ZAGREB, January 29, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Tuesday that a new energy strategy should contribute to Croatia's energy development and reduction of the country's dependence on the import of energy products and the introduction of new energy supply routes.

To this end, a decline in domestic production should be halted and alternative supply routes should be developed, the president said at the beginning of the conference titled "Towards a New Energy Strategy" organised in Zagreb by the Jutarnji List daily newspaper.

She called for more intensified use of the benefits of Croatia's geographic position so as to accomplish the national energy policy's goals: competitive and available energy and safe and secure provision.

The president underscored that management of energy sources and provision are essential conditions for sovereignty of every country. "A lack of large-scale investments in the energy sector since Croatia's independence, has adversely affected some key economic and development parameters," she said.

A future energy development strategy, which the president expects to be produced this year, should facilitate efforts to reach those goals.

She suggests that Croatia should integrate its energy infrastructure in the European Union's energy infrastructure and the infrastructure of its closest neighbourhood with an emphasis on new gas networking, which includes new interconnections and the enlargement of the current ones plus a future LNG terminal on the Croatian island of Krk.

More news on the Croatian energy situation can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, January 28, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Sunday dismissed media speculation that by replacing her home affairs advisor Mate Radeljić she has agreed a 'non-aggression pact' with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, noting that she would continue to warn of problems in the Croatian society as it was one of her duties as the president.

"I did not enter a pact with anyone, I will continue to warn of problems that exist in our society. It is my duty to be a corrective to the current situation... and care about the well-being of all Croatian citizens, regardless of my personal views and preferences, and I consider myself a modern conservative," the president said in an interview with the N1 broadcaster.

Asked to comment on accusations from right-wing media outlets that she has agreed a 'non-aggression pact' with Prime Minister Plenković and was no longer on the right side of the political spectrum, the president said: "The president can actually not afford the luxury of being on one side of the political spectrum or the other, they must exclusively protect state interests and the interests of all Croatian citizens."

Asked if she had announced to the prime minister that she would run for another term in office, Grabar-Kitarović said: "I cannot say that I have made such an announcement but I can say that we have discussed it."

Asked about the fact that in the current parliament, practically one-third of members had crossed the floor to join other parties or other parliamentary groups, she said that voters would eventually decide about it. "I call on them to do so because it is their democratic right to show what they think about it and whether such transfers are legal or not."

She added that floor-crossing had to be motivated by "the general well-being and not one's own career or survival on the political scene."

Speaking about Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava's posting on the town’s web site video footage of children from Vukovar who did not stand up for the national anthem at a local football match, Grabar-Kitarović said that one did not have to love their country but that its institutions and symbols had to be respected.

"On the other hand, when children are concerned, we absolutely must not manipulate them. They are, of course, an indicator of adults' way of thinking, but we should all ask ourselves about such phenomena, why they happen and how as a society we should respond to them. Evidently through education, discussion, inclusiveness and understanding of the problem," she said.

She warned that apart from depopulation and problems which other parts of the country were also faced with, Vukovar "still has unhealed war wounds".

"Issues from the past - prosecution of war crimes and other war-related issues - must be solved but one should also turn to the future, create jobs and bring investors to Vukovar," said the president.

More news on the Croatian president can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 27, 2019 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said in an interview with the N1 broadcaster aired on Sunday that the United States had been clear from the very start about the technical requirements for the transfer of F-16 fighter jets but that nobody could have predicted the problems that arose between the USA and Israel regarding the matter.

The president dismissed claims that there was a US non-paper warning about possible problems regarding the sale of Israeli F-16 Barak jets to Croatia.

She said that there was only a white paper with US technical instructions for all bids submitted to the Croatian Defence Ministry that referred to originally U.S.-made aircraft. "I asked US Ambassador Robert Kohorst very directly if there was the non-paper that has been talked about in Croatia. He told me that technical instructions from the United States, not only in the case of the Israeli bid, but also in the case of the Greek bid, as well as the very US bid that referred to new, F-16 Block 70/72 planes... are interpreted as a non-paper," Grabar-Kitarović said.

She noted that the US side had been very cooperative in the process and that it was right to say that it had been clear about the conditions for the transfer of the jets from the very beginning. However, nobody could have predicted the problems that arose between Israel and the USA in the process, she said.

Grabar-Kitarović stressed that she did not consider the failed purchase of the F-16 Barak planes a diplomatic scandal because Israel had assumed responsibility for obtaining US permission for its deal with Croatia.

Croatia was supposed to buy 12 used F-16 C/D Barak fighter jets from Israel for an estimated 2.9 billion kuna.

The deal definitely fell through after Israel officially informed Croatia that it could not obtain approval from the United States for the delivery of the U.S.-made jets because the United States objected to Israel's plan to sell upgraded jets.

More news on the unsuccessful purchase of the aircraft can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 27, 2017 - Commenting for the N1 broadcaster on the case of fake photographs designed to discredit Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Tolušić, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Saturday that relevant state services should determine the source of the fake photos as well as who had made them and for what purpose.

Earlier this week, the Nacional weekly ran an article under the headline "A hooker and cocaine in professional set-up against Tomislav Tolušić". The article was accompanied by fake photos aimed at discrediting the minister. The weekly said that the photos were fake, as established also by the Security-Intelligence Agency (SOA).

Nacional's editor-in-chief, who gave a deposition to the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) in relation to this case, would not reveal the source of the fake photos.

"The question about the photographs, which reportedly exist, is if abuse of narcotics occurred. That is a legitimate question, but from what I hear, Minister Tolušić himself has said that he will gladly answer any question and have himself tested for drugs," the president said in an interview with N1.

Underlining the importance of privacy, she said: "I simply don't want us, with all the problems we have, to stoop so low as to try to discredit one another in the dirtiest way possible."

Asked if in her opinion, national security had been jeopardised in this case, Grabar-Kitarović said that it all depended on who wanted the photos to be made public and for what purpose.

“This is really a question for the relevant state services. Now that the affair has happened, it should be determined where the photographs came from, who did it and why. I would not rule out hybrid activity from a neighbouring or other country, aimed at destabilising the government and the country."

"One also cannot rule out intra-party conflicts or conflicts between criminal clans, but if that is the case, it also needs to be dealt with by law enforcement agencies," the president said.

More news on the fake photos affair can be found in the Politics section.

Vlaho Orepić has seen his fair share of political alterations in Croatia, from becoming minister of the interior during Tihomir Orešković's government, to being shockingly dismissed by Andrej Plenković, to stepping down as an MP for MOST, one of the partners of the former ruling coalition, eventually breaking away entirely and forming a new party of his own - Nova Politika.

Known for not only his position as the minister of the interior, but for his achievements in the sporting world and his political activities in his beloved town of Ploče, Konavle-born Orepić sat down with us to discuss the past, the present, and the future, including his new party.

Why did you decide to set up a brand new political party? What values ​​does it, and you, represent?

Through the experiences I gained through my civic activism, and then through my direct participation in the work of the Government and the Parliament of Croatia I realised that politics in Croatia is not what should be expected of it. It doesn't do the work of the people. On the contrary, all the policies of the past have disrupted the [lives of the] Croatian people, and has impoverished the Croatian economy.

So, we need something new, that is Nova Politika, which will be what people expect it to be, and that means working for the people. This need, this message, and these values ​​are contained in the idea and the very name Nova Politika.

How will your party differ from the countless others who are already operating in Croatia?

We simply need order in the country, as well as in political and social relations because we as a country aren't in a crisis, but we are in disorder. The basic two goals of Nova Politika are the protection of democratic principles and procedures in political relations and the institutional arrangement, as well as the optimisation of the state. Nova Politika as a party is, unlike others, a project. A project of getting together with the aim of institutional convergence from the current disorder putting the country in order.

There are many challenges which require ambitious structural reforms, so new, life-motivated policies are needed.

First and foremost, what we're going to invest a huge amount of energy into is the struggle for the legitimacy of elections. The outcomes of the entire series of electoral processes in Croatia are crucially influenced by the voices of those who have filed a false residence in the Republic of Croatia, and as such gain a whole range of substantive rights, as well as voting rights. In its electoral register, Croatia has at least 150,000 such fictional voters. Parliament has a minimum of 4-6 parliamentarians who base their mandate on those fictional voters. That's been going on for far too long and it needs to stop.

Why did not you take advantage of this opportunity and as the minister of the interior, solve this problem?

I didn't manage to. They dismissed me. I believe that you're familiar with the fact that I uncompromisingly tried to solve this problem. In just two and a half months, the police, to whom the law prescribed that obligation, prompted the deletion of 45,000 fictional residences. Very rapidly this figure has grown to 75,000. This issue, because of political incitement and abuse, is an exceptional problem in our society.

What is especially disturbing is that this is intractable abuse and a kind of blackmail of people in need. People who, because of realistic, existential problems, engage in illegal behavior such as the fictitious reporting of residence in the Republic of Croatia. The Republic of Croatia should systematically and legally care about its emigrants and not just keep tolerating this crime.

You've endured huge political resistance to this engagement of yours and even personal discreditation. Judging from your findings, which parties have encouraged fictitious voters to participate in the elections in the Republic of Croatia?

Fictitious voters' transport from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was organised by the HDZ, SDSS and even MOST, which was concealing it from me as its minister. Even the activists engaged in the recent referendum initiatives have also collected signatures in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the pre-election campaign for local elections in Vrgorac, HDZ had a poster with a cross marked over my face which they stuck in neighbouring places and cities in western Herzegovina. With which they called "their" fictional voters to come to the elections.

But that doesn't matter anymore. It's important to realise the magnitude of this problem and to get credible electoral registers as soon as possible in order to guarantee the legality of elections in the Republic of Croatia. We need to get that in order. To move forward, we need to be able to count the results of the elections to match the real will of the citizens. That's Nova Politika.

Will someone who is already active in political or public life enter your party? Maybe one of the members of MOST? 

I hope we'll all be able get together around the goal as Nova Politika is focused on its political goal, and all those who see Croatia as a decent and well-regulated state are welcome. Let's say that proper order in the area of [registering] ​​residence should be the target of everyone who wishes our homeland well.  This is what I expect especially from those who ran their election campaigns based on fictional voters and who claim they're sovereign.

Will you participate in the forthcoming European Parliament elections, and will you have your candidate for the president of the Republic of Croatia?

The focus is on parliamentary elections. But Nova Politika partaking either alone or in cooperation with someone else in all the upcoming elections hasn't been ruled out.

What's your opinion on the work of current President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. Will you back her for a second term?

She failed to portray herself as the president of all citizens. We definitely need a new president.

At the moment, the most current issue is the collapse of an Israeli jet plane purchase. Do you think Croatia needs war planes? If so, how much money would you be willing to invest in their purchase?

We don't need to call the need for war planes into question. But what we need to take into account is our financial situation. At this point, we have no money for that. We have a whole series of challenges that are related to our bare existence. We must take into account the life priorities that hav arisen from the situation in which we're in and live within our means. Aircraft, at this time, aren't something we can afford and aren't a priority.

MOST has been looking like a conservative party recently, more and more. Do you share such a vision? If not, why were you in that party at all?

I don't share the current worldview of MOST, which is significantly different from the one they were trying to show, and which dominated while I was in MOST. The leaders of MOST have repositioned MOST within the frameworks of their own personal worldviews. It isn't mature, and it is a type of conflict politics, this is a political environment which I can't identify with.

Why did you leave MOST?

MOST as a party abandoned the very idea of ​​MOST, so I left MOST.

In two HDZ-MOST coalition governments, you were the interior minister. Would you enter into a coalition with HDZ again? Will you remain in the Parliament as an opposition representative until the end of your mandate or does a possibility for you to support the current government exist?

I'm going to remain an opposition MP.

Which parties would you potentially enter into a coalition with?

With this very question you've addressed a big problem in the functioning of politics in the Republic of Croatia. Nobody asks you what your suggestions are. What are your political goals, etc. People are already accepting or rejecting you on the basis of your ideological orientation. This approach to politics is wrong and that's why we need Nova Politika. A policy that highlights clear goals and their implementation brings together the necessary majority. We need to evolve current politics into realistic politics. Politics that can and should be measurable. Politics which will be conditioned by the mutual interaction of the principles of trust and responsibility.

Davor Božinović succeeded you as the minister of the interior. How do you evaluate his work?

He's completely unambiguous in his approach in these circumstances we're in and his root changes make him look superficial. Manipulation with fictitious residences and some staffing solutions paralysed the operational work of the police and indicated a lack of workability. He acts unambiguously because he has no ambition and therefore no actual results.

What do you think about the Croatian police's treatment in relation to migrants on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina? Does the behavior of the police differ now than from when you were minister?

The migrant policy of Croatia, of which a lot is dealt with by the police I consider to be good. The work on the frontier is on the line of the one that was designed and established during my mandate. There is no leg room when it comes to illegal border crossings but there's also a very human approach when it comes to caring for people in need. Some isolated failures in treatment can't diminish the significance of the police work done.

When talking about migration policy, every day Croatia that it is a responsible member of the EU, because don't forget that the Croatian police, in protecting the borders of the Republic of Croatia, are also working to protect the EU's external borders.

Make sure to follow our dedicated politics page for more.

ZAGREB, January 22, 2019 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović on Tuesday received the president of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, Baybars Altuntas, who is on a visit to Croatia for the opening of the first office of this business network in the European Union, the Office of the Croatian President said in a press release.

A World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) office was opened in Zabok, northwestern Croatia, on Monday and will gather business angels from all over the European Union.

The office makes Krapina-Zagorje County part of the world's financial and business network aimed at facilitating access to capital for startups and scaleups, it was said at the opening.

President Grabar-Kitarović congratulated Krapina-Zagorje County on becoming part of this global financial network, expressing confidence the newly-opened office would help startup and scaleup businesses in their networking efforts and facilitate their access to capital.

The WBAF is an international organisation helping new companies finance their business endeavours and the people that are part of it are called business angels.

Baybars Altuntas is a Turkish entrepreneur, angel investor, speaker and author based in Istanbul. He founded Deulcom International.

According to information he presented in Zabok on Monday, last year 340,000 business angels in Europe invested 9.8 billion euro in startups.

More news on doing business in Croatia can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, January 17, 2019 - Croatia and Turkey are committed to increasing their trade to a billion dollars annually, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his visiting Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar Kitarović said in Ankara on Wednesday.

Speaking to the press after two-hour talks at the end of the Croatian president's day-long return visit, Erdogan said that they mostly share similar opinions in regional and international affairs. We will intensify our efforts to increase mutual investments, said Erdogan in his comment on the meeting which focused on economic matters.

In 2017, bilateral trade totalled 531 million dollars, and Erdogan expected the trade to have increased to some 600 million dollars in 2018.

The Croatian government recalled that the Croatian-Turkish economic forum which was held in April 2016 had generated huge interest in the two countries' business communities.

The two presidents pushed for closer cooperation in the energy and transport sectors.

Grabar-Kitarović underscored that many Croatian companies had been awarded halal certificates. She expressed satisfaction with continued high-level cooperation between the two countries, considering Turkey's global importance.

Croatia is a staunch advocate of Turkey's European Union membership bid, Erdogan recalled. He expects the strengthening of pertaining activities during Croatia's presidency of the EU in the first half of 2020. Turkey and Croatia opened accession talks with Brussels on the same day, however, Ankara-Brussels talks are proceeding slowly and are currently at a standstill.

Grabar-Kitarović described Turkey as a membership candidate and key partner of the European Union. She pointed out Turkey's key role in coping with the migrant crisis. Turkey is an essential partner in curbing illegal migration and in fighting terrorism, she said.

Before the two presidents' meeting, the two countries signed a set of agreements on cooperation in culture and arts and one regulating the construction of an Islamic centre in the Croatian town of Sisak. "Islam is an irreplaceable part of the spiritual and religious mosaic of the Croatian society," the Croatian president told the press conference.

As members of NATO and sharing the interest in developments in Southeast Europe, Croatia and Turkey are perceived as allies, and the two presidents also commented on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey have held seven trilateral meetings since 2010, and the last ones were organised on the margins of the UN General Assembly meetings in 2016 and 2017.

Erdogan and Grabar-Kitarović said they were committed to revitalising trilateral meetings in a bid to help improve the reform processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The trilateral mechanism is important, although we have neglected it, Erdogan admitted.

Asked about his opinion on the election of Željko Komšić as the Croat member of Bosnia's presidency despite the fact that his contender won more votes from the Croatian electorate, Erdogan said that elections were an expression of the will of voters and that he could not say how many voters of Bosniak origin had cast their ballots for Komšić, whom Bosnia and Herzegovina Croats do not accept as their legitimate representative. It is our aim to reach a compromise on the basis of this result, the Turkish president said.

He admitted that the Dayton peace agreement, which ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, were good then, but that it needed to be changed. The Dayton agreement cannot bring progress any longer, Erdogan said, adding that he wanted a strong Bosnia and Herzegovina as a country of all its peoples.

Grabar-Kitarović said she could agree with a remark from the press about creeping changes of the Dayton agreement. Croatia will insist on dialogue, she said, adding that Zagreb insists on the implementation of the Bosnian Constitutional Court ruling on election legislation changes. All three peoples should be ensured a democratic right to be able to elect their respective legitimate representatives, she said.

President Grabar-Kitarović began her state visit by laying a wreath at the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

According to a press release from her office, "with the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Binali Yildirim President Grabar-Kitarović discussed parliamentary cooperation and the Turkish-Croatian Friendship Group, which was formed in the Turkish Parliament on 8 November 2018."

"Furthermore, they exchanged views on current events in the Croatian and Turkish neighbourhood and on the state of affairs in South East Europe, which is an interest both countries share with regard to preserving stability and stimulating progress."

More news on the relations between Croatia and Turkey can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 16, 2019 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will pay a return state visit to Turkey on Wednesday at the invitation of her Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, her office said on Tuesday.

Grabar-Kitarović will begin the visit by laying a wreath at the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, and with a working meeting with Parliament Speaker Binali Yildirim. Her meeting with Erdogan will be followed by a meeting of the two countries' delegations.

The two presidents will attend the signing of a programme of cooperation in culture and the arts for the 2019-21 period as well as a protocol of cooperation in the Sisak Islamic Cultural Centre Project between the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency and the Islamic Community of Croatia.

Grabar-Kitarović will wrap up her visit with a working dinner with her host, to which representatives of the Croatian community in Turkey have been invited.

Croatia and Turkey have very good relations, without outstanding issues, and this visit will be another opportunity to continue and strengthen dialogue at the highest level, Grabar-Kitarović's office said.

Erdogan paid a state visit to Croatia in April 2016, attending a ceremony marking 100 years since the recognition of Islam's equality with other religions in Croatia. Grabar-Kitarović paid a working visit to Turkey in January last year. She and Erdogan also met on the fringes of the UN General Assembly meeting last autumn.

In Zagreb, Erdogan said he was pleased with the integration of the Muslim community in Croatian society, stressing that Croatia was a praiseworthy example of coexistence of different faiths. He said that in contemporary societies it was necessary to cultivate cooperation, not a clash of civilisations.

Among other things, the two presidents will talk about boosting economic cooperation and stimulating investment. In Zagreb, Erdogan said trade between the two countries should amount to one billion dollars and that tourism, energy, finance and agriculture had potential for stronger cooperation.

According to Croatian data, Croatia-Turkey trade amounted to 486.8 million dollars in 2017, of which 171.6 million dollars were Croatian exports, up 40% on 2016. In the first ten months of 2018, trade was 427 million dollars, Grabar-Kitarović's office said. In 2015, trade was 348.8 million dollars.

The two presidents will also talk about the situation in the Middle East, in the wake of US President Donald Trump's announcement that US troops will pull out of Syria.

They will also talk about the situation in Southeast Europe, with which Turkey has strong historical ties and where it has made major investments, including the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo.

Croatia will reiterate its support to Turkey on its European Union journey given that Turkey is one of Europe's main security and economic partners.

Grabar-Kitarović said in Ankara last year that Croatia was especially grateful to Turkey for caring for millions of refugees from the Middle East and for honouring the 2016 agreement with the EU which made it possible to stop the refugee flow across the Balkans.

More news on the relations between Croatia and Turkey can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 15, 2019 - The parliamentary Domestic Policy and National Security Committee did not conclude that the SOA (Security and Intelligence Agency) committed any abuse in the treatment of former presidential advisor Mate Radeljić, chairman Ranko Ostojić said after a committee meeting on Tuesday.

With two votes against, the committee endorsed an oversight report by the office of the National Security Council and took note of a report by SOA, and we did not conclude that SOA committed any abuse, Ostojić told reporters.

He said the Radeljić case was over for the committee. "Everything he may wish to present as his truth, Radeljić could have done so at the DORH prosecution office."

Ostojić said Radeljić was not invited to the committee meeting given the committee's powers. The committee can oversee SOA but we don't have the right to be an inquiry commission, he added.

Radeljić's dismissal as the presidential advisor on domestic affairs caused a storm on the political scene. After being fired in December, he said in a press release he was informed about his dismissal by the SOA director's chief of staff, Davor Franić, in a Zagreb coffee shop. Radeljić claimed he was threatened that he would be run over by a car and that he was told "the service will protect the president in every sense" from his possible actions after the dismissal. He also claimed President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović told him he did not fit her plans because he was an obstacle in her relations with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Radeljić's claims were dismissed by both the president's office and SOA.

A few days ago, SOA director Danijel Markić resolutely dismissed the claims that SOA had threatened anyone. "We don't do that, the service doesn't make death threats," he said, denying that the Radeljić-Franić meeting took place.

Markić attended today's meeting of the Domestic Policy and National Security Committee but did not speak to the press.

More news on the national security issues can be found in the Politics section.

About a year ahead of the presidential elections, which are supposed to take place in December or January, we have the first major poll of the year of the potential candidates. The Promocija Plus agency conducted a survey for RTL, reports RTL on January 11, 2019.

If the elections were held now, the winner would be decided in the second round. The best chances for a win has the current president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who is expected to run for the second term.

Although she will not announce her decision before spring, as much as 38 per cent of respondents would vote for her in the first round. However, in recent months, after changes among some of her advisers which were not welcomed by voters on the extreme right, she did lose about three per cent of the support.

The second best-candidate is former SDP leader and former Prime Minister Zoran Milanović with almost 18%. He has not yet decided whether or not he will run for the presidency, and the current president has more than two times more support than him.

The former chairwoman of the Conflict of Interest Commission Dalija Orešković, who has never run for a political office, is third with 12 per cent of support, followed by president of the Živi Zid party, Ivan Sinčić, who has lost some support and is now at 7.9 %.

The leader of MOST, Božo Petrov, has also not ruled out the possibility of running, but his support is just 6.2 per cent. In 2010, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić managed to enter the second round of presidential elections, which he lost against SDP’s Ivo Josipović, and there are strong rumours that he might run again. However, this poll gives him just 4.5% of support.

Bruna Esih, a possible candidate of the right-wing parties, which are unhappy with the latest moves by the current president, has no real chance. She gets just over four per cent. Former MOST member Marko Vučetić is under two per cent, and he is the only candidate who has said he would run for the presidency.

Just as in all elections since 2000, the winner would be decided in the second round of voting. The current president is heavily favoured to win. Although her support has declined compared to December, Grabar-Kitarović would easily defeat Milanović. She is at 54.6 per cent, while Milanović is at 37.9 per cent. Although this is still significant support for Milanović since he has not been involved in politics for several years, there is no real reason to expect that the campaign and being in the media focus would increase his popularity. On the contrary.

The following months will tell whether the decline of the current president is just a short-term correction or the start of a negative trend. The president used to increase her popularity by attacking the government periodically, but the question is whether she will be able to continue doing that, given that it is likely that HDZ will support her as a candidate.

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

Translated from RTL (reported by Damira Gregoret).