AGREB, 8 April (2022) - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Friday condemned the shelling of the railway station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, earlier in the day when dozens of civilians were killed and over 100 were wounded.

Thousands of people - most of them women and children and the elderly - were at the railway station in Kramatorsk when it was hit by rockets, the city's mayor Oleksander Honcharenko was quoted by foreign media as saying.

The station, located in eastern Ukraine, was being used to evacuate civilians from the eastern Donbas region.

PM Plenković said the shelling of the train station was one more piece of evidence of Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine.

Things getting back to normal, but caution is still advised

With almost all the COVID restrictions being lifted, life is getting back to normal, but caution is still required, said the premier at the start of his cabinet's meeting.

The Croatian COVID-19 crisis management team has established that conditions have been met for the relaxation of COVID protocols, Plenković said referring to the team's decision to lift all anti-epidemic rules as of Saturday, while the mask mandate will stay in place for hospitals and nursing homes.

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28 March 2022 - The whole of Europe, including Croatia, shows solidarity with the Ukrainian people and its fight for freedom and the values we share, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in his message issued on the occasion of a concert marathon for Ukraine that was held on Sunday evening.

Dozens of internationally renowned musicians were included in that concert marathon that started  5:30 p.m. CET. Also other artists, athletes and politicians from around the world sent messages of support during the concert "Save Ukraine - Stop the War".

The venue of the charity campaign was in Warsaw. Under the auspices of the Polish TV broadcaster TVP, the two-hour concert marathon was broadcast by other TV broadcasters from 20 European countries as well as streaming platforms.

PM Plenković recalls on Twitter that Ukraine is a victim of the Russian military aggression and that the entire Europe, including Croatia expressed strong solidarity with the Ukrainian people and its fight for freedom. 

He reiterated Croatia's readiness to continue expressing solidarity and offering support and assistance in the political, humanitarian, technical and and other sense for the Ukrainian cause, and ended his message with "#StandWithUkraine!".

ZAGREB, 25 March (2022) - The entire European Union has recognised Bosnia and Herzegovina's constitutional architecture, and the conclusions adopted by the European Council at Croatia's initiative should be an impetus to Croat and Bosniak leaders to reach a deal on electoral reform,  Prime Minister Andrej Plenković says.

On Friday, the European Council consisting of the heads of state or government of the 27 EU member-states, endorsed the Strategic Compass, a document on the European Union's defence vision in the coming years.

Concerning the topic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Strategic Compass reads that it is "of particular interest to support the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on the principles of equality and non-discrimination of all citizens and constituent peoples as enshrined in the Bosnia and Herzegovina constitution," according to the document made available recently.

Furthermore, at the insistence of PM Plenković, the European Council discussed the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday morning.

It adopted the conclusions in which the leaders in that country are urged to complete the electoral and constitutional reform.

The European Union reaffirms its commitment to the European perspective of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans, read the conclusions.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's leaders are urged to show strong determination regarding the fast completion of the electoral and constitutional reform, which is described by the document as crucial for the stability and full functionality of the country.

They are also encouraged to support all other priorities from the European Commission's opinion on the plans to grant a candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In this regard, the European Union is ready to continue its high-level engagement, it was concluded.

Upon the adoption of the conclusions, Croatia's PM said that this was a constructive contribution of a friendly and benevolent country that has the 1000-kilometre-long border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Asked by the press why the HDZ BiH party did not vote for the proposalmade by Denis Bećirević of the opposition SDP party to adopt a declaration condemning Russia's military aggression against Ukraine in Bosnia and Herzegovina's House of Peoples, Plenković said that one of the opposition SDP MPs had launched that initiative on his own.

The HDZ BiH party has clearly supported the whole set of sanctions which the EU adopted against Russia, and there i no dilemma about that, he explained.

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