ZAGREB, 13 May 2022- Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Davor Filipović said on Friday that the Adriatic Oil Pipeline can significantly increase its oil transport capacity toward Hungary even without additional investment and Croatia will work on becoming an important factor in Europe's energy sector.
Responding to questions from reporters at a press conference, where he presented a call for applications for co-financing from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO), regarding the statement by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that Hungary had the sea taken away from it, Filipović said that Orban's statement was absolutely inappropriate.
In the context of the entire situation, Filopvić said that Croatia is working on becoming an important factor with regard to Europe's energy sector.
"Janaf's current capacity can be increased, without any investment whatsoever, when it comes to oil transport to Hungary, while with certain investment it can be doubled," Filipović said. He added that that is the direction Croatia will go in and that it will take advantage of the present situation to position itself as best it can regarding energy in Europe.
He noted that according to the current capacity, Janaf can transport 11.4 million tonnes of oil to Hungary a year, and currently it is transporting just 2 million. Filipović said that this shows that without any further investment it can significantly increase oil transport toward Hungary.
"In this situation, Croatia is a solution both for Hungary, depending on the outcome of the sanctions, and for other EU countries as well," claimed Filipović.
According to Janaf's website, the pipeline designed capacity is 34 million tonnes of crude oil transported annually (MTA) and the installed capacity is 20 MTA. The system was built for the needs of refineries in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (24 MTA), and for the users in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (10 MTA).
The prime minister's economic adviser, Zvonimir Savić, said that the prime minister has said several times that the recent circumstances have put Croatia in a position of additional energy strength. That means that its LNG terminal could become a "more serious factor."
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ZAGREB, 11 May 2022 - Croatian Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Davor Filipović said in Sarajevo on Wednesday that Bosnia and Herzegovina had been and remained an important neighbour and partner to Croatia and that it was necessary to strengthen cooperation and support the stability of that country.
Filipović was attending the 11th Sarajevo Business Forum and in his welcome speech he underscored that Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's government was taking the challenges of economic recovery and progress seriously and was committed to them despite the problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic and now the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
He said that the economic progress and recovery of the entire Western Balkans were important to Croatia, as the area is its immediate neighbourhood, which should and must have a clear perspective of membership of the European Union.
Therefore, he said, Croatia will always be ready to offer its knowledge and experience necessary for the implementation of reforms important for European integration, and this is especially true for Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Croats are one of the three constituent peoples.
Croatia is strongly committed to the stability and security of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its progress towards Euro-Atlantic integration, said Filipović, adding that there were numerous opportunities for economic cooperation between the two countries.
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ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday after a meeting of the parliamentary majority that he would nominate Anja Šimpraga as a new deputy prime minister, Davor Filipović as the new labour minister and Marin Piletić as the new economy minister.
Speaking to the press after presenting the candidates to the coalition partners, Plenković said all three had known for 20 days that they would be nominated, but the announcement was postponed until after the Easter holidays and the completion of negotiations with trade unions led by Labour Minister Josip Aladrović.
"They are the new generation, they are very young and I think six cabinet members were born in the 1980s, which speaks to the trend of politically rejuvenating the government", Plenković said.
The new ministers are expected to take office on Friday, after being heard by the relevant parliamentary committees and voted in.
Plenković once again thanked the outgoing ministers for their contributions.
He said new business challenges awaited Economy Minister Tomislav Ćorić and that the ruling HDZ would support him for the position of central bank vice governor.
As for Aladrović and Deputy PM Boris Milošević, who are under investigation by the State Prosecutor's Office, Plenković said that if they were not proven guilty, the government's door would be open and that he was confident they might contribute to it in the future.
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ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Tomislav Ćorić confirmed on Wednesday he was leaving the government, saying he was satisfied with what he had done during the last five and a half years in office.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting, Ćorić described his term in the government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković as five and a half years of work experience with difficult and less difficult moments. He said he was leaving with mixed feelings, but that ultimately he was satisfied.
He said that his decision making was guided by his profession and that he would not change any of his decisions. He recalled that his decisions concerned the LNG terminal and added that during his term Croatia had made progress in waste management, utility infrastructure and energy.
Ćorić said he was confident that his successor, Davor Filipović, would do his best in this largest government department.
Ćorić did not explicitly say whether he would continue his career at the Croatian National Bank, as speculated in the media, stressing that the Zagreb School of Economics was his base.
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ZAGREB, 28 April, 2021 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) mayoral candidate in Zagreb, Davor Filipović, on Wednesday presented his election agenda, and said that fighting corruption was a top priority in the document.
"We are going to introduce the ISO 37001 anti-corruption standard, following the model set by the City of Prague, and it refers to the corporate responsibility, control mechanisms and action plans when there is suspicion of cases of corruption in the City of Zagreb or in any city institutions," said Filipović pledging to create an anti-corruption atmosphere in the capital city.
He also said that one of the priorities would be the fast and efficient post-quake reconstruction of the city and recalled that €683.7 million is available for this purpose through the EU Solidarity Fund.
The HDZ mayoral candidate promised free-of-charge services in pre-school day-care institutions for all the children in the city.
Filipović promised the closing of the Jakuševac waste landfill, the construction of a centre for waste management, and the modernisation of public transport vehicles, as well as the construction of the Jarunski Most bridge and a new stadium in Maksimir.
Filipović's agenda also envisages the establishment of a Homeland War Museum and a centre for war veterans in the city.
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ZAGREB, 27 April, 2021 - The ruling HDZ party's candidate for Zagreb mayor, Davor Filipović, on Tuesday presented candidates for his deputies, Iva Hraste-Sočo and Mirjana Kujundžić Tiljak.
Hraste-Sočo will be in charge of culture and reconstruction and Kujundžić Tiljak of health and education, Filipović said, recalling that he had promised to advocate the appointment of as many women as possible as managerial staff in the city administration.
Hraste-Sočo is a special advisor to the incumbent Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek and former deputy to former culture minister Zlatko Hasanbegović.
Kujundžić Tiljak is a professor at the Zagreb School of Medicine and director of the "Andrija Štampar" School of Public Health.
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ZAGREB, 5 March, 2021 - The ruling HDZ party's candidate for Zagreb Mayor, Davor Filipović, said on Thursday he was confident of his victory in the May local election because his model of running the city was based on responsible financial operations, transparent post-earthquake reconstruction and capital projects.
"I enjoy the strong support of the HDZ branch in Zagreb, (HDZ) president (Andrej) Plenković and the entire HDZ," Filipović said after a session of the party branch on Thursday evening.
Plenković, too, attended the session and the subsequent news conference but did not make any statements.
"All of the recent attacks against me are due to my political rivals being very nervous. I am confident that the new model of governance that I will offer, which puts emphasis on responsible financial operations, transparent reconstruction and capital projects, will be recognised by voters and that I will be elected mayor in May," said Filipović, adding that he would present the key elements of his platform in the next few weeks.
He went on to say that all information on how city budget funds are spent would be made available on the city administration's website, that the process of post-earthquake reconstruction would be fully transparent, and that heads of city departments and directors of city-owned companies would have to make their declarations of assets public.
Filipović also said that "all members of the Opposition" would be included in the supervision of public tenders for major projects.
Škoro will go down in history as the bravest Croatian politician
Commenting on reports that Homeland Movement leader Miroslav Škoro would run for Zagreb Mayor, Filipović said that "Škoro will go down in history as the bravest politician in our country."
"After summoning courage for months to announce his candidacy, it was only (on Wednesday), after he saw for himself that the late mayor Milan Bandić was buried, that he did so," said Filipović.
"Škoro is also known for having run stalls at Zagreb Advent, and we all know what one had to do to be allowed to operate stalls at the Christmas market. Having one stall is evidently not enough any more, one needs to run five, six or ten stalls. Zagreb residents know who charged the most expensive parking tickets by a hospital," Filipović said, an allusion to Škoro's having had a stake in a company operating a parking lot by Zagreb's Merkur hospital, which he eventually sold.