ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - The Croatian Parliament Committee on European Affairs on Thursday supported with a majority vote the government's decision to nominate Dubravka Šuica for its Commissioner in the new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen to the 2019-2024 period.

After hearing the arguments presented by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, the Committee endorsed the government's decision with 10 votes in favour, while five Committee members abstained.

Those who abstained from voting were Opposition MPs Domagoj Hajduković and Joško Klisović of the Social Democratic Paty (SDP), independent MPs Bojan Glavašević and Marin Škibola and MOST party MP Ines Strenja.

A Croatian member of the European Parliament, Šuica, has been elected to the EP three times, and her first election of a Croatian MEP was in 2013 when Croatia joined the Union. She was reelected in 2014 and in 2019.

Šuica, 62, a teacher of English and German language and literature, worked in several schools in her hometown of Dubrovnik and was the headmaster of a local grammar school. During her political career, Šuica, an official of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), was a member of the national parliament and the mayor of Dubrovnik from 2001 to 2009.

Šuica has been a vice-president of the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs, and of the EP delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. In June this year she became a vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP).

The nominated commissioners proposed by EC President Ursula von der Leyen are to be confirmed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

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

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - Addressing a conference of Croatian diplomats in Zagreb on Thursday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković advised them to be careful in choosing their associates, following a recent scandal of a former first secretary in the Croatian embassy in Berlin, Elizabeta Mađarević who was suspended from the diplomatic service due to her racist and xenophobic remarks on her social media profiles.

Plenković reiterated the condemnation of racist and xenophobic statements made by the former diplomat Mađarević. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who joined in the condemnation of the scandal, said that the incident had happened also owing to "omissions in the system".

The case of the dismissed embassy secretary to some extent dominated the annual conference of Croatia's diplomats, however, the event also highlighted the latest successes of the Croatian diplomacy, including the election of Croatia's Marija Pejčinović Burić as the secretary-general of the Council of Europe and the appointment of former Croatian member of parliament, Ivana Maletić to the European Court of Auditors.

The participants in the conference agreed that Dubravka Šuica, who has been proposed for a Croatian member of the future European Commission, is good candidate for the Croatian representative at the EC.

"The election of Pejčinović Burić for the Council of Europe secretary-general is a great Croatian success, we who lobbied for her are aware of that," said Croatian's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman who succeeded her in the ministerial post.

The biggest challenges facing Croatia in the near future will stem from Croatia's chairmanship over the EU in the first half of 2020, the top officials said at the conference.

Plenković said that one of the priorities of Croatia's presidency would be demographic revitalisation.

Negative demographic trends are present in the whole of Europe, he added.

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

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - Future member of the European Commission, MEP Dubravka Šuica (HDZ-EPP), on Thursday presented herself to the European Affairs parliamentary committee, just a few hours after the government confirmed her nomination for Croatia's candidate for the EC led by Ursula von der Leyen.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who also attended the meeting, described her as a "good candidate with a wealth of experience in international affairs."

"She has a lot of experience. This is her third term in the European Parliament. She was a Member of Parliament and Mayor of Dubrovnik."

He added that portfolios in the next EC are still not being discussed publicly yet however, Croatia has hinted which one it would like for Šuica.

"We are conducting intensive talks with the head of the European Commission however, allow another two to three weeks for her to make her decision," Plenković said.

Šuica too underscored that she has a lot of experience and added that she would in particular advocate Croatia's accession to the Schengen Area.

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

ZAGREB, August 21, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday confirmed that Croatia would nominate Dubravka Šuica for its Commissioner in the new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen.

"Following internal consultations and talks with the new EC President Ursula von der Leyen, we are going to make the decision at tomorrow's meeting of the inner cabinet that we nominate Dubravka Šuica for our new member of the European Commission," Plenković told reporters after the ceremony of opening the 6th World Bridge Youth Open Championships in the Croatian seaside resort of Opatija.

A Croatian member of the European Parliament, Dubravka Šuica, has been elected to the EP three times, and her first election of a Croatian MEP was in 2013 when Croatia joined the Union. She was reelected in 2014 and in 2019.

Šuica, 62, a teacher of English and German language and literature, worked in several schools in her hometown of Dubrovnik and was the headmaster of a local grammar school. During her political career, Šuica, an official of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), was a member of the national parliament and the mayor of Dubrovnik from 2001 to 2009.

Šuica has been a vice-president of the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs, and of the EP delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. In June this year she became a vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP).

The nominated commissioners proposed by EC President Ursula von der Leyen are to be confirmed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

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

ZAGREB, August 15, 2019 - A total of 228,000 nationals of the Western Balkan countries Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo, emigrated legally to the European Union in 2018, according to Eurostat figures, carried by the Montenegrin daily "Vijesti" on Thursday.

Last year, 62,000 Albanians moved to the EU, which is 2.2% of the country's overall population, followed by 2.1% of North Macedonians (24,300), and 2% of Kosovars (34,500 Kosovars; 53,500 nationals of Bosnia and Herzegovina left their country for the EU, a share of 1.5%, while Serbia lost 51,000 citizens to emigration (1.3%) and Montenegro 3,000 (0.5%).

Nationals of Western Balkan countries emigrate the most to Germany. In 2018 as many as 19,000 Kosovars, 16,000 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia each, 11,500 North Macedonians and 1,500 Montenegrins emigrated to Germany.

Albanian citizens prefer Italy and in 2018, 23,000 emigrated to that country.

Last year, a total of 2.67 million residence permits were issued in the EU for the first arrival from almost every country in the world.

The number of new immigrants is the highest in Germany - 543,000, followed by the UK, with 450,000 immigrants, France, with 264,000 immigrants, Spain, with 259,000, Italy, 238,000 and Sweden, with 124,000 immigrants.

More emigration news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 15, 2019 - The Croatian nominee for one of European commissioners will be nominated at the first government session after the summer recess, on August 22, the Jutarnji List daily reported on Thursday.

The name of the Croatian European commissioner is being kept secret, with Dubravka Šuica, an experienced member of the European Parliament from the HDZ party, being considered as the likeliest nominee.

The final decision is to be made by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, however, the possibility of some other candidate being nominated is not ruled out either and depends on the department the prime minister negotiates with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a source at the government told Jutarnji List.

Once the government decides who to nominate, its decision will be forwarded to the parliamentary Committee on European Affairs, after which the prime minister will send the EC president a letter with the candidate's name by August 26.

Since Croatia has a better position than five years ago, we can get a good department, the government source told Hina.

In the first weeks after the summer recess, the government is also expected to hold talks with trade unions on their demand for a wage increase and on the tax and pension reforms, the daily says.

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

ZAGREB, August 11, 2019 - The latest findings of the Eurobarometer show that in the European Union, the Croatians have the lowest trust in state institutions.

Only 13% of the Croatians covered by surveys conducted for Spring 2019 Standard Eurobarometer trust the government and the parliament, and the next to the last is Britain, where citizens' trust in state institutions has been affected by the developments surrounding the Brexit. Only 19% of U.K. citizens place confidence in the country's authorities.

Throughout the European Union trust in EU remains higher than trust in national governments or parliaments and is at its highest level since 2014.

"Trust in the EU has increased in 20 Member States, with the highest scores in Lithuania (72%), Denmark (68%) and Estonia (60%)," the European Commission has recently reported.

"In addition, over half of the respondents 'tend to trust' the EU in Luxembourg (59%), Finland (58%), Portugal (57%), Malta and Sweden (both 56%), Bulgaria and Hungary (both 55%), Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands and Cyprus (all 54%), Romania and Austria (both 52%) and Latvia and Belgium (both 51%)."

When it comes to trust in national governments, the percentage of those who place confidence in local governments is the highest in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the Zagreb-based Večernji List daily has recently said in its comment on the latest Eurobarometer scoreboard.

The daily says that the overwhelming mistrust in Croatia should be ascribed to a high perception of corruption in the country.

When it comes to trust in EU institutions, 46% of those polled in Croatia say they trust them, which is almost three times higher than the percentage of those who trust national authorities.

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

ZAGREB, August 2, 2019 - Croatia was among the EU countries with the highest retail trade in creasesin June, both month on month and year on year, according to figures released by Eurostat on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade in Croatia in June increased by 6.8% from May, when it had observed a decrease of 4.4%.

The highest monthly increases were registered in Croatia (+6.8%), Germany (+3.5%) and Poland (+2.8%), while the largest decreases were observed in Portugal (-0.9%), Ireland (-0.8%) and Slovenia (-0.5%).

In June 2019 compared with May 2019, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade increased by 1.2% in the EU28 and by 1.1% in the euro area. In May 2019, the retail trade volume decreased by 0.7% in the EU28 and by 0.6% in the euro area.

In June 2019 compared with June 2018, the calendar adjusted retail sales index increased by 2.8% in the EU28 and by 2.6% in the euro area.

The highest yearly increases in the total retail trade volume were registered in Croatia (+7.4%), Lithuania and Romania (both +5.7%) and Malta (+5.6%). The only decrease was observed in Slovakia (-0.4%).

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, July 30, 2019 - During a visit to Zagreb, newly-appointed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that she wants to rebalance the European Union that can be strong only if it is united.

My goal is to rebalance the European Union. East, west, north and south. Larger and smaller, younger and older member states, von der Leyen told a joint press conference held with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković ahead of their talks.

We all know that we can deal with problems only if we are united, successful and strong. The world is calling for more Europe and needs a strong European voice, and that can only be achieved if we are together, said the new EC president who officially steps into office in October as the first woman in that position.

She called on member states to submit their candidates for European commissioners by August 26. To date, 16 of the 28 member states have done so. Croatia is not among them and was not mentioned during the press conference. Von der Leyen wants each member state to nominate two candidates, one woman and one man, but this has not been complied with so far.

Von der Leyen arrived in Zagreb after visiting Berlin, Paris and Warsaw. She underscored that it was important for her to visit Zagreb after those three cities and that Croatia was the youngest EU member but that it was outstanding.

The fact that at the start of next year you will be the presidency shows that Croatia is a tremendous success story of the European Union and that it is a role model for other countries, von der Leyen said. Croatia will take the helm of the EU as of 1 January 2020, followed by Germany in the second half of the year.

Von der Leyen underscored that her talks with Croatian officials would be about topics the EU will deal with during Croatia's chairmanship such as the new multi-annual financial framework from 2021 to 2027, Brexit, security and economic issues.

Prime Minister Plenković said that during the meeting he would state Croatia's readiness to attempt to find, at a conference scheduled for 2020, solutions to the democratic deficit in the EU, i.e. the strengthening of its democratic legitimacy, which is an idea that von der Leyen has presented to the European Parliament.

We cannot ignore the elephant in the room. And that elephant is the system of specifying, strengthening and comprehending the concept of the lead candidate so that we can organise the next European Parliament elections in such a way that all political groups and all those who vote know exactly what that candidate means before and after the election, Plenković said.

The lead candidate of the European People's Party, which is the group Plenković and von der Leyen are part of, was German Manfred Weber. However, after the European elections in May, that system, which is not defined by the Lisbon Treaty, was not respected.

During the meeting in Government House there was talk of Croatia entering the Schengen Area and the eurozone. Von der Leyen underscored that she values the huge efforts Croatia has made in that regard and emphasised that she is on Croatia's side on that journey. However, she recalled that membership to the Schengen Area also requires the consent of all EU member states.

Although Romania and Bulgaria have met all the conditions to enter the Schengen Area several years ago, they are still waiting for the political decision by the member states so that they can join.

Von der Leyen was recently Germany's minister of defence and in the past she was at the helm of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs as well as of the Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, which is why Plenkovic underscored that she has clear and firm stances on demographic challenges, which too were discussed during the meeting.

That isn't just a Croatian issue but a horizontal issue of numerous countries. About half the member states have a negative population growth, Plenković underscored. Von der Leyen said that this was mainly a national responsibility, but that EU could provide strong support.

If we look at the map of the world, we can see that many countries in the northern hemisphere will face demographic changes. We are the forerunner for resolving that issue, she said.

Aside from demography, an important issue for Croatia in terms of which it ranks among the worst in the EU, Plenković and von der Leyen also talked about balancing standards in member states.

Croatia is a country that is still catching up in terms of development not only with older member states but those ones who entered in 2004 and 2007. We are one of those countries that is seeking convergence so that we can come to that level that is appropriate to those that are developed within our European Union. That is the guiding thought of Croatian policy and what we, as an exceptionally pro-European government, are doing, he said.

Plenković presented von der Leyen with the idea of an EU-Southeast Europe during Croatia's chairmanship to discuss enlargement, twenty years after the summit in Zagreb in 2000 on that same topic.

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

ZAGREB, July 30, 2019 - Croatia is an exceptionally successful European story, European Commissioner president elect Ursula von der Leyen said in a brief address to the press upon arriving in Zagreb on Tuesday ahead of talks with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Croatia is the youngest member of the European Union yet at the start of 2020 it will chair the Council of the EU.

Croatia is an exceptionally successful story and it is model for many, many countries, said Von der Leyen.

She expressed her admiration for Croatia's achievements and thanked Croatia and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for supporting her election as the EC's president.

Von der Leyen presented her platform two weeks ago and on Tuesday recalled important topics such as innovations, digitisation, and demography.

I think that there are many opportunities in the demography challenge if we approach that issue in the right way, she said.

She underscored support to parents and subsidies. Population decrease is a problem facing many countries.

But Europe is a leader and we can investigate how to approach that problem and benefit from it, because there are ways that challenges can be transformed into opportunities, she said.

She reiterated the objectives of her presidency.

My political objectives are to achieve a balance between the east and west, to achieve a balance between the north and south, to achieve a balance between smaller and larger members, she said. But that can only be possible through unity, she underscored.

If we are united, advanced, strong, if we speak strongly with a European voice, we can succeed, Von der Leyen said.

Prime Minister Plenković said that Croatia would use today's talks to present Croatia's particularities to the EC president.

Croatia is catching up not only with older member states but with new ones who entered in 2004 and in 2007, so that it can arrive at the level that is appropriate to those who are developed in this European family, he said.

He mentioned fulfilling all the criteria for Croatia to access the Schengen Area, and a strategy to introduce the euro currency.

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