ZAGREB, April 15, 2019 - GLAS president Anka Mrak Taritaš said on Sunday "it's necessary to deal with the past so that we can have a future," while Croatian Peasants Party leader Krešo Beljak called out the government, saying it "tolerates flirting with fascism."

Both opposition officials supported Ognjen Kraus, president of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Communities in Croatia, who said on Friday that historical revisionism in Croatia was continuing and that, because of the inaction of state institutions, the extreme right was becoming increasingly aggressive, calling on the government to stop that and respect Croatian laws.

Speaking in Rijeka, Mrak Taritaš said "the prime minister wants to find favour with everyone" and that it was "unacceptable" to have two commemorations for the victims of the WWII Jasenovac concentration camp. There will be two commemorations as long as the government doesn't ban the Ustasha salute "For the homeland ready," she added.

She said President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović visited the Jasenovac Memorial Site alone on Saturday "because she evidently doesn't want to go with either side because she wants the votes of both."

Beljak said that Kraus's appeal to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković "to respect Croatian laws in the way he will respect Austrian laws" was frightening and that "for this to pass without consequences is a disgrace for the Croatian prime minister."

Beljak said today's state commemoration for the Jasenovac victims was "ridiculous when open flirting with fascism is tolerated more and more every day." The government is doing nothing and it's sad that minorities, people who were killed in WWII, have to ask the government to respect Croatian laws, he added.

He said the constitution cited antifascism and that "allowing such rampant revisionism of WWII, the Ustasha etc shows what kind of people are at the helm of the state."

Mrak Taritaš and Beljak were in Rijeka to present their Amsterdam Coalition's platform for the European Parliament elections, which highlights tolerance, freedom, equality, EU enlargement and Croatia's joining the euro area.

Commenting on the questioning of parliament deputy speaker and HDZ vice president Milijan Brkić in connection with the fake text messages case, Beljak said that "in any normal state, such a party would be banned and everyone participating in such scandals would be eliminated from any public activity."

Mrak Taritaš said it was unacceptable that the ruling party "is using state institutions to settle scores within its ranks." Plenković should run the country and not settle scores with opponents in his ranks via institutions, she added.

More news about historical revisionism can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 10, 2019 - The leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Krešo Beljak, said on Saturday he was certain that the HSS could make a positive surprise at the forthcoming European elections, and that the Amsterdam Coalition could become the strongest political group in Croatia.

"All together, as a party, we must work even better at all levels and we will prove that we will and can do this at the elections scheduled for May," Beljak told a party conference in Jastrebarsko, just southwest of Zagreb.

He said that the HSS would have three candidates on the list of 12 candidates to be fielded by the Amsterdam Coalition: Beljak himself, "as a leader who doesn't shrink from responsibility", independent candidate Zoran Bahtijarević and long-standing party member and economic expert Damir Novotny.

"I am certain that the HSS as a party, all of us here, and all our members throughout Croatia, can make a positive surprise and, with preferential votes for one of the three of the HSS candidates, gather enough votes to claim a victory at the elections for the European Parliament in 2019, and that our coalition, our alliance led by the HSS, can become the strongest political group in Croatia," Beljak said.

He recalled that the negotiations launched last autumn to gather together parties that could run together in the European Parliament elections had been productive and that as a result the HSS was now the leader of the Amsterdam Coalition. "It is an honour to us all that all these parties and all their prominent politicians have recognised and accepted the HSS as the leader of the whole coalition. That gives us additional strength and motivation to justify the confidence our coalition partners have placed in us."

Presenting a report on his work in the last seven months since the previous such conference, Beljak said that the HSS's approval ratings were far below what he would have wanted, but added that the ratings were increasing steadily. "We can only imagine what our ratings would be had all our former members, who did all they could to harm their party, focused their energies on strengthening the party," he said.

Delegates adopted Beljak's report and the new party statute. The report was adopted with five votes against and the statute with four votes against and one abstention. The conference was attended by 623 of 727 delegates, the party's secretariat told Hina.

More news on the European elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 12, 2019 - Several members of the Croatian Peasant Party's (HSS) head committee at a session on Friday requested the resignation of HSS president Krešimir Beljak, expressing their dissatisfaction with the leadership of the party that was recently abandoned by MP Mladen Mađar, HSS MP Ana Marija Petin told the press, while the party spokeswoman Ivana Tomić claims that nobody at the meeting requested Beljak's resignation.

Petin said that several members of the party's head committee asked for Beljak's resignation during a debate which they requested dissatisfied with the current situation in the HSS. "We openly expressed our opinion about the current state of affairs in the party, we said why we are not satisfied with Beljak's leadership and during the session, several members of the head committee asked the president to resign," Petin told Hina.

She said committee members think that Beljak was not having regular contacts with members of HSS branches, ignores their opinion and is neglecting HSS branches in other parts of the country.

Petin also said that members of the regional organisation from Slavonija left the session.

Spokeswoman for the party Ivana Tomić told Hina that nobody at the HSS head committee session requested president Beljak's resignation.

She said the last item on the agenda was the current policy and that some members of the head committee asked that the agenda be amended in a way to have the last item on it be discussed first, adding that only nine of the 80 members supported that proposal.

The first time I heard about it is when MP Petin said it to the press, Tomić told Hina.

The party currently has four seats in Parliament after Mladen Mađar recently crossed the floor to join the club of deputies led by Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić.

More news on the party can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 7, 2019 - Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) leader Krešo Beljak on Monday gave a deposition to police on possible political corruption in the wake of HSS MP Mladen Mađer's defection to the parliamentary group led by the party of Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, but he would not tell reporters whom he had reported to police or where he got the information on the alleged buying of parliamentary deputies.

Beljak gave his deposition to police after the USKOK anti-corruption office last week confirmed that it was conducting a preliminary investigation into Mađer's changing sides after Beljak pointed to possible irregularities.

Beljak had earlier announced that he would also file a report against Zagreb County head Stjepan Kožić over involvement in the case. Kožić has denied having anything to do with Mađer's joining Bandić's parliamentary group and has said that he will sue Beljak for slander.

Addressing reporters today, Beljak said that he had earlier firmly believed that Mađer could not be bought. "When he left, he did so suddenly, so my previous suspicions grew stronger," Beljak said.

Beljak would not comment on USKOK's preliminary investigation into alleged attempts to bribe Social Democratic Party (SDP) MP Zvane Brumnić with three million kuna. Brumnić arrived at USKOK at noon on Monday for an interview by USKOK investigators regarding the allegations.

In a statement to Hina, Brumnić denied having been offered anything either directly or through a middleman.

Asked about claims by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković that the case had nothing to do with political trade-offs and that leaders of parties that were weak should ask themselves why they were losing party members, Beljak said that he was glad the prime minister concerned himself with the HSS and that this meant that he was afraid of it. "... It shows that he is afraid of us and confirms that we are the only opposition at the moment."

Asked about media reports about Bandić being Plenković's long arm, Beljak said, "That may be the case."

The HSS leader said the election law should be changed to prevent political trade-offs and that crossing over from one party to another was contrary to democratic customs. "What we have been witnessing in the parliament but also in county assemblies and town and municipal councils, is crazy. Crossing the floor is contrary to democratic customs - people vote for one group and end up having a different group of representatives, so the legislation should be changed to make it comply with the Constitution."

More news on the HSS can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 5, 2019 - The Zagreb city government said on Friday that the daughter of Mladen Mađer, an MP accused of political corruption after leaving the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) to join Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić's party, was hired by the city government last year, while the USKOK anti-corruption office would not say what they were doing about this case, but confirmed they were conducting a preliminary investigation.

The city government told Hina that Tajana Šimunić was hired as a senior associate on October 1 last year after replying to a job ad.

USKOK spokesman Vuk Đuričić told Hina this office had begun a preliminary investigation into alleged political corruption after HSS president Krešo Beljak pointed to possible wrongdoing.

Beljak told the media he began suspecting corruption when Mađer said he had to think about himself and his future.

After the city government said it had hired Mađer's daughter, Beljak told Hina today there had to be more to this story. "A job isn't a good enough reason for what Mađer did."

The HSS said earlier that about ten days before Mađer joined Bandić's party, they suspected something like that would happen because they had information about allegedly serious acts of corruption. "Therefore, HSS president Krešo Beljak personally reported the whole case to USKOK," the party said.

Bandić's BM 365 Party of Work and Solidarity won only one seat in the national legislature in the September 2016 parliamentary election and Mađer is now the 13th member of its parliamentary group.

The ruling HDZ party has said MPs are leaving their former parties for Bandić because of the poor situation in the opposition ranks, while the parliamentary minority says voters are being deceived and that this proves that election legislation is bad.

More news on the Zagreb mayor can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 3, 2019 - MP Mladen Mađer has decided to leave the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) and join the parliamentary group of the BM 365 Party of Work and Solidarity led by Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, the HSS said in a press release on Thursday.

With the admission of yet another defector to its ranks, the parliamentary bench of this party increased to 13 members.

Recently, former SDP officials Milanka Opačić, Zdravko Ronko and Ana Komparić Devčić crossed the floor to join this group, and Marija Puh of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) followed suit.

The other members of this group are Darinko Dumbović, Kazimir Varda, Ivica Mišić and Željko Lacković, as well as four parliamentary deputies of ethnic minorities, ethnic Hungarian Robert Jankovics, ethnic Romany Veljko Kajtazi, ethnic Albanian Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj and ethnic Czech Vladimir Bilek.

Bandić's BM 365 Party of Work and Solidarity won only one seat in the national legislature in the September 2016 parliamentary election.

Following the latest developments, HSS leader Krešo Beljak has lodged a complaint against Mađer and Bandić with the Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) on suspicion that their defection was prompted by acts of corruption.

"We sincerely hope that independent institutions will promptly investigate this case and thus show that there is some hope for this country," the HSS said.

More news on the Zagreb mayor can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, December 14, 2018 - After they facilitated the adoption of the Zagreb City budget for 2019 by voting for it in the Zagreb City Assembly on Thursday, Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) secretary-general Ilija Ćorić and Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) City Assembly member Miroslav Polovanec were expelled from their respective parties.

Informing reporters of Ćorić's expulsion from the party, HSS leader Krešo Beljak told a news conference that Ćorić's decision had taken him by surprise, the more so as earlier in the day Ćorić had made it clear that he would vote against the budget proposal, as agreed within the City Assembly group of which he was a member. "But evidently we mustn't let anything take us by surprise in politics considering that we know who our opponents are - Mr Bandić and Mr Plenković. This is clearly their doing," Beljak said.

Beljak said he was confident that this was a case of corruption and called on state institutions to investigate it. He added that when asked why he voted the way he did, Ćorić told him that his circumstances made him do it.

Beljak also dismissed accusations by Zlatko Hasanbegović of the Independents for Croatia that the outcome of the vote on the city budget was a result of an agreement between Beljak, HSLS leader Darinko Kosor and Plenković.

Beljak also commented on GLAS MP Anka Mrak Taritaš' statement that there was no room in the Amsterdam Coalition (made up of GLAS, the HSS and the HSU) for people forging alliances with Bandić and the HDZ and that she expected Beljak to act accordingly.

"I did not have the impression that Mrak Taritaš would blame me or anyone in the HSS for that, I'm confident that the Amsterdam Coalition will continue to exist and not only that - we will consolidate it with true politicians and be an alternative to the decay that dominates the political scene in Croatia," said Beljak.

HSLS leader Darinko Kosor, who is also a member of parliament and of the Zagreb City Assembly announced today that Polovanec would no longer be a member of the HSLS or its group in the city assembly. "The HSLS voted in line with the party's decision - against the budget proposal, but members' terms are their own. All those who voted for the budget are no longer members of our group," he said.

Asked about the future of Jozo Miličević of the Zagreb Independent Slate, who is the deputy chair of the City Assembly and who also supported the 2019 Zagreb city budget, Kosor said that Milicevic was a member of another party.

Speaking to reporters after the City Assembly adopted the Zagreb city budget proposal for 2019 with the help of members of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), City Assembly chair and HDZ member Andrija Mikulić said that the HDZ had definitely not been involved in any political trade-offs and called on the opposition in the City Assembly to report their suspicions to the relevant state institutions.

"I was saying the whole time that I was an optimist, that I believe in the proposed projects and I thank God and all members of the City Assembly that reason has prevailed," Mikulić told reporters. "The vote was about supporting Zagreb's further development and not about relations between City Assembly members," said Mikulić.

The Zagreb City Assembly on Thursday adopted next year's budget of 8.19 billion kuna, up 185 million kuna from this year, with 26 votes in favour, 24 against and no abstentions.

More news on the Zagreb politics can be found in our special Zagreb section.

Amid rumours that the finance minister, Zdravko Marić, is set to step down from his position within the Croatian Government as soon as next month, PM Andrej Plenković has been having his refusal to outright deny the claims scrutinised, with some believing that this means Marić's departure was imminent and due to take place in early 2019. It seems however, that Marić isn't going anywhere.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 9th of December, 2018, HDZ President and PM Andrej Plenković said on Saturday that Finance Minister Zdravko Maric isn't going to leave the government.

"There will be no departure," Plenković told journalists after the he was questioned about whether or not he'd talked to Marić himself about his alleged departure from the cabinet before the end of his mandate, as was being circulated by some media outlets.

The Prime Minister, upon being questioned about the criticisms of controversial SDSS President Milorad Pupovac regarding recent arrests in Vukovar, said that he didn't listen to that press conference, adding that the current government is not interfering with the work of the police or with the work of DORH in any manner whatsoever.

He pointed out, in order to quell people's natural suspicions that "there are no invisible political hands" holding any influence over this process.

When asked about the elections for the European Parliament, PM Andrej Plenković stated that the party would be "almost sure" on their own and that at least five mandates can be expected. "We'll win convincingly in those elections," he said briefly.

Concerning the controversy around the procurement of Israeli F-16 aircraft, Plenković reiterated that everything that the Republic of Croatia did in this process was done systematically, thoroughly, and in fine detail, and that open issues, if there are any, exist solely between Israel and the United States of America, and are nothing to do with Croatia or the part Croatia played in the process.

He confirmed that he visited Zagreb's mayor Milan Bandić was taken to hospital yesterday morning, adding that Bandić claims to be feeling good and that he believes that he will recover and be back on his feet quickly.

Make sure to follow our dedicated politics page for more on PM Andrej Plenković, the Croatian Government, and updates from both domestic and European politics in Croatia.

ZAGREB, December 8, 2018 - The Amsterdam coalition, comprising the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) and the Civic Liberal Alliance (GLAS), formally exists as of Saturday after their leaders Krešo Beljak, Boris Miletić and Anka Mrak Taritaš signed a coalition agreement for next year's European Parliament elections

The leaders of the three parties said they were "very clearly standing against the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and those even further down on the right-wing scale."

The party slate has not yet been defined but the three party leaders believe that any of the 12 people on their slate would be able to represent Croatia's interests in the European Parliament.

The Amsterdam coalition said they were open to cooperation with other parties, stressing however that cooperation with the HDZ or Milan Bandić was out of the question.

For more on the European Parliament and Croatia, including the upcoming electrions, click here.

ZAGREB, October 5, 2018 - The president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Davor Bernardić told reporters in parliament on Friday that "Croatia is in the hands of mafia."