ZAGREB, November 29, 2018 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Thursday most resolutely denied any possibility of her "alleged involvement in an alleged plan" to topple Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's government and said that it would be a political coup against state institutions, particularly the institution of the President, Grabar-Kitarović's office said in a press release.

"Croatian President most resolutely denies any fabrication of her alleged involvement in the alleged attempts to topple the Andrej Plenković government. The President believes that that fabrications alone, based on statements that have not been verified by the relevant institutions, amounts to a direct political coup against Croatian state institutions and in particular against the institution of the President," the press release said.

Due to unverified information released in certain media outlets, President Grabar-Kitarović on 26 October made a proposal to Prime Minister Plenković to convene the National Security Council "however, to this date, she has not received a reply to that proposal."

"Croatian President believes that it is impermissible that the relevant state institutions have failed to react to the release of information which is being the subject matter of a confidential investigation. Therefore, the President expects all the relevant bodies to inform the National Security Council about the activities undertaken to clear up this affair and to identify the masterminds and the objectives of that scandal, but without undermining the confidentiality of the investigation," the press release said.

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ZAGREB, November 16, 2018 - Prime Minister and HDZ president Andrej Plenković commented on Friday on media reports that he had used a government plane to travel to Finland for a meeting of the European People's Party (EPP), which cost 170,000 kuna (23,000 euro) of taxpayers' money.

"Let's get this straight. I always act in the capacity of prime minister. I attended the EPP congress in my capacity as prime minister and not as the rest of the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) delegation," Plenković said in response to questions from the press.

“Regardless of this, my Finnish colleague Juha Sipila had requested a couple of months previously that we also hold a bilateral meeting in Helsinki. So I had a bilateral meeting and the EPP congress there, and there's nothing unusual about it," he added.

Speaking about other issues, Plenković said that his cabinet had made great headway in reducing the tax burden and accelerating administrative procedures.

Asked by the press to comment on the results of a survey conducted in the last five years by six foreign economic chambers and organisations, indicating insufficient progress in easing the tax burden for companies doing business in Croatia, Plenković said that what he knew "are the results of the tax reform conducted by the present government".

The current cabinet took office two years ago. "If the findings refer to the last five years and thus include 40 times amended tax laws under the SDP-led government, it can be that this refers to that period," Plenković said.

He called for an examination of what had been done to reduce taxes and administrative barriers during the term of his cabinet. He particularly pointed out the new public procurement legislation.

The presentation of the survey by six bilateral chambers of commerce on Thursday cited an inefficient public administration, legal insecurity, excessive taxes, lack of skilled labour and government performance as key obstacles to doing business in Croatia.

The survey covered 473 companies and its combined results show that despite some significant changes for the better, companies and potential investors still face numerous obstacles, and that changes occurring in Croatia are too slow and insufficient compared to the rest of Europe.

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ZAGREB, October 29, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday that all parliamentary parties that made up ruling majority, supported him as the prime minister, and the government's agenda and activities.

Plenković was responding to reporters who asked him whether he had convinced his partners to remain in the government should a reshuffle occur. I haven't noticed that there were any outstanding issues, he said. We conduct regular meetings with partners and so far I haven't heard of any problems, Plenković said and added that all partners were important.

Earlier in the day, some parties announced they would leave the ruling coalition if the prime minister were to admit Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić's representatives into the cabinet.

He said that he would attend the presentation of former economy minister Martina Dalić's book because he was interested in her view of an important process. He underscored that he wasn't interested in anything MOST party leader Božo Petrov had to say including his opinion of Martina Dalić's book.

He said that the process in the Petrokemija artificial fertiliser plant has been going on for several months and that since coming into office, his government has been working on Petrokemija's recapitalisation. He underscored that that was one of the inherited topics in Croatia's economic transition that were put on this government's agenda in one lot. Today's decisions are a prerequisite for the process of recapitalisation to be rounded off in two or three days and for a new phase to be launched in Petrokemija based on a new ownership structure, Plenković said.

With reference to the Sisak refinery, he said that the government was looking for a comprehensive solution together with the majority partners in INA at the moment and that it be sustainable, the prime minister said.

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ZAGREB, October 29, 2018 - Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) leader Darinko Kosor said in response to questions from the press on Monday that his party would leave the ruling coalition if Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić's party joined the government.

Bandić's parliamentary group has increased to 10 members in the last few days, and media predict that it will continue to grow, although Bandić's slate has won only one seat in the present parliament.

The increase in the number of lawmakers in Bandić's parliamentary group has prompted media speculation that the Zagreb mayor could call for entry into the government given that now it controls twice as many MPs as the Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) strategic partner in the ruling coalition, the Croatian People's Party (HNS), which has two ministers.

"Unlike the other coalition partners, the HSLS is the HDZ's partner from before the elections when Plenković and I put together a coalition which no one believed would win the elections. We agreed then that we would build a decent Croatia. If now we were to allow the government to be changed based on political corruption, it would not be our agreement any more. I still believe that this will not happen, first of all that Andrej Plenković will not do that for his own sake. But if it does happen, we will no longer be part of the ruling coalition," Kosor told the press in the parliament.

Interestingly, Kosor does not seem to mind that both the ruling coalition and the government have been depended on Bandić’s MPs ever since HDZ broke up its previous coalition with MOST in spring 2017.

Bandić has been expanding his parliamentary group ever since, mainly by drawing in MPs from opposition parties who have suddenly decided they will no longer be in opposition.

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ZAGREB, October 19, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday, in a comment on the first two years of his government's term, that his main goal over the past two years had been to maintain political stability, which he said did not mean keeping the status quo, and that in the next two years he wanted to see the atmosphere in society improve, with more tolerance, inclusiveness and dialogue.

ZAGREB, October 10, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković told the national parliament on Wednesday that the reforms which his cabinet was conducting were already giving concrete results.

ZAGREB, September 23, 2018 - Croatia's ministers show up at 56% of meetings in the Council of the European Union, whereas the attendance rate across the 28 EU member-states is 76%, and the best performers are Romania and Portugal, while only Slovakia, Poland and Slovenia have lower ministerial attendance rates than Croatia, according to findings of a survey conducted by the Danish think-tank EUROPA.

ZAGREB, September 21, 2018 - The sixth meeting of the Council for Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem, convened in Beli Manastir on Friday, was presided by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković who underlined that, of the 19 billion kuna which is foreseen to be secured as part of the Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem project, so far 7.9 billion kuna has been contracted, which is about 42% of the funds foreseen.

ZAGREB, September 5, 2018 - Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) president Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday that the ruling majority in parliament was stable and that it would not fall if Darko Milinović returned to parliament, saying that he was prepared for all possible scenarios.

ZAGREB, August 30, 2018 - Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević said on Thursday that representatives of civil initiatives would not be allowed to monitor the checking of signatures collected for referendum petitions but that a contract would be signed with a company to do it.