. Plenković answered in the negative. "This is a fabricated argument," Plenković said.

Asked if in his opinion voters in the elections sent him a message that they do not like the way he was leading the party, given that conservative options received together 18% of votes, Plenković said he was leading the HDZ and the country in the right direction. He also said he did not plan to resign.

The Croatian Democratic Union secretary-general and parliament speaker, Gordan Jandroković, said on Monday that the result which the ruling party scored in the European Parliament election on Sunday was below-than-expected, however, the HDZ was still the first party that won the most ballots.

Coming to a session of the the party leadership in Zagreb, Jandroković said that the party bodies would analyse the outcome of the vote. The HDZ and the strongest opposition party the SDP won four seats each out of a total of 12 seats allotted to Croatia in the European Parliament. The party mustered the support of 22.72% of the vote, and was followed by the SDP with 18.71%.

HDZ won the highest number of votes in Sunday's European Parliament elections in 11 towns whereas the SDP won in the four biggest cities – Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek. In the capital city of Zagreb, the SDP garnered about 47,700 votes and the HDZ 30,400.

Jandroković said that the poor performance of the party in big cities would be particularly analysed.

Ivana Maletić, an party vice president and a deputy in the outgoing European Parliament, admitted that it was better to record under-performance in the EP elections than in parliamentary elections. She also underscored that the HDZ was "short of only a few ballots" to win a fifth seat in the EP.

Asked by the press whether it was too risky to put a young and not well-known candidate (Karlo Ressler) in first place on the slate, Maletić said that that decision had been very courageous and resolute. She believes that during the campaign Ressler gained publicity. According to the results, Ressler mustered nearly 53,000 preferential votes.

Asked by the press whether the HDZ should form a coalition with right parties, Maletić says that the HDZ definitely had to run in the EP elections on its own and without coalitions.

Some other party officials agreed that the HDZ had expected five seats and that despite the final result, the HDZ was again the strongest political option, mustering the highest number of votes.

More news about HDZ can be found in the Politics section.