The economy must be able to breathe with a full set of lungs, according to Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 2nd of October, 2019, Croatia's presidential candidates have lined up, and among some expected faces, some rather surprising names have cropped up. The country's current president, is also running for another term. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović officially announced her candidacy for a new presidential term in the Croatian capital of Zagreb on Wednesday, and on that occasion, she also spoke about the current state of the Croatian economy, N1 reports.

"Our children and young people are our top priority! Education must be [conducted] in the interest of our children and young people, who must grow into citizens who are able to stand side by side with young people from the most developed countries, who achieve the best results and find the best jobs. This is also in the service of our society, as well as the state, and in the service of the survival of our identity.

The economy must be able to breathe with a full set of lungs. The economic policies that I will promote will be aimed at unleashing the creative forces and potentials that we have and can activate for the faster development of our economy.

I will seek measures to strengthen our investment competitiveness and support for exporters. Salaries can and must rise! There is no reason why the average net salary in Croatia can't amount to 7,500 kuna soon.

The Croatian National Bank's monetary policy and the credit policy of the banks can and must favour the Croatian economy, the Croatian population and the central government more,'' insisted Grabar-Kitarović.

Make sure to follow our dedicated politics page for more information on not only Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's candidacy, but for much more on the other candidates and the Croatian political scene in general.

ZAGREB, October 1, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will officially announce that she is running for a second term as president on Wednesday.

Zoltan Kabok, spokesman for the president's campaign team, on Tuesday invited the media to attend "the president's address and official announcement of her candidacy for a new term" at noon on Wednesday.

Media has been speculating and expecting Grabar-Kitarović to announce her candidacy for some time now.

Her campaign office told Hina that in her address Grabar-Kitarović will say why she is running for another term and that she will announce her election platform in the next few weeks.

No party officials or government representatives will attend the president's address tomorrow because she is still not officially the candidate of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) even though the HDZ has confirmed that she is their candidate.

According to the HDZ statute, the HDZ National Council decides on a party candidate in a presidential election at the recommendation of the party presidency.

The party leadership will be present when Grabar-Kitarović announces her election platform for another five-year term in office.

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

ZAGREB, September 30, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will announce her candidacy for re-election "very, very soon," the head of her campaign headquarters, Ivan Anušić, said on Sunday, adding that the president was not stalling and that other candidates had started "perhaps a little too soon."

"There is no stalling, she is in office, unlike other candidates who embarked on their campaigns perhaps a little too soon," Anušić, a member of the presidency of the ruling HDZ party, told the public broadcaster.

He said other candidates "perhaps don't have other commitments and certain candidacies and candidates started getting into full swing already in the spring." "The president doesn't have the need for that because, when she announces her candidacy, she will spend most of the time to the candidacy and less to affairs of the state," he added.

Anušić said he did not think that Grabar-Kitarović's approval rating was dropping, rather that the number of presidential candidates was increasing, currently standing at 14.

He said political campaigns in Croatia were unfair and was hopeful that this would change, although he is convinced that the upcoming presidential race will be unfair. "In a way, websites... are not attacking only the president but those around her as well."

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

ZAGREB, September 24, 2019 - The Croatian President's Office on Tuesday denied media reports that President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović had held a bilateral meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić on the margins of the UN General Assembly session in New York, saying that "a courtesy encounter and greeting in the corridor" could not be called a bilateral meeting.

According to a statement by the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dačić had several brief meetings with senior officials from the region and the world ahead of the 74th UN General Assembly session in New York, including one with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.

Grabar-Kitarović's Office said that she had had many bilateral meetings with statesmen, including US Vice President Mike Pence and Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, as well as with representatives of Google and the World Jewish Organisation, but not with Dačić. "To describe a courtesy encounter and greeting in the corridor as a bilateral meeting would be impolite and incorrect," her office said in a statement.

More news about relations between Croatia and Serbia can be found in the Politics section.

September 21, 2019 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic set aside some time to spar with UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic in Cleveland.

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic's visit to the United States began in Cleveland, Ohio, where the fourth largest Croatian community in the United States lives.

However, what Croatians know most about Cleveland is that it is home to UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic, a mixed martial artist, part-time firefighter, and the son of Croatian immigrants. 

It is only fitting, then, that the Croatian president made sure she set aside some time for a one-off training session with a top sparring partner - Cleveland's most famous Croat - Stipe Miocic, reports HRT.

Thus, Miocic hosted the Croatian president at the gym where he has spent the last 20 years training and introduced her to his family members and his team.

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Stipe Miocic even exchanged gifts! The president was given boxing gloves with Stipe’s signature, while Kolinda gifted the UFC champ a Croatian football jersey featuring Stipe’s name. 

Stipe Miocic demonstrated some martial arts moves to the president, who proved to be a very enthusiastic student.

The training was followed by Croatian and American journalists, to whom both the President and Stipe Miocic spoke about the beauties of Croatia. The president asked Stipe Miocic to tell the Croatian youth the importance of sports and healthy living.

Finally, Kolinda and Stipe faced off - and the extraordinary effort by the Croatian president sent Stipe to the ground! 

View this post on Instagram

Društvo pobjednika! ??? @stipemiocic

A post shared by Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (@predsjednicarh) on Sep 20, 2019 at 11:00am PDT

The president then went on to visit the Cleveland Clinic, one of America's best hospitals, headed by Dr. Tomislav Mihaljevic from Zagreb.

You can view all the videos on HRT here. 

Recall, the Association of Croatian American Professionals (ACAP) is hosting their fourth annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio from Sept. 19 to 22, 2019. The ACAP conference will bring together professionals from all facets of the U.S. and international professional community—such as diplomats, scientists, artists, engineers, medical professionals, attorneys, journalists, business executives, social media specialists, accountants, and a delegation from Croatia’s Chamber of Commerce.

Her Excellency Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia, gave the keynote address at the gala dinner on Friday, Sept. 20.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

September 18, 2019 - Pittsburgh, PA – Her Excellency Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia, will be visiting the city of Pittsburgh, home to the headquarters of the Croatian Fraternal Union of America (CFU), in honor of the Society’s 125th Anniversary Celebration. The visit, scheduled for this Sunday, September 22, 2019, will begin with a Jubilee Mass held at St. Nicholas Church (Millvale), a distinguished Shrine Church of Croatian heritage, followed by a gala anniversary banquet at the Wyndham Grand Hotel Pittsburgh. The Anniversary Celebration falls on the eve of the 25th Quadrennial Convention of the Society.

“This will be one very special weekend celebration and we are so pleased to have so many prominent Croatian diplomats, Croatian Americans and American officials, attending our Sunday banquet on September 22nd, says Edward Pazo, National President of the Croatian Fraternal Union.

Distinguished guests for the Anniversary Celebration include: His Eminence Cardinal Blasé Cupich, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, IL and His Excellency David A. Zubik, Bishop of Pittsburgh. Dignitaries representing the Republic of Croatia include: His Excellency Gordan Grlić-Radman, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenković; Pjer Šimunović, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the United States; and Zdravka Bušić, State Secretary for Political Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs; Mijo Maric and Mirjana Piskulic representatives of the Croatian Homeland Foundation.

National and local dignitaries attending will include: U.S. Congressman Mike Doyle, representing the 18th Congressional District of the U.S. House of Representatives and a founding member of the House Congressional Croatian Caucus; Mayor William Peduto of the City of Pittsburgh; and Rich Fitzgerald, Allegheny County Executive.

The CFU is the largest Croatian organization outside of Croatia and in its 125th year of existence. Headquartered in Wilkins Township, PA, CFU has more than 30,000 members in Southwestern Pennsylvania and nearing 50,000 members globally. It is a fraternal benefit organization based on a program of benevolence, service to its members and the communities in which they live.

More diaspora news can be found in the dedicated section.

ZAGREB, September 18, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is travelling to the United States on Thursday to attend the 74th UN General Assembly, where she will support the implementation of UN reform, advocate the strengthening of multilateralism, and warn about the importance of sustainable development and preserving the environment, notably the protection of the Adriatic Sea.

Grabar-Kitarović will address the General Assembly next Tuesday.

By advocating the importance of multilateralism, which is currently in a crisis and which is especially important for smaller states, Croatia is not ignoring bilateral relations, a source in the president's office has said, adding that she is welcome among world leaders.

The Adriatic is "a small and closed sea that is very important for Croatia," the source says, recalling that it is threatened by plastic and that the garbage which currents carry from Montenegro and Albania is a danger to Croatia's tourism.

Grabar-Kitarović will use her address to present the "Zlarin Without Plastic" project, which was launched on the island of Zlarin last year.

"Great progress has been achieved in a year. It's the first Croatian island without plastic and this carries a global message. The president will present, at the global level, Croatia's successes and Zlarin is our example of good practice," the source has said.

On Monday, Grabar-Kitarović will attend a climate summit as well as be a guest at an Atlantic Council meeting on transatlantic relations. She will also meet presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Hashim Thaci of Kosovo and Salome Zourabichvili of Georgia as well as the King of Jordan, Abdullah II.

The talks with President Erdogan and King Abdullah II will focus on migrations and the latest crisis in the Middle East, the source has said.

On Tuesday, Grabar-Kitarović will attend a political forum on sustainable development as well as an evening reception organised by US President Donald Trump. She will also meet the leaders of Chile, Argentina and Colombia as well as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) president Jose Angel Gurria Trevino to lobby for Croatia's accession to the OECD, which is currently opposed by Slovenia.

On Wednesday, Grabar-Kitarović will moderate a panel on sustainable development and organise a meeting of 75 former and incumbent women presidents and prime ministers, having taken over the Council of Women World Leaders chairmanship in March.

She will also meet UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. UN Women is the global leader in gender equality advocacy and Grabar-Kitarović is one of the four women presidents in the organisation's 193 member states elected by direct vote.

Before New York, Grabar-Kitarović will visit Cleveland and Pittsburgh, while after New York she is going to Boston to visit her daughter at Harvard.

She will return to the US in October to receive the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Award.

More news about Croatia and the United Nations can be found in the Politics 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 12, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Wednesday sent a letter to Independent Democratic Serb Party president Milorad Pupovac, telling him that she closely follows his public statements in which he criticises Croatia "in an entirely inappropriate, unacceptable and malicious manner."

The president says she is determined in her intention that Croatian citizens should build a country of peace, understanding and prosperity, and that she regrets that Pupovac has not carefully read her letter to him from 2016, which she encloses with the latest one.

"I consider that my obligation also because of the 10,000 members of the Serb nationality who, in defending their homeland Croatia from the Greater Serbia aggressor, confirmed their patriotism and have never undermined it by moral patronising, particularly not by political blackmail, although they have the right and the obligation, as Croatian citizens, to point to potential anomalies which, unfortunately, are part of the growing up of every society, but not to the extent that some would like to make it seem and thus cause damage to the state they live in," the president says in the latest letter.

In a letter of 13 February 2016, the president condemned threats and hate speech against a number of public figures and organisations, but added that among them were some who for years, through their public activity, had been provoking, irritating and even insulting the majority of the Croatian population, untruthfully depicting and even ridiculing the Homeland War, essentially denying the reality, and implicitly the very idea of the Croatian state, thereby creating a climate of tension, exclusion and intolerance.

In that letter, she also said one should condemn actions aimed against the equality, safety and dignity of political, ethnic and other minorities in Croatia, just as one should condemn every action that offended the Croatian people and any other majority community.

More news about Serbs in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 1, 2019 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović attended in Warsaw on Sunday a commemoration marking the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II, her office said in a press release.

"We are here to honour all war victims, both in Poland, which was the first to start fighting Nazism, and in all other states which stood up in the defence of freedom and peace in Europe and the world. The Croatian people, proportionate to its population, contributed the most to the antifascist struggle in Europe in which more than half a million Croatian citizens actively took part," the president said.

"We are marking 80 years since the start of World War II, which is a highly important anniversary for Croatia, Poland and the whole world. This anniversary reminds us that it's necessary to make, constantly and with the biggest responsibility, the biggest efforts to build and keep world peace, security and stability, so that we never again have to face the threat of a world or any other war," she added.

Numerous heads of state and government were in Poland today on the occasion of the anniversary, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Vice President Mike Pence.

More info about Croatian history can be found in the Politics section.