ZAGREB, October 18, 2019 - European heads of state and government and senior EU officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen, outgoing Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk, are expected to attend an election convention of the European People's Party (EPP) in Zagreb on November 20-21, Jutarnji List daily wrote on Friday.

Over 2,000 delegates from more than 40 countries in which the EPP has members are expected to attend the convention at the Arena Zagreb to choose new leadership: a president, a secretary-general, 10 vice-presidents and a treasurer. The gathering will be hosted by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and its leader, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Among those attending will be Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, European Parliament President Joseph Daul, leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament Manfred Weber, European commissioners and members of the European Parliament, former European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and EPP heads of state or government from Ireland, Latvia, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, the Netherlands...

The attendance of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is questionable because his party has been suspended from the EPP and has no voting rights, but has been invited to the convention. Also uncertain is the attendance of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, whose Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is an associate member of the EPP. The SNS does not have a voting right, but has been invited.

Jutarnji List said that the HDZ would not speculate as to who the new EPP leader might be and whether any of its officials might run for a position in the party.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 12, 2019 - Vukovar mayor Ivan Penava is considering running for president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party as a way to see to it that war criminals are finally punished.

"This is the first time that I'm talking about running in intra-party elections. The anniversary is approaching and I had to decide what the smartest thing to do was from the aspect of resolving the fate of the victims. When I decided that protest rallies are counterproductive and that it's no good to wait for a year with no results, I had to think of the best course of action," Penava says in Saturday's issue of the Večernji List daily.

Penava is considering running for HDZ president as the only way to put the focus on and resolve the problem of unpunished Homeland War crimes given that, he says, state institutions have done nothing about that in the year since the big rally held in Vukovar to protest against the slow prosecution of war crimes.

After Davor Ivo Stier, Miro Kovač and likely Tomislav Karamarko, Penava could be the fourth counter-candidate to incumbent HDZ president Andrej Plenković in intra-party elections next spring, Večernji List said.

Prime Minister and HDZ president Andrej Plenković said on Saturday he had not noticed that Vukovar mayor Ivan Penava had decided to leave the party, and commented on Penava's statement that he is considering to run for HDZ president by saying that "it's good to have an ambition."

Asked by the press in Osijek if the dissatisfaction in the ruling party was indeed so big, given that Penava might be the fourth candidate for the party president's position, and if he considered himself partly responsible, Plenković said he was "certainly responsible for the fact that, when I took it over, the HDZ was 19 million kuna in the red and now it's considerably in the black and financially consolidated."

"I'm responsible for the fact that the HDZ won the parliamentary and local elections, the European elections as well, although we didn't win the planned five but four seats. The economy is growing, the investment rating, European funds, the international reputation... I feel very responsible for this status of Croatia, the government and the HDZ."

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 28, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić told a press conference on Saturday that the only problem in Croatia was its corruption-ridden ruling party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), adding that the country must free itself from the jaws of corruption so that it could move forward.

"The prime minister should be more serious in his statements. Today the problem is non-governmental organisations, yesterday it was the Conflict of Interest Commission, before that it was trade unions. In fact, the only problem is the HDZ which is loaded with corruption," Bernardić said in response to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's accusations that the GONG non-governmental organisation is "a prolonged arm" of the SDP because it is questioning the property of the Croatian candidate for European Commission Vice-President, Dubravka Šuica.

"Whoever cares about Croatia and who loves it has nothing against their declaration of assets being made public. People are rightly wondering how it is possible that a secondary school teacher from Dubrovnik owns property which, according to speculation, is worth about five million euros, because we know that Croatian teachers suffer hardship. If everything is transparent, there is no reason not to show it," the SDP leader said.

Responding to accusations that criticism of Šuica was undermining the international reputation of Croatia, Bernardić said that it was very important for Croatia's reputation to be credible and to make the declarations of assets of all Croatian office holders public. He said that the SDP had put forward an amendment, which will be put to a vote next Wednesday, to make public the declarations of assets of all EU office holders.

"We demand full transparency and the fight against corruption and we will not give up. In order for Croatia to move forward it must free itself from the jaws of corruption," Bernardić said.

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

ZAGREB, September 25, 2019 - Minister of the Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković said on Wednesday it was not realistic at the moment that the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) would leave the ruling coalition as the situation was calming down.

"I believe that at the moment it is not realistic that the SDSS will leave the coalition. Meetings are being held with veterans, talks are being held and I think that the situation is calming down," Butković told reporters ahead of an inner cabinet meeting when asked if the government would fall if the SDSS were to leave the coalition.

Asked what would happen if SDSS leader Milorad Pupovac continued with his rhetoric, Butković said that that sort of rhetoric did no good to him or Croatia.

"If we all want a civilised Croatia, if we want the rule of law to exist, for us all to be equal and tolerant toward each other, then statements should be like that too. I think Pupovac should take account of that and defuse tension in his future statements," Butković said.

With regards to speculation that veterans might organise protest rallies, Butković said he was convinced there would not be any protests.

More politics news can be found in the dedicated section.

ZAGREB, September 17, 2019 - Prime Minister and HDZ president Andrej Plenković said on Monday the party's leadership discussed full and strong support for President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović in her re-election campaign and maximum engagement by all party members in that, adding that they must act responsibly in the interest of the HDZ's victory in all upcoming elections.

Speaking to the press after a meeting of the HDZ Presidency and National Council, Plenković said they also talked about the direction in which they were running the government and the country. "At the session there was strong and clear support for the direction which has ensured political stability and the stronger European and international positioning of Croatia."

He said everyone at the meeting "understands that in every election campaign it's important to have a coherent party policy, which must be uniform."

"I expect everyone to refrain from any activity which is aimed at positioning in the intra-party campaign," he said, adding that such members were confusing the membership and the electorate, undermining the party's goals to have Grabar-Kitarović re-elected and its approval ratings.

Plenković said all party members must all be mature and responsible in the interest of the HDZ winning all upcoming elections.

Asked about his recent statement that Miro Kovač, who said he would run for party president, was irrelevant, Plenković explained that he said it "deliberately in order to stop confusing the public and the membership. Right now, the entire HDZ supports this government's direction. This direction means the HDZ's inclusive policy, notably towards minority members of parliament."

He said intra-party elections would be held within the deadline.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 15, 2019 - The current government and the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) are not pursuing a policy of divisions and exclusions, and their policy is that of inclusion and mutual tolerance, which is in the interest of the whole state, Parliament Speaker and HDZ Secretary-General Gordan Jandroković told the commercial broadcaster N1 on Sunday.

"All of us active on the political and public scenes should be guided, first of all, by our conscience and the interests of the Republic of Croatia. I think that we must be responsible," Jandroković said in his interview with the N1, which focused on the relations among members of the ruling coalition following recent statements by Milorad Pupovac of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) which have stirred up many reactions including those from some other members of the coalition who have said that they are considering leaving it.

"Perhaps we would have scored more political points if we had had assumed a tough stance on Pupovac, and we would have received applause from a segment of the right-wing political scenes, however, the question is whether it would be useful for Croatia. I think that it wouldn't be," Jandroković said.

"Stability has priority over all kinds of polemical discussions that additional fuel the flames in Croatia."

He underscores that the incumbent government and the HDZ led by Andrej Plenković will not spread any divisions in the Croatian society.

We insist on the fact that there are different ways of thinking, different world views and concepts, and we live with that and should be able to deal with that and our prevailing course should be inclusion, mutual tolerance and respect, Jandroković added.

He dismissed criticism from some right-wing circles that the persons in the government were "weak Croats insufficiently dedicated to the Croatian national interests".

"We fight for (the national interests) in the manner we consider to be responsible, serious and in the interest of our state," he said, adding that he hopes that people will eventually recognise their efforts.

He went on to say that the policy of inclusion and respect was also the policy led by the HDZ founder and the first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman who always tried to see to it that there were representatives of ethnic minorities, including the Serb minority, in the government and institutions and also in times which were much more difficult than the present-day circumstances.

I can't see anything bad in having representatives of ethnic minorities, including the Serb ethnic minority within the ruling majority. Of course, those representatives are also supposed to behave responsibly, and take care of what they say and what kind of reactions they provoke among Croatian citizens. All that is connected, Jandroković says.

Jandroković underscores that Croatia is a stable democracy that has several representatives in the high-ranking positions in European positions.

He also cited the country's recent successes such as the improvement of its credit ranking, economic growth, a good tourist season and believes that the credit for it goes to those who lead the policy of inclusion.

He also believes that the incumbent president Kolinda Grabar Kitarović has performed her presidential duties in her first term in a good and fair manner, and that she stands excellent chances of winning the second term if she completes the electoral campaign in a good manner and if the HDZ firmly supports her candidacy.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 10, 2019 - Parliament Speaker and secretary-general of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Gordan Jandroković on Tuesday hinted that there might be a solution to the "tension" between the Conflict of Interest Commission and the government or the HDZ regarding travel allowance documents for a trip to the European People's Party conference in Helsinki.

"We will discuss that and I think that that would be rational," Jandroković told reporters when asked wouldn't the simplest thing be to just present the requested documents.

He underscored that it would be worthwhile if the commission did not in cases like this "pull the trigger straight away but to examine the entire situation." It isn't good to be under suspicion. You are guided by the principle of being fair toward the state, its finances and then in return someone accuses you of abusing your office. That causes a certain revolt and anger and I think that we can come out of this peacefully and one of the ways would be like you said," Jandroković said after a meeting of the parliamentary presidency.

The Conflict of Interest Commission has opened a case against Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and several ministers because they have not submitted the necessary travel allowance documents to the relevant bodies regarding their attendance at the EPP conference in Helsinki in November last year.

It is obvious that certain tension has arisen in relations between the commission and politics, Jandroković said insisting that the government and HDZ had acted properly with regard to the trip to Helsinki.

"Regarding the trip to Helsinki we acted on the principle of frugality, rationality and all the costs of overnight stays, daily allowances were covered by the HDZ. The only cost the state had was for airfares," he said, underlining that the Prime Minister and he were on an official visit to Helsinki and met with their counterparts, Finland's prime minister and parliament speaker.

"We could have gone twice. I had been invited to Finland. I would have taken an entire delegation and the government's plane would have flown again. We estimated that in that situation we could combine a state and party visit and that the fairest way would be to divide the costs," he said and added that the state had the least expense and that HDZ paid more than 80,000 kuna.

He recalled that a similar situation occurred recently with German Chancellor Angela Merkel yet there was absolutely no debate about that in Germany. Merkel conducted an official visit to Zagreb and that same day she attended an HDZ rally. She arrived on an official plane and no one in Germany questioned that, he said.

Jandroković announced that the autumn session of parliament would commence on September 18 and lawmakers have 102 items on the agenda to resolve by the end of October.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday said that he would not submit any more documents to the Conflict of Interest Commission regarding a visit to Helsinki because the government had sent everything it had been requested.

"I won't submit anything else. We spelled everything out for them. That is why we gave it to you to point out the absurdity of the commission's request," Plenković told a press conference in Government House when asked about travel allowance documents for the trip to Helsinki that are being requested by the commission.

He added that there is no suspicion of conflict of interest in that situation because he went to Finland in his capacity as prime minister to meet with Finland's prime minister who was not connected with the European People's Party (EPP).

Plenković denied allegations that that meeting was held in a "small room on the margins of the EPP" convention and said that the meeting was held in Finland's government house.

"After that the EPP convention was held with one part that afternoon and the next part the following morning and I addressed the convention in my capacity as the prime minister of Croatia and not as a delegate and in that part where people like Angela Merkel, Jean-Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk speak, in that part that the heads of state address," Plenković underlined.

He explained that the government had "literally spelled it all out and explained it," to the Conflict of Interest Commission.

"However, if the people in the commission, most of whom are jurists, do not understand, do not realise, do not have experience or are acting under media pressure to keep something current in the news, is there anything odd there? No there isn't anything. We said that the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) would pay for the hotel and daily allowances and that's how it is " he added, explaining that the problem would have arisen, if double daily allowances had been charged, but it was not the case.

"The commission is not a court, it is not a judicial institution, it is not the police and it is not the State Prosecutor," and the commission should be dealing with conflict of interest and within the remit of the law and not "what it thinks the media expects and what they think they should be doing," said Plenković.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 28, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday labelled as inappropriate and unacceptable the statements by Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) leader Milorad Pupovac that Croatia had become a factor of instability in the region because it promoted intolerance and attempted to rehabilitate Ustashim, calling on him not to contribute to the polarisation of society.

"We consider it extremely inappropriate, even unacceptable, the statements by our coalition partner that would point to the conclusion that Croatia is a factor of instability in Southeast Europe and that present-day Croatia should be compared with the NDH (WWII Nazi-styled Independent State of Croatia) regime. We consider that to be absolutely untrue and this should be said clearly and I resolutely reject that," Plenković told reporters after a meeting of the leadership of the ruling HDZ party.

He again strongly condemned last weeks’ attacks on Serbs and said he expected the police to prosecute the perpetrators. He added that the policy of the government and the HDZ was to create a country in which all minorities felt good and safe, including the Serb minority.

"I don't accept and resolutely reject arguments which suggest that there is a climate in Croatia which incites intolerance towards minorities, for which our government and policy is least responsible. Everything we have been doing for the past three years has been aimed at reducing polarisation in society, at including minorities both in the parliamentary majority and, especially, in operational programmes for minorities, at reducing tensions, at dialogue, communication, building good neighbouring relations."

Plenković said he wanted the political parties that fomented polarisation to be clearly identified, saying the ruling HDZ was certainly not one of them and that those wanting polarisation and conflicts were actually fighting against the government. "We are against any exclusion."

Plenković said he expected Pupovac not to contribute to the polarisation of society. "Everyone who is responsible in Croatia and discharges key political duties, notably as part of the parliamentary majority, should contribute to reducing tensions."

"I want the negative spiral that has begun in the past few days to end. As the government and the strongest party in the parliamentary majority, we must say: Enough with the spiral of hatred."

Plenković said a polarisation of society occurred in 2015-16, boiling down to "us or them", and that he had insisted that ethnic minorities and their representatives be part of the parliamentary majority.

"Where is the problem in us as the government and the HDZ as the strongest party extending a hand to all minorities in Croatia? I reject arguments that we are responsible for the climate (in society)," he said, adding that last week's attacks were committed by individuals who would be brought to justice.

Plenković said he would talk with Pupovac and that, at the meeting, the HDZ did not discuss the possibility of dissolving the coalition with the SDSS.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) presidency and national council on Wednesday supported Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's bid for a second term as the country's president as well as a motion to candidate MEP Dubravka Šuica for a member of the European Commission and appointed Ante Sanader as the party's political secretary.

After the meeting, HDZ president and the country's prime minister, Andrej Plenković, said that the party's leadership decided by consensus that it would support Grabar-Kitarović's candidacy for a second term.

Plenković said that President Grabar-Kitarović would decide on establishing an election campaigning team, adding that Osijek-Baranja County Prefect Ivan Anušić is prepared with the support of the entire party to be at the helm of her election team.

"The second decision that the HDZ and its committees adopted today was to propose Dubravka Šuica to be a member of the European Commission considering her experience. She has been elected to the European Parliament three times - 2013, 2014 and 2019 and with her political and expert experience she will be a quality representative in Ursula von der Leyen's European Commission," Plenković underscored.

Plenković said that Croatia's public would be very satisfied with the department allotted to Šuica and that it would be known in two to three weeks' time.

Plenković described Ante Sanader as someone with a lot of years of experience and added that he could significantly contribute to the party's activities with regard to coming election challenges.

Asked whether former administration minister Lovro Kuščević was a burden to the government and coming presidential campaign considering the investigations launched against him, Plenković said, "He resigned as the political secretary and as minister. The HDZ that I am leading is continuing on its way."

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 16, 2019 - In his comments on some of lawmakers changing the party allegiance, Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković said on Friday that one should care about who is put on election slates of parties.

During his visit to the island of Hvar, Plenković was asked by the press about the recent cases examples of former Social Democrats – Milanka Opačić and Siniša Varga ؘ– who joined the Labour and Solidarity Party of Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić.

In this context he called for being more careful about the choice of slate candidates.

As for a former SDP leader Zoran Milanovic's comment that Opačić and Varga, who used to be ministers in his cabinet, should renounce their parliamentary seats now when they crossed the floor, and give back the mandates to the SDP, Plenković said that terms of parliamentary deputies are "inalienable and irrevocable".

The statement made by Plenković on Thursday that President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović could have announced her decision to run for a second term somewhere else and not in the Hrvatski Tjednik (HT) newspaper prompted the press to comment that Plenković himself had given an interview with that newspaper three years ago.

He just countered with the question to the press whether there was any contentious in his interview.

Plenković reiterated then that the president must move forward with her campaigning with the support of the HDZ.

More political news can be found in the Politics section.