ZAGREB, November 5, 2018 - The Croatian People's Party (HNS), a junior partner in the ruling coalition government, said on Monday that it was unacceptable that President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović "is justifying and currying favour with hate-mongers and the notorious far-right," instead of co-creating the country's foreign policy with the government.

Co-creation of the country's foreign policy is in the president's job description rather than self-promotion and similar activities, the HNS said in a statement.

The party believes that it would be appropriate for the president to explain her decision not to travel to an international conference on migrations in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh to both the government and the public.

Acts such as the president's harm Croatia's reputation in the international community and the United Nations and we believe it is important that the president tells the public clearly why she has entirely changed her position and why she relayed her decision to hate-mongers instead of the government and the Croatian public, notably in light of the fact that she initially told the UN secretary-general that she would attend the conference in question, the HNS says in the statement.

Acts such as the president's additionally blur the public perception of migrants that is currently based primarily on disinformation disseminated by populists and radicals who portray them as a danger to the EU, the party said.

Responsible politicians have the task to find a way, with clear ideas and policies, to integrate migrants in European society, the HNS says. The purpose is to enable migrants to prosper, and open and tolerant societies can equally benefit from their competencies, skills and positive ambitions. That goal will not be possible to achieve by currying favour with hate-mongers and radicals, the HNS said in its statement.

For more on the activities of Croatian President kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, click here.

ZAGREB, November 5, 2018 - On Monday, the Jutarnji List daily published a letter which President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović sent UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres in August this year, in which she says, among other things, that she is very much pleased to be able to participate in the adoption of a document on migration in Marrakesh, Morocco.

"I am exceptionally pleased to be able to participate in the adoption of this important document which constitutes materialisation of the agreement from the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, as well as a response by the international community to the biggest movement of people in the history of the world," reads the letter which, according to Jutarnji List, the president sent the UN secretary-general on August 16.

Grabar-Kitarović's participation in the Marrakesh conference has caused a new disagreement between the Office of the President and the government after a controversial TV host published on his Facebook wall an alleged reply from the Office of the President saying that she would not sign the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Marrakesh and that her office was not involved in talks on the Declaration.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said this past Friday that the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration regulated only legal migration and that he had been informed that President Grabar-Kitarović would go to Morocco in December for the ratification of the document. He would not comment on media reports that the president would not go to Morocco, saying that, as far as he knew, she planned to attend the Global Compact ratification conference in Marrakesh because she was invited by the UN secretary-general.

Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić told a news conference on Friday that she was surprised by announcements that Grabar-Kitarović would not attend the conference, and on that occasion cited Grabar-Kitarović's speech in the UN in which she expressed clear support for the Global Compact.

The Office of the President said on Friday that the president supported the completion of talks on the Marrakesh agreement but that she would not attend the ratification conference in Marrakesh and that she had informed the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry of her decision.

On Monday, President Grabar-Kitarović said that "I neither support nor don't support" the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and severely criticised the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry over its failure to inform the public about the Marrakesh declaration on regular migrations which is now the issue that is causing disputes in the public.

Asked by the press about the document, she said "I neither support nor don't support it." The president is sure that a global response to migrations is necessary but that "it must not be a disputable issue among countries." "More and more countries give up on the agreement on a daily basis for various reasons. I am not led by the interests of the United States or Austria but by the interests of Croatia," she said.

She insists that putting the Marrakesh declaration on the front burner is an attempt to distract the public attention from Croatia's burning issues.

To read more about the migrant crisis as it affects Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, November 3, 2018 - Croatian President Kolinda-Grabar Kitarović has said in an interview with the Split-based Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper that Croatia needs consensual development strategy and that resolute reforms are required even at the expense of losing the elections.

The politician who is ready to undertake resolute and also unpopular reforms, even at the expense of losing the next elections, would give the biggest contribution to the prosperity of Croatia," Grabar-Kitarović said in the interview which the daily published on Saturday.

She went on to say that Croatia should adopt a development strategy on which a consensus must be reached. That strategy supported by all political parties is to be about the course which Croatia should take in 10, 15 or 50 years, according to the president. "Where can the national shipbuilding industry find its place in that, how can it be competitive? What is about other industries and branches? Where are we going to put the emphasis on?" the president said citing the issues of demography, labour market, pension and healthcare system and education.

The president criticised the government for having "lost too much time on dealing with the Agrokor problems". Therefore, there is an impression that other reform possibilities have been pushed to the back burner, Grabar-Kitarović added.

The president called on the government to work more on tax reforms and thus on enabling a higher rise in salaries. She says she is sure that the emigrations from the country will stop if the average monthly pay is about a thousand euro.

She went on to say that she is not for any changes in the President's powers and added that she believes that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will support her if she decides to rerun for office. Her five-year presidency term expires in January 2020.

She recalled that she had come from that party adding that she also believed that she "behaves as an above-party president that has never favoured any party". "I was elected by over one million and a hundred thousand citizens and I am responsible to them just as to those who did not vote for me," she said.

Grabar-Kitarović said that she was "really concerned over the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina". As for the Croatia-Serbia relations, she said that she felt disappointed by a lack of progress in addressing the issue of those who went missing during the 1991-1995 war of independence. "I don't know how Mr Aleksandar Vučić feels but I personally feel very disappointed at the failure to reach progress in solving the issue of the missing people."

During his visit to Zagreb in mid-February this year, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said at a news conference at resident Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's office in Zagreb that he would do his best to help find the war missing. Vučić paid a two-day official visit to Croatia then at the invitation of his Croatian counterpart Grabar-Kitarović.

For more on relations between Croatia and Serbia, click here.

Dalija Orešković has been making some rather bold statements of late, first in regard to HDZ and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, and now towards Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of November, 2018, her blunt and to the point comments towards the Croatian president have continued.

"The very fact that she tries to suit the feelings and the sentiments of the population clearly shows where her empathy lies, it's often populist when it comes to showing a warm face. It's a warm face, it's just a mask," stated Dalija Orešković rather bluntly.

Orešković was a guest of N1 television where she talked about her political plans, as well as about President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, towards whom she was extremely critical once again.

She first commented on her decision to not go to Marrakech, Morocco, where the measures for legal migration are being adopted.

"I'm not that captured [by it], for me, this is yet another example of the uncovering of the faces of the president,'' sye stated.

She also commented on Kolinda's attack on the Croatian Government, referring to an interview with President Grabar-Kitarović in which criticised the government for the lack of reforms.

She placed emphasis on the fact that the president, though lacking the power, does have moral authority.

"The president has the strongest voice in the country and that can create a certain atmosphere. The atmosphere created by Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović in recent years is colouring the country in black," Orešković openly said.

Orešković attributes the fact that Grabar-Kitarović continues to do so well in the polls to very well-designed political marketing.

"Smile, share some pictures, get some good marketing which brings you closer to the everyday lives and the feelings of citizens, behind that lies no serious work, or what a president should be doing" concluded Orešković in a rather cutting statement.

Make sure to keep up to date with our politics page for more information on the Croatian political scene, both at the national and at the European level.

ZAGREB, November 2, 2018 - The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration will advance cooperation between states in regular migration and not increase the migrant flow, as suggested by Croatia's far right, Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić said on Friday, adding that she was surprised by announcements that President Grabar-Kitarović would not attend a conference in Marrakesh where that document should be adopted.

The Global Compact is a catalogue of measures and not an agreement, it is not legally binding for UN member states and every state has the sovereign right to choose from it the set of measures suiting its situation, the minister said at a press conference called in the wake of media reports that Croatia's far right sees the document as contentious as the Istanbul Convention which Croatia ratified this year.

"The Global Compact represents a catalogue of measures defined in line with the goals of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants which are aimed at advancing cooperation between states in dealing with regular migration," Pejčinović Burić said, adding that no state could resolve the migration issue alone.

She said the Global Compact was the result of the international community's attempts to formulate a document which would encompass the best practices and measures for managing regular migration, helping to reduce migration pressures. Since it is not legally binding, "there is absolutely no obligation to accept migrants," the minister said, adding that any insinuations that the document would lead to uncontrolled migration were absolutely unfounded.

The minister recalled that the drafting of the Global Compact began with the adoption of the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which was endorsed by 193 UN member states, including Croatia, which was represented by President Grabar-Kitarović at the forum in question.

The president underlined the importance of that document at this year's UN General Assembly meeting, the minister said, citing the president's speech. The president said on that occasion that the successful completion of negotiations on the Global Compact for the Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was an "important step in the right direction to effectively deal with this challenge."

"We believe that this catalogue of targeted measures and best practices can guide us in searching for the best solutions in a more coordinated manner and with a better outcome. I look forward to our meeting in Marrakech in December and commend all the efforts of the UN Special Representative Louise Arbour," the president said then.

"According to official information, the president confirmed to the UN secretary-general that she would attend already in August, so we are surprised by the announcement that she will not attend the Marrakesh conference," said Pejčinović Burić.

Inter-departmental consultations are under way in Croatia on a draft conclusion on this document and the final conference in Marrakesh, at the level of heads of state and government, is aimed at politically confirming the common will to improve cooperation in line with the understanding reached in the Global Compact, she added.

If you are interested in how the migration crisis is affecting Croatia, read here.

ZAGREB, October 27, 2018 - The date of the next National Security Council session, which will include discussion on the Croatian border, will be defined next week with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković told the national broadcaster HTV on Friday evening.

Asked if he knew what the president had decided regarding being the candidate of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in the election run for another term as head of state, given that the party asked Grabar-Kitarović to state her intentions by autumn, Plenković briefly said "yes", without revealing what the president had decided. "It is up to her to say that. When the time comes, she will inform the public about her decision," the prime minister said.

"We did not yet agree on the date of the session of the National Security Council and we will discuss that next week, once we return to Zagreb. After that, a trip to China is scheduled so the National Security Council will be convened either next week or in 15 days," Plenković said.

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Thursday there were already plenty of topics for discussion by the National Security Council and that she was "constantly proposing" that the Council convened. Speaking to reporters, she said the Council must convene sooner or later. "Four times a year, as agreed. And if the Council convenes, don't think there is a state of emergency in the country."

Asked about the migrant situation at the Maljevac border crossing, Plenković said Croatia was strengthening its capacities to protect the border and it respected the agreement with the European Union.

The migrant influx, following a large migrant wave in 2015/2016. is down 98%, Plenković said adding that together with its EU partners, Croatia has strengthened the protection of the EU external border. He also said that Croatian Interior Minister Davor Božinović was constantly in contact with his Bosnia and Herzegovina counterpart and the relevant EU commissioner regarding the situation at the Maljevac border crossing.

The Maljevac border crossing between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia remained closed on Thursday morning after a large group of migrants attempted to cross the border illegally on Wednesday, and the Croatian police spent the night on alert, but did not need to intervene.

On Thursday morning, the migrants were 150 metres away from the borderline and were under the control of Bosnian police.

For the latest on politics in Croatia, follow the TCN Politics page.

ZAGREB, October 20, 2018 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović visited on Saturday the 12th International Prosciutto Fair in Tinjan, Istria County, as well as the nearby community of Motovun, where she opened the 9th festival of Teranno wine and truffles.

ZAGREB, October 19, 2018 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Thursday the Croatian public was too preoccupied with scandals and that her obligation was to work on improving living conditions and raising citizen's optimism.

ZAGREB, October 18, 2018 - Croatia has a recognisable tourism and sport brand but it needs to create its own strong and positive national brand because that provides the key for a competitive edge over other countries, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Wednesday during a panel discussion called "Croatia's Identity and Brand."