ZAGREB, October 25, 2019 - Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković called on his counterparts from Council of Europe member states on Thursday to act together in order to avoid new divisions and preserve the European project, announcing that Croatia would promote the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development during its presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2020.

Through continuous and constructive dialogue, mutual understanding and common action we can avoid divisions and preserve unity, he said in Strasbourg in a debate called "Our Common European Home: the next 70 years".

Earlier divisions brought us into the simplified trap of populism and criticism of everything that has been so carefully built for the past 70 years, Jandroković said.

One of the CoE's achievements is the single system of the European Convention on Human Rights and all the related instruments which focus on the protection of human dignity, he added.

Croatia's CoE membership benefited Croatian citizens. The CoE's role was especially invaluable in light of the efforts we invested on our path to membership of the EU, which we will chair in about two months, he said.

Jandroković also spoke in a debate on the UN's sustainable development goals. The Sustainable Development Goals Index ranks Croatia 22nd out of 162 countries, which gives us a good chance to become one of the leaders in the transition towards sustainability, he said.

He mentioned Croatia's first sustainable development documents, saying parliament adopted the Environmental Protection Declaration in 1992, only five months after Croatia was internationally recognised.

Currently in force is the 2009 Sustainable Development Strategy, while a national development strategy until 2030 is being drawn up.

The "Croatia as we want it" strategy will encompass priorities and contribute to the sustainable development and demographic revival of Croatia in the coming decade, Jandroković said.

Croatia will promote the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development while chairing the Council of the EU next year, he said. The goals include ending poverty and hunger and promoting prosperity, peace, partnership and environmental protection.

Although the Agenda is not legally binding and the goals are being implemented slowly, he called on his counterparts to exchange opinions on how to step up the Agenda's progress. In that way, he said, we can revive the political momentum and initial enthusiasm.

More news about Council of Europe can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 19, 2019 - The Council of Europe is going through difficult times, and this international association should be returned to its original tenets, the new Secretary-General, Marija Pejčinović Burić said after she assumed office in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

In her speech, this former Croatian foreign and European affairs minister said that this organisation, which was established 70 years ago, should renew its aim.

In this context she recalled the Article 1 of the organisation's statute, which reads that "the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its Members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress."

This aim shall be pursued by dialogue, she added.

During my five-year term I would like to work on raising awareness of why we need this pan-European organisation, she said.

The new Secretary-General said that the Council was going through difficult times marked by xenophobia and discrimination which should be combated.

She said that one of her priorities is to enhance the dialogue between the CoE member-states and bodies of this Strasbourg-based organisation.

She also pledged to work on raising the visibility of the organisation in the times of new technologies.

The Council of Europe was established in 1949 as an international organisation whose aim is to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. It now has the 47 member-states.

More news about the Council of Europe can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 18, 2019 - Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović on Tuesday tweeted that the arrest and fine of Croatian reporter Gordan Duhaček was "pure intimidation of the press", and called on Croatian authorities to protect media freedom and avoid undue pressure on the journalists.

"The arrest and fine of Croatian journalist Gordan Duhaček for his posts on Twitter amount to pure intimidation of the press. I call on Croatia’s authorities to protect media freedom and avoid undue pressure on journalists," Mijatović tweeted.

Gordan Duhaček, a reporter for the Index web portal, was detained at Zagreb airport on Monday morning for ignoring a police summons to report for questioning over alleged public order offences, Zagreb police said.

Interior Minister Davor Božinović on Tuesday said that he had asked the police chief to provide him with a report on the arrest and denied claims that the government was restricting media freedoms and that it was intimidating journalists.

The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) and the Gong NGO had earlier condemned the way the police acted toward Duhaček.

More news about pressure on media freedom in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 13, 2019 - The certification of the project called "Tesla Ways" dedicated to scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla is being conducted by the Council of Europe and is to become the first official CoE Cultural Route dedicated to a researcher, the association called "the Cluster of Cultural Routes" reported on Tuesday.

The project has been developed for several years by the Cluster and experts from Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and the USA.

Thus, this cultural route encompasses thus two continents.

The Tesla Ways is one of several proposals of Cultural Routes projects in the Danube Region made by the Council of Europe Institute for Cultural Routes.

The explanation for the cultural route "Tesla Ways" says that the project "deals with the life and work of the engineer Nikola Tesla who contributed to the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system."

The Tesla Ways guides the traveller through places were Tesla lived and worked. It includes sites in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic and other European countries.

"Such a Cultural Route should bring together different domains: culture, science, education, tourism and economics, but it should also work actively to integrate local communities in the further development and preservation of industrial landscapes," according to an analysis of certified cultural routes of the CoE in the Danube region which was issued last October.

The route in Croatia connects Senj where Nikola Tesla's father worked a Serb Orthodox priest, and Smiljan, the village in Lika where the researcher was born in 1856, as well as the towns of Gospić and Karlovac where he attended primary and secondary school. Zagreb with its Technical Museum Nikola Tesla is also on the list.

In Serbia, the Nikola Tesla Museum and the Belgrade’s Museum of Science and Technology as well as some other sites are covered by the route.

Maribor, Slovenia, and the Czech capital city of Prague as well as Graz, Austria and some other European cities are part of the route, too.

Tesla was born in Smiljan on 10 July 1856 and died in New York on 7 January 1943. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity, and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

More Nikola Tesla-related news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, July 5, 2019 - Croatian minority leaders in Serbia on Friday welcomed the appointment of Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister, Marija Pejčinović Burić, as Secretary-General of the Council of Europe and the message of congratulation by Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić on that occasion, however, they expressed disappointment that the highest Serbian officials did not say anything about this achievement by Croatia's diplomacy.

Dačić said at the 2019 Western Balkans-EU summit on Thursday that Serbia was looking forward to Croatia's chairmanship of the European Union in the first half of 2020 and he congratulated Pejčinović Burić on her appointment as Secretary-General of the CoE, stating that the position "was very important for the region."

"It is odd that in the case of certain events in diplomatic circles that directly impact you, and the Council of Europe certainly does impact Serbia, congratulations and assessments are expressed at international forums abroad and with a week's delay! In that regard, the silence of the highest Serbian government officials about Pejčinović Burić's appointment speaks volumes and can be interpreted as a defeat of their own plans," the president of the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina (DSHV), Tomislav Žigmanov, said on Friday.

Pejčinović Burić was elected the new Secretary-General of the Council of Europe by secret ballot in Strasbourg last week and will take office in September.

The CoE was founded in 1949, it has 47 member states, covers approximately 830 million people and its stated aim is to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.

More news about relations between Croatia and Serbia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 28, 2019 - The Council of Europe is faced with huge challenges at a time of reappraisal of all global multilateral forums, Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić said on Thursday, a day after being elected the organisation's secretary general.

"The Council of Europe, like many other multilateral organisations, finds itself in a time when all multilateral forums, their need and way of operation, are being re-examined, so it is faced with huge challenges," said Pejčinović Burić, who will take office in September.

The Council of Europe consists of 47 member states with 830 million residents and fights for human rights, democracy and the rule of law across Europe. Its conventions, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, set global standards in that field. The organisation celebrated its 70th anniversary in May.

"Even though the secretary general is not the only person that participates in that, it is an important position which directs the organisation," she told a joint press conference in Government House with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković at her side.

Pejčinović Burić will be the 14th person to take the helm of the Council of Europe. So far, this position has been held by three French people, three Austrians, and one Italian, Briton, German, Spaniard, Swede and Norwegian.

On Wednesday, the Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg elected Pejčinović Burić Secretary General of the Council of Europe for a five-year term. In the first round of the election the Croatian minister obtained 159 votes, an absolute majority, and the other shortlisted candidate Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders won 105 votes. Pejčinović Burić is the second women to become the secretary-general of this organisation in its 70-year-long history.

Pejčinović Burić explained that her victory meant two things - firstly, this is the first time that a person from Central and Eastern Europe has stepped into this position and secondly, this is only the second time a woman has been elected. The first woman to hold that position was Catherine Lalumiere of France who held that position from 1989 to 1994.

"Only with time will society and the public realise how important an achievement this is," Plenković told the press conference.

Pejčinović Burić underscored that it was significant that she had been elected by almost a two-thirds majority, which meant that the votes came from other parliamentary groups and not just the European People's Party to which she belongs.

Both officials concluded that her election came at a good time considering that Croatia had chaired the organisation last year and made a good impression, and all this happened just before Croatia's presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2020.

"We made the decision (to nominate Pejčinović Burić) after we realised that Croatia had a very good position in the international community," Plenković said and concluded that "there was practically not one element in the minister's achievements until now that would have prevented her candidacy."

Both officials underscored that her leaving the Foreign Ministry would not jeopardise Croatia's preparations for the EU presidency because that process was already well under way and could easily be taken over by someone already involved in the process.

Asked whether the government would be reshuffled after Minister Pejčinović Burić left, Plenković said: "We'll see when the time comes."

The Council of Europe was established in 1949 and today it has 47 countries - all of Europe with the exception of Belarus and Kosovo, as well as Russia, Turkey and the Caucuses. Croatia joined the organisation in 1996.

The Council of Europe created the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the Venice Commission, an advisory body comprising experts in constitutional law, and the Commissioner for Human Rights.

More news about the Council of Europe can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 27, 2019 - At the beginning of his cabinet meeting on Thursday morning, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković again extended his congratulations to Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić on her election as the 14th secretary general of the Council of Europe.

"This is the biggest international, political and diplomatic success considering the election of any Croatian representative to international institutions," Plenković said.

"I think that we can be proud of the minister's success and of the broad backing she gained. We can be proud of Croatia's international position and reputation in foreign affairs and values we share," the premier said.

On Wednesday, the Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg elected Pejčinović Burić Secretary General of the Council of Europe for a five-year term. In the first round of the election the Croatian minister obtained 159 votes, an absolute majority, and the other shortlisted candidate Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders won 105 votes. Pejčinović Burić is the second women to become the secretary-general of this organisation in its 70-year-long history.

Plenković said that Pejčinović Burić 's success could be perceived also as the victory of east and southeast Europe, as she is the first CoE Secretary General from that part of the continent.

The premier thanked all Croatian ambassadors and parliamentary delegations for their contribution to this success.

He reiterated that Croatia had made a good impression during its six-month chairmanship of this organisation last year.

While coming to the government meeting, several ministers told the press outside Government House that they congratulated Pejčinović Burić on her election to the new post.

Education Minister Blaženka Divjak said that this "is a good message to young people, notably to young girls, considering the fact that she is the second woman to be at the helm of the Council of Europe." "This is also encouragement that the glass ceiling can be broken," said Divjak.

The ministers declined to speculate who can succeed Pejčinović Burić in the post of the country's foreign minister. She assumes her new duties in October.

More news about the Council of Europe and Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 27, 2019 - Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić was elected the new Secretary-General of the Council of Europe by secret ballot held in the CoE Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg on Wednesday evening.

Pejčinović Burić will succeed Thornbjorn Jagland, whose second term in this post expires in October. Jagland, a former Norwegian prime minister and foreign minister, became the 13th Secretary General of this international organisation in September 2009 and was re-elected in 2014 for the second term.

Pejčinović Burić and Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, were the two nominees shortlisted for the 14th Secretary-General of the Council of Europe earlier this year. Apart from them, the other two candidates in the first round were former Lithuanian premier and lawmaker, Andrius Kubilius as well as a former Greek foreign minister and parliamentary deputy, Dora Bakoyannis. The Committee of Ministers interviewed the four candidates separately in March, before deciding to shortlist the two candidates.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe consists of 324 deputies from national parliaments of the 47 member-states.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday morning that Croatia had done a good job regarding the candidacy of its Foreign and European Affairs Minister Pejčinović Burić for the post of Secretary General of the Council of Europe. He said that Croatia had made a good impression during its six-month chairmanship of this organisation last year. "I think we earned the image of a country that can make a contribution."

Pejčinović Burić is the second woman in history at the organisation's helm and the first person from Central and Southeastern Europe to fill this position.

Pejčinović Burić, who became the Croatian foreign minister in June 2017, is a fluent in French, English and Spanish and has passive knowledge of German. The new Secretary General of the CoE, born in 1963, graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Zagreb University in 1985, and attended the College of Europe at Bruges in Belgium and a post-graduate study n Warsaw to earn a master's degree in European Studies.

Croatia joined the Council of Europe in 1996.

The Council of Europe was established in 1949 as an international organisation whose aim is to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.

The Council of Europe Secretary General-elect, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Marija Pejčinović Burić, said in Strasbourg on Wednesday that the role of the Council of Europe had never been more important than nowadays and that during her five-year term she would work on the unity as well as on empowering women and sensitive groups in the society.

In her first address upon her election, Pejčinović Burić said that she would advocate dialogue among member-states so as to ensure the accomplishment of the two founding goals of the organisation: peace and prosperity.

In her speech, Pejčinović Burić said that this international organisation was supposed to foster dialogue not only inside its main bodies but also among its member-states.

The Council of Europe was established in 1949 as an international organisation whose aim is to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. It now has the 47 member-states.

Pejčinović Burić is the second women to become the secretary-general of this organisation in its 70-year-long history. In this context, the new secretary general said that her election showed that the Council of Europe "is for gender equality".

"During my work as the Secretary General, I will pay special attention to all non-discrimination issues, particularly to women and children," she said adding that it is necessary to strengthen the role of women in the present-day society.

She thanked for the cross-party support in the election process as well as to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for having proposed and supported her candidature.

More news about Marija Pejčinović Burić can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 26, 2019 - Croatia has done a good job regarding the candidacy of its Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić for the post of Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday.

The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, which consists of 324 representatives of the national parliaments of 47 member states, will elect a new Secretary General to a term of five years by secret ballot on Wednesday evening. They will choose between Pejčinović Burić and Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders to succeed Thorbjorn Jagland, former Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Parliament Speaker of Norway.

"We've done a good job regarding the campaign", Plenković told the public broadcaster HRT on Wednesday morning. "It is very uncertain. I think we did all we could and already now we got an important plus and respect for both the country and our candidate," he added.

He said that Croatia had made a good impression during its six-month chairmanship of this organisation last year. "I think we earned the image of a country that can make a contribution."

The results of the vote are expected around 9pm.

If elected, Pejčinović Burić would be the second woman in history at the organisation's helm and the first person from Central and Southeastern Europe to fill this position, Plenković said.

Croatia joined the Council of Europe in 1996, and the new Secretary General is due to take office on October 15.

More news about Marija Pejčinović Burić can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, April 25, 2019 - Croatian authorities have been providing well for migrants but the existing accommodation capacity is insufficient for unaccompanied migrant children, reads a report by the Council of Europe released on Wednesday.

"Croatian authorities have succeeded in providing fairly good material reception conditions, both for adults and children... The authorities expressed the understanding that the existing institutions were not adequate for unaccompanied migrant and refugee children," reads the report by Tomas Boček, Special Representative of the Secretary General on migration and refugees.

Due to this, Croatian authorities plan to open two new reception centres in 2019 to accommodate unaccompanied children.

While substantial efforts have been made by all actors to provide shelter and basic services to the migrant population, the authorities should improve the coordination of assistance to migrants and refugees and implement standards for adequate and safe reception centres for women and children, notably unaccompanied children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, says Boček, whose report deals with the status of migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and is based on data collected by the Council of Europe missions in the two countries from June 24 to 27 and November 26 to 30, 2018.

In 2018 Croatia made attempts to prevent illegal border crossings, with some nongovernmental organisations accusing Croatian police of excessive use of force. "It is important that all border management operations are carried out with a view to identifying people in need of international protection," reads the report.

Boček suggests that Croatia should introduce credible complaint mechanisms and investigations to address the allegations of ill-treatment at the border.

The Council of Europe also encourages Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop alternatives to existing migrant reception centres.

In 2018 Croatia registered more than 7,500 migrants, of whom 352 asylum-seekers stayed in the country, while Bosnia and Herzegovina registered 24,000 migrants, 20 times more than in the previous year. Currently, between 4,000 and 5,000 migrants are in Bosnia and Herzegovina and they wish to cross the border into Croatia, according to Boček's report.

The report also notes that the Council of Europe Development Bank and the EU have co-funded the construction of new reception centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.