ZAGREB, March 30, 2019 - Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) leader Milorad Pupovac said on Saturday that the participation of his party in the forthcoming European Parliament election was emancipating for the Serbs in Croatia.

"Participation in the forthcoming European Parliament election is emancipating and liberating for the Serbs. In doing so, we can help change the atmosphere in Croatia, help people free themselves from fear and stereotypes, and have a greater sense of freedom. If we manage to achieve that, we will be in the European Parliament and in the European atmosphere no matter how many votes we win. And if we do win one seat, which is what we are striving for, that will be a huge achievement," Pupovac told Croatian Radio in an interview.

Asked whether he would go to Brussels if he won a seat or he would give up his seat as the leader of the MOST party, Božo Petrov, had announced, Pupovac said he had no less obligations than Petrov. "My focus is on the success of the slate and the party and on the success of the people on the slate and less on my own success," he added.

Speaking of the reasons why the SDSS was running in the election on its own, Pupovac said: "The HNS (Croatian People's Party) initiated talks with us to run together in a coalition, but then they changed their mind and decided that they could give us only one or two places on the slate, which we could not accept."

Pupovac said that his recent threat of leaving the ruling coalition was serious. "We reached a line we couldn't and shouldn't cross. The line is still here and we're still walking on it. We don't want to cross it and that's what our message was about. We analysed the political circumstances and activity of the SDSS and generally the exercise of rights by Serbs in Croatia, the state of democracy and democratic values on the one hand and the implementation of operational programmes for the minorities in Croatia, including the Serbs, on the other," the SDSS leader said.

"Attacks on constitutional and democratic values by far right, historically defeated forces in Croatia have become too strong over the past year and too widespread in the political and public sphere," he added.

Pupovac said that the problem lay in a conflict between policies aimed at restoring values that were essentially undemocratic. "The policies that were defeated in the Second World War and the policies of the war in the 1990s, and the lack of preparedness on our part as the coalition and government. I say 'our' on purpose because we cannot deny our responsibility for this regardless of how much we are actually involved in the government. The lack of preparedness to recognise what is going on and respond to what is going on. We as the ruling coalition and as the government should have recognised these phenomena and responded to them in time."

He explained why he supported the government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. "That's why we joined the coalition and what we were working on during the first two years in office - to remove chauvinistic phenomena and radical, exclusive historical revisionism from the public and political mainstream, especially the denial of war crimes committed by the (Nazi-allied) Ustasha movement during the Second World War."

Pupovac said that the SDSS had threatened to leave the coalition unless the policies were changed. "If we have agreed to restore electricity and water supply in areas where Serb refugees have returned, then this agreement should be strictly observed, rather than have someone at a lower level reduce the agreed amount of money," he said.

He noted that the restoration of electricity and water supply, as agreed under the operational programme, had begun last year, adding that "neither the government of Zoran Milanović nor of Jadranka Kosor, and especially the government of Tihomir Orešković, paid any attention to that."

The SDSS leader explained why Prime Minister Plenković's wish for a single commemoration ceremony at Jasenovac, the site of an Ustasha-run concentration camp during the Second World War, was unlikely to come true this year either.

"The question of negationism and radical historical revisionism by those who would want to completely change the 20th century history of Croatia, to make something white out of black, make something clean out of something dirty, make something true out of lies and turn the truth into a lie. At a time when every effort is made to say that Jasenovac did not exist, and such people are allowed on public television, in public libraries, pastoral centres, a diocesan centre, it is not realistic to expect us to say, 'well, that's nothing,' while at the same time the Bleiburg myth continues to be fostered the way it is. These two things cannot go together," Pupovac said.

Pupovac said it was unacceptable to him that 2 million kuna (270,000 euro) was annually allocated for the Jasenovac Memorial Centre and 40 million kuna (5.4 million euro) for the Vukovar Memorial Centre.

"These are the reasons why we must seriously discuss how to change the practice of commemorating events from the Second World War and the war that broke up our common state. If we find that, we will be together again," Pupovac said.

He also spoke of his attendance at a ceremony that commemorated NATO's bombing of Serbia. "I was there to pay tribute to the people who were killed in NATO's bombing campaign in 1999, just as I attend commemorative events elsewhere," Pupovac said.

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

ZAGREB, March 29, 2019 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is set to win six of the 12 seats, allotted to Croatia in the next European Parliament, (EP), while the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) can expect three seats and the Živi Zid, the GLAS-led Amsterdam Coalition and the MOST party, can win one seat each, shows the latest projections released by the European Parliament on Friday.

This is the third such projection of the composition of the next EP released by the Parliament and based on polls on voting intentions in the EU member-states.

Initial projections of the composition of the new European Parliament indicated that of 12 seats reserved for Croatia the HDZ will win six, the SDP three, Živi Zid two and MOST one.

The projects are compiled in collaboration with Kantar Public, Parliament’s Public Opinion Monitoring Unit.

These projections of the composition of the next European Parliament are based on the structure of the outgoing Parliament and should be seen as a snapshot of the current political situation as represented in the voting intention polls.

The poll in Croatia was carried out by Promocija Plus. According to the poll taken, HDZ will win 30.7% of the vote or 6 seats. SDP would win 19.2% of the vote or 3 seats, followed by the Živi Zid (10.2%) Amsterdam Coalition (7.7%) and MOST (6.8%) and would win 1 seat each.

The next European Parliament will have fewer MEPs then the outgoing parliament, 705 compared to the current 751 seats. The new division of seats will apply only if Great Britain exits the EU before the elections which are set for May 23 - 26.

Based on current voting intentions in the EU27, the European People's Party group (EPP) would have 188 seats, followed by the Socialists and Democrats (142), Liberals (72), Europe of Nations and Freedom (61), European Conservatives and Reformists (53), European United Left (49), and the European Freedom and Direct Democracy group (30).

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

ZAGREB, March 27, 2019 - The MOST party on Wednesday presented its slate for the coming European Parliament election, and the party's leader, Bozo Petrov who heads the slate, said that they were aiming for two seats.

Petrov explained that he would not go to the European Parliament but would pass on the seats won to MOST members with the most preferential votes.

The slate consists of Petrov followed by Sonja Čikotić, Ivan Prskalo, Ines Strenja, Ružica Vukovac, Robert Podolnjak, Ljubica Ambrušec, Nizar Shoukri, Ivan Bekavac, Mato Tomljanović, Ivan Matić and Miro Bulj.

"Candidates with the most preferential votes will go to the European Parliament regardless of whether they passed the preferential threshold. I consider that to be fair toward citizens and the candidates on the slate," Petrov said.

He explained that his name was on the slate regardless of the fact that he would not take a seat in the EP, because MOST wants to send a message that the European election is important for Croatia. "My name will be the first on the slate but I won't take a seat in the European Parliament because I believe that we are faced with certain important battles. I want to send a message that this election is essential for Croatia's political future and that is why my name is at the top of the slate," he said.

He called on Croatian citizens to go to the polls because "with going to the polls or not, they are showing what kind of Croatia they belong to and what kind of Croatia they want."

This opposition parliamentary party plans to spend 1.2 million kuna (162,000 euro) in the election campaign.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Tuesday called the election of 12 Croatian deputies to the European Parliament for 26 May and the State Election Commission said on its website that the deadline for the nomination of candidates was midnight, April 9.

Elections for the European Parliament will be held in all member states of the European Union between 23 and 26 May 2019, as decided by the Council of the European Union. Every five years EU citizens choose who represents them in the EP.

More news on the European elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 26, 2019 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Tuesday called the election of 12 Croatian deputies to the European Parliament for 26 May.

The decision on calling the election will go into effect after it is published in the National Gazette.

Elections for the European Parliament will be held in all member states of the European Union between 23 and 26 May 2019, as decided by the Council of the European Union. Every five years EU citizens choose who represents them in the European Parliament.

The EP is elected by direct universal suffrage and elections must be based on proportional representation and use either the list system or the single transferable vote system. In some countries including Croatia, the order on the list may be changed using the transferable (preferential) vote system.

Slates may be submitted by all political parties registered in Croatia that can run in the election with their own slates or in coalitions. To participate in the election independent candidates must collect at least 5,000 signatures of voters, and submit them to the State Election Commission within 14 days after the president calls the elections.

Jean-Claude Juncker is the current president of the European Commission but a group of hopefuls are jostling to succeed him after the May poll.

Political groupings in the European Parliament have named their spitzenkandidat, which is German for the lead candidate of a party.

Voters across the European Union will go the polls to select the 705 MEPs to serve in the European Parliament for the next five years.

The number of MEPs for the next five-year is reduced to 705, down from 751 during the 2014-2019 period.

The biggest beneficiaries have been France and Spain, who will both have five extra members in the chamber.

Croatia's number of seats went up from 11 to 12.

Croatia held its first EP elections on 13 and 14 April 2013, just before it entered the Union on 1 July that year.

More news on the elections in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 24, 2019 - Prime Minister and HDZ president Andrej Plenković said on Saturday that the European Parliament election would be called on March 26. "If the United Kingdom leaves, it means the election of 12 Croatian MEPs. In the event of some unforeseen circumstances, a possible extension of the Brexit deadline we set for May 22, then legally, in the first stage, we would elect 11 MEPs, and if (the UK) leaves, not just we but other countries too would have 12 MEPs."

Asked about a meeting of the state leadership in the president's office earlier on Saturday, Plenković said he met with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković every four to six weeks and that they discussed all current matters.

Speaking to the press in Krapinske Toplice, where he attended a ceremony marking the 29th anniversary of the HDZ party's Krapina-Zagorje County branch, he said Croatia was prepared for both Brexit scenarios.

Asked about Social Democratic Party president Davor Bernardić's claim that the HDZ needed the law on the financing of political activities to legalise its slush funds, Plenković said "this degree of disastrous statements is below every level of rude, even slanderous statements" and that they were put in the context of a rational decision to give citizens more benefit from electioneering.

The campaign for the EP election "will last 45 days and you have only 1.5 million kuna per slate. A party can invest its own funds or seek contributions, and we raised the limit," he said, adding that even with the increase Croatia "is one of the countries with the smallest funds for campaigning."

He said it was important that Croatian citizens understood that as those spending more in the campaign would motivate people to vote in the EP election. He said the "anti-European sovereignists are clueless and it's important the public knows that, and they didn't lift a finger for Croatia to join the European Union."

Asked about the government's position on a Slovenian court's non-final jail sentence against Croatian fishermen for fishing in Savudrija Bay, Plenkovic said the government supported all Croatian fishermen who were being fined by the Slovenian authorities.

He reiterated that Croatia did not recognise the "compromised" arbitration procedure and ruling on the border with Slovenia and that it wanted to discuss and resolve the problem with Slovenia.

More news on the European elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 23, 2019 - After the longest discussion on amendments in the history of the modern Croatian parliament, the national legislature on Friday evening adopted a law on the financing of political activities, election campaigns and referendums.

The law was passed with 81 votes in favour.

Independent MP Siniša Varga, a former member of parliament from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who recently left that party, was among those who voted for the law.

Members of parliament from the opposition MOST party walked out of the parliament before the vote and did not take part in it.

A record 911 amendments had been submitted to the bill, including 888 by the MOST party.

Its deputies defended each of their amendments, which lasted, with only one, hour-long break, a total of 33 hours, the longest discussion on a single item on the agenda in the history of the parliament.

Even though not one of their amendments was adopted, MOST MPs said that they were satisfied, describing the law as bad and serving the sole purpose of filling the ruling HDZ party's coffers ahead of the coming elections for the European Parliament.

The party found evidence for its claim in the provision which raises the allowed amount for campaigning in elections for the European Parliament from 1.5 million kuna to a maximum 4 million per slate.

The government insisted that the law regulated more comprehensively the financing of political activities and election campaigns as well as referendum activities, which were not regulated by law until now.

It also said that the new law created conditions for a more efficient supervision of financing and greater transparency by introducing an information system to supervise the financing of political activities and election and referendum campaigns.

Under the new law, financial reports, ordinary and election, will be published on the website of the State Election Commission, which will make it easier for experts and members of the general public to inspect party finances.

Budget funds for normal annual financing will be allocated in line with the final election results on the number of seats won and not depending on the number of seats at the time when a representative body is established, as was the case until now.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who late on Friday evening arrived in the parliament while it was discussing the bill on the financing of political parties, election campaigns and referendums, said that he had come to express solidarity with MPs who would vote for the bill.

Speaking of the MOST party's two-day action during which it presented 888 amendments to the bill, he said that it was unnecessary, nonsensical and contrary to citizens' interests and described it as filibustering. "I can see that attempts are being made to undermine something that is rational and necessary for the entire campaign for European elections to gain appropriate visibility and for more funds to be secured for it," he said.

He added that there was no other European country that so far had envisaged so little funding for campaigns for European elections. "The law so far envisaged only 1.5 million kuna per slate for a nation-wide campaign, which is the amount envisaged for one constituency in Croatian parliamentary elections. I have been in such a campaign twice, each time for 45 days. Those campaigns are very long, the longest we have, and the funding for them is absolutely below any minimum of what is necessary to raise awareness of European elections and European topics," said Plenković.

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

ZAGREB, March 22, 2019 - After the Croatian parliament spent the whole night on Thursday debating the MOST party's amendments to the bill on the financing of political activities, election campaigning and referendums, activists of the GONG non-governmental organisation on Friday called on lawmakers not to adopt the bill, saying that it was harmful.

GONG member Goran Čular told reporters outside the parliament that the bill was harmful in terms of its content and that it was also harmful for political culture in Croatia.

He underlined that so far political parties in Croatia had complied with the good practice set by the Venice Commission not to change election legislation just before elections.

"In Europe such things are done relatively rarely. The bill on the financing of political activities contains some provisions whose impact on the election process is greater than the impact of the election law itself," said Čular.

Apart from the fact that it is harmful for political culture, the bill has a harmful content because it takes us back to the time of former Prime Minuster Ivo Sanader, said Čular. "It is being adopted just before European elections so some very important provisions will already be in force in those elections. I'm talking primarily about the provision that increases the maximum funding of election campaigning from 1.5 million kuna to 4 million per slate," said Čular.

He recalled that in 2011 the amount legal and physical persons could donate to political parties was limited to 30,000 kuna for physical persons and 200,000 kuna for legal persons.

The current bill distinguishes between the financing of regular activities from the financing of party campaigns and thus, depending on the number of elections in a year, increases donations to political parties several times.

"In 2019, when elections for the European Parliament and presidential elections will be held, you will be able to make a donation of 30,000 kuna or of 200,000 kuna, if you are a company, for no more than three times," said Čular.

GONG executive director Jelena Berković said that it was contentious that the bill, which also concerns the financing of referendums and referendum initiatives by civil society groups, was being adopted without a new law on referendums having been adopted.

She also noted that the current bill did not contain a provision on the need to specify payments made by political parties to their candidates for electioneering purposes.

Berković claimed that that provision did exist in the version of the bill that was put to public consultation but that in the first reading it was deleted without any explanation.

Representatives of the Amsterdam Coalition said on Friday that the ruling HDZ party and its coalition partners wanted to buy European elections with the proposed bill on the financing of political activities which was currently being discussed by the parliament, and that therefore they demanded that the law should go into force on June 1 and not on the day before the day when elections for the European Parliament would be called.

Anka Mrak Taritaš, leader of the GLAS party, which is part of the Amsterdam Coalition, told a news conference in the parliament that the bill on the financing of political activities contained numerous improvements in relation to the existing law but also entirely unacceptable elements.

"The crucial thing is the day of the entry into force of the law, which bears witness to the thuggery of the HDZ, the HNS and Milan Bandić's parliamentary group because today is March 22 and the president of the republic can call elections for the European Parliament on March 25 at the latest. That means that the law will go into force on the day before the day when the elections are called," said Mrak Taritaš.

Election rules are not changed in an election year, what the HDZ, the HNS and Bandić are doing is unfair to the political system and political parties and also bears witness to their disrespect of the European Parliament, she said.

The Amsterdam Coalition has only one amendment to the bill on the financing of political activities - that it should go into force on June 1. By adopting that amendment, the ruling majority will show that there is a minimum of democracy in Croatia, the GLAS leader said.

Krešo Beljak, leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), also a member of the Amsterdam Coalition, said that election campaigns in 2019 were not like campaigns of 15 years ago because a larger number of supporters could be reached today for much less money, primarily through campaigning on social networks.

"It is absolutely unnecessary for any party, including even the HDZ and Bandić, to spend that much money on an election campaign," said Beljak.

More news on the elections in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 21, 2019 - The In the Name of the Family civil society group on Thursday described as unacceptable plans by the ruling majority to push through a law on the financing of political activities, election campaigns and referendums, saying that by trying to have the law adopted before the elections for the European Parliament, the ruling HDZ party was trying to win more money for the financing of its election campaign.

The bill, which is being discussed by the parliament, raises the maximum allowed amount for electioneering purposes from kuna 1.5 million to 4 million per slate, which means that the HDZ and its coalition partners would have three times more money at their disposal, the group said.

It particularly objected to the bill being discussed under fast-track procedure, without a third reading, and to plans for the law to go into force eight days after its publication in the Official Journal, with retroactive application of some of its regulations.

This, the group says, is contrary to recommendations by the Venice Commission that election legislation, including rules on campaign financing, should not be changed one year before elections.

By adopting such a law, the prime minister would be abusing the parliamentary majority for unfair political competition and so that "the HDZ could have as much influence on voters as possible," the group said.

It recalled that the bill "is almost a complete copy of the Social Democratic Party-sponsored bill from 2015 against which the HDZ voted at the time, and is now imposing it, following the scam with the referendum on the election system."

In the Name of the Family also warned that the bill equated ad hoc civic initiatives with political parties which, it says, receive millions of kuna from the state budget and have employees and the necessary infrastructure, and planned to lay the same administrative burden on them as for political parties.

In the Name of the Family believes that the purpose of the bill is also to make the financing of referendums more complicated for citizens.

Earlier in the day, the opposition MOST party, dissatisfied with the bill on the financing of political activities, election campaigns and referendums, submitted more than 900 amendments to the bill and asked for a third reading.

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

ZAGREB, March 18, 2019 - The opposition Živi Zid party presented the joint platform of a group of European populist parties for May's European Parliament election in Zagreb on Sunday, with the party's leader Ivan Vilibor Sinčić saying that they were a new generation of politicians who would build a new and better Europe.

The platform advocating an honest Europe that will be closer to citizens and that will fight against corruption and organised crime was presented by Sinčić and the leaders of kindred European parties – Luigi di Maio from Italy's Five Star Movement, Pawel Kukiz from the Polish party Kukiz 15 and Evangellos Tsompanidis from Greece's AKKEL.

"These European elections will not be won like previous ones where old parties won a majority. The situation will be completely different, and our message is one of hope – things can be different than they are in the EU today," di Maio said to applause and approval from Živi Zid members and sympathisers who gathered for the presentation of the new platform.

These four parties and Finland's Movement Now (Liike Nyt), who did not come to Zagreb, seek to establish their own political group in the European Parliament "to do good things for the benefit of the European nations," as di Maio put it.

"We want people in Europe to live better, we want their work to be appreciated and we want a minimum wage to be determined at the European level. We are fighting for the dignity of the European citizen and if we fail to achieve this, there is no reason for the EU to survive," di Maio said.

Sinčić said that their joint manifesto was not a definitive document and that it would be improved in cooperation with the parties that had acceded to it and that were yet to accede to it.

The 10-point manifesto includes projects promoting direct democracy, respect for the specificities of European countries and rejection of centralisation. It advocates radical change in the European institutions to ensure that the European Parliament is not subordinated to the Commission.

"We want to change the entire concept of European politics, without fake left-right divisions and without rows over fake ideological divisions," Sinčić said.

More news about European elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 17, 2019 - The Main Committee of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Sunday adopted the party's slate for European Parliament elections with 12 candidates led by incumbent MEP Tonino Picula.

The second candidate on the slate is another incumbent MEP, Biljana Borzan.

Debating the slate, a number of Main Committee members complained about the inclusion of non-party member Mirela Holy. She told reporters she had anticipated objections and criticisms. "I see it as part of party infighting."

The Main Committee also endorsed the joining of Ivo Josipović's Forward Croatia party to the SDP, which SDP president Davor Benardić called a "gathering of all progressive forces in society."

"There's no tolerant, open, progressive, just, modern Croatia without strong social democracy and a strong SDP," he said, reiterating that they wanted Croatia and its citizens to be the equals of other European Union countries and citizens.

More news about European elections can be found in the Politics section.