April 25, 2023 - Croatia supported the Kosovo membership application in the Council of Europe (CoE) at a meeting where Kosovo was given the green light to continue integration into the European organization. With 33 votes in favor, seven against, and five abstentions, the Committee of Ministers of the CoE supported the Kosovo application and sent it to the Parliamentary Assembly and the leading European organizations for the protection of human rights for a vote.

"We strongly supported the Kosovo membership application in the Council of Europe," the head of Croatian diplomacy told reporters. When asked about the Serbian boycott of the elections in the north of Kosovo, Grlić Radman said that the elections "were held in accordance with the constitution" and that they were legitimate, writes Index.

"A boycott is not a good solution; it is not a good model. It does not contribute to any solution to this issue," he added.

Grlić Radman, who participated in the meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers, said they also discussed the situation in Ukraine and Sudan, including the evacuation of EU citizens, the migrant crisis in Tunisia and Moldova, which the EU will help in the fight against cyber attacks.

The ministers spoke with their Ukrainian colleague Dmitr Kuleb and "again condemned the Russian aggression and looked for those instruments, ways that will make our condemnation even more restrictive," Grlić Radman said.

He added that out of about a hundred Croatian citizens, "everyone who wanted" was evacuated from Sudan, except one person he thinks is still on the way.

Grlić Radman thanked the European External Action Service, the Swedish Presidency, European embassies (French, Greek, etc.), and those outside the EU, such as the Saudi Arabian embassy, for their help.

As for Tunisia, Grlić Radman said that the situation in that country is worsening, and there is concern about a new wave of migrants.

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ZAGREB, 22 Nov 2021 - The 36th 130-strong Croatian Army Contingent, including six servicewomen, is being given a formal send-off on Monday to join NATO's KFOR peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. The media and the defence minister are not present at the ceremony.

The ceremony is taking place in the barracks of the 132nd Croatian Army Brigade in the eastern city of Našice without the presence of the media. It is being attended by President Zoran Milanović in his capacity as Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, while Defence Minister Mario Banožić has canceled his attendance.

The Defence Ministry said that Banožić had canceled his attendance because neither he nor the contingent commander was scheduled to address the ceremony and because the media were not allowed into the barracks to cover the event.

"The Croatian Army is above all of us politicians. We are all transient, and it will exist as long as there is Croatia. I did not go to Našice for the send-off ceremony because I wanted no part in a show by the gentleman who unfortunately does not understand the first two sentences in this post. I wish the members of the 36th Croatian Contingent a safe journey and a successful mission. See you soon," the defence minister wrote on Facebook.

Although the Ministry's press office on Sunday invited the media to cover the event, the President's Office later said that the ceremony "does not envisage the participation of the media," adding that the public would be informed about the event in a press release which would include photographs.

Representatives of the media gathered outside the barracks gate on Monday morning but were denied entry.

The President's Office said that the sole purpose of the send-off ceremony was to show the commander in chief, military commanders, and the defence minister the contingent's readiness for the mission. "Such an important event for the military cannot and will not be used for anyone's daily political interests," it said.

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ZAGREB, 16 June, 2021 - Croatia encourages the remaining EU countries who have not done so to recognise Kosovo's independence, Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Wednesday, which is a move that Serbia certainly will not be pleased with as it does not recognise the sovereignty of its former southern province.

Kosovo declared its independence in 2008 and it has been recognised by about one hundred countries, including all EU member states with the exception of Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Spain and Slovakia.

"Croatia encourages the remaining five EU member states to recognise Kosovo because that would contribute to stabilising the region and Kosovo itself," Grlić Radman told reporters.

Today Grlić Radman is participating at the international GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava, convened to discuss also the situation in the western Balkans.

Croatia's foreign minister said that three things were key to the region's stability: respecting countries' territorial integrity, equal constitutional rights of Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the establishment of mutual trust after the 1990s wars.

"The territorial integrity of Balkan countries needs to be preserved and respected, hence without changing borders like we heard over the past few months in some much-vaunted non-papers that were heading in that direction," said Grlić Radman.

He believes that trust can be achieved through sincere talks, by resolving the issue of the war missing, processing war crimes and providing justice for the victims.

Speaking about BiH, he said the country is trapped between two political tendencies - centralism, or rather unitarism, and separatism.

"That undermines the foundations of a stable BiH and negatively reflects on the status of the Croat people in BiH," he underscored.

He reiterated Croatia's stance that the multi-ethnic BiH needs to reforms the election law to eliminate any form of discrimination and violation of equal rights.

Grlić Radman said that Croatia is a "sincere advocate" of BiH's Euro-Atlantic pathway and that at all international forums it keeps that country in the limelight because it is in its interest to have a stable, functioning and prosperous country in its neighbourhood.

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ZAGREB, 8 May (Hina) - President Zoran Milanović said on Saturday that the decision to increase Croatian troops in Kosovo was not an act of provocation against Serbia. 

"That's no provocation against Serbia. The Serbian authorities do not know how to get out of the trap into which they fell 30 years ago with Milošević's orgy in Kosovo that caused the war in Yugoslavia. ... The question of the independence and status of the Albanian people is a topic that brought about the war, actually several wars," Milanović said in response to questions from the press during a visit to the eastern city of Đakovo.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said Serbia wanted to have good relations with all its neighbors but that Croatia's actions and statements showed no respect for Serbia but attempted to humiliate it.

Vučić said that Croatia could have refused to send more troops to Kosovo as part of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping mission and that its decision was aimed at "further humiliating Serbia."

Milanović recalled that the Croatian contingent has been present in Kosovo for years and that its presence has been increased now that Croatian troops have left Afghanistan.

"I have already signed this order, but had I been aware that it would bother them so much, we might have discussed it," said Milanović, who also serves as Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces.

As for the presence of Croatian troops in other countries, he said that the Croatian military need not always be present somewhere and that its primary task was to protect Croatia.

"Croatian soldiers are here, first and foremost, to protect Croatia. It is their main and sole basic task, while these other forms of cooperation are welcome," Milanović said.

"Kosovo has been recognized as a state virtually by the entire EU, except five member states. I understand why two of them have not, but as for the other three, I do not understand because I followed this matter and talked with their prime ministers and presidents several times in the past," Milanović said.

Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Spain, and Slovakia are the only EU members that have not recognized Kosovo, a former Serbian province, as an independent state.

Milanović also noted that the Serbian authorities "are doing all they can so as not to join the European Union, even though they are ostensibly negotiating."

"We are not on an equal footing. We are an EU member, and they are not. If they want to join, we have to talk. It never occurred to us to treat other countries so rudely and presumptuously, for example, Slovenia, which is smaller than Croatia but was an EU member (before Croatia joined the EU)," Milanović said.

Serbia was granted EU membership candidate status in 2012. It opened accession talks in 2014 and has provisionally closed only two chapters to date.

"I do not want to use Croatia's position to blackmail Serbia, but my impression is that there is no real ambition at all on Serbia's part to join the EU in 15 years. That is perhaps because in that case, all the people now ruling Serbia would have to look for their homeland elsewhere," the Croatian president said.

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June 25, 2020 - Who will be able to enter Croatia from BiH, Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia without having to self-isolate? Head of the Border Service of the Split-Dalmatia Police, Mladen Bužančić, explains. 

Dnevnik.hr reports that encouraged by the growing number of cases in Croatia, but also in neighboring countries, the Croatian Civil Protection Headquarters introduced a new measure at border crossings and mandatory self-isolation for people entering Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Mladen Bužančić, head of the Border Service of the Split-Dalmatia Police Administration, revealed to Dnevnik Nova TV that there are certain exemptions to the rule. 

"The border police are ready. Everyone who enters the Republic of Croatia from those countries on June 25 must be aware that they will be self-isolated. There are exceptions for those who, due to the nature of their work and living circumstances, will not have to isolate themselves, and among them are cross-border workers and those transiting through these four countries and through Croatia," Bužančić explains, urging that travel be kept to a minimum.

Asked what will happen to those who come to Croatia from those four countries in the region for a funeral or to care for an elderly family member, Bužančić answered that they are also exempt and will not have to self-isolate.

"If it is an urgent personal reason or it is about people who are coming to a funeral or need emergency medical care or transport, they will not be subjected to the new rule," says Bužančić.

However, when it comes to tourists from those countries who already have confirmed reservations in Croatia, Bužančić says that they must be aware that this arrangement will probably not be realized.

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The unemployment rate for young people up to 29 years of age is the highest among Croatia's domestic population, and the lowest among young people from third countries.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of April, 2019, the Republic of Croatia is among the countries of the EU with the best integrated immigrants from third countries, which can only be met with surprise by those people who do not know that these ''immigrants'' are actually mostly just Croats born in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by a few immigrants from Serbia, Germany, Slovenia, Kosovo and Macedonia.

According to the latest census, 584,947 (13.7 percent) of the population of Croatia were born abroad. The number of migrants are as follows: Serbia (9 percent), Germany (5.8 percent), Kosovo (3.5 percent), Slovenia (3.4 percent), Macedonia ( 1.7 percent). Immigrants to Croatia, predominantly from Bosnia and Herzegovina, are doing much better in terms of the employment rate of young people up to 29 years of age, meaning that they're significantly better integrated into the Croatian labour market than those born in Croatia and those from other EU countries.

This data were presented by sociologists Snježana Gregurević and Sonja Podgorelec, and social geographer Sanja Klempić Bogadi from the Institute for Migration and Ethnicity in the presentation "The Influence of Immigrant Groups on the Social Cohesion of the Receiving Society - the case of Croatia".

A large number of Croatian residents born in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the result of labour migration during the socialist period of Yugoslavia and immigration during the Bosnian war. Most immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina live in Zagreb (98,579), Split-Dalmatia County (36,864), Zagreb County (35,427), Brod- Posavina (29,537) and Osijek-Baranja County (28,051), these are the "entrance" Croatian counties, those closest to the border regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the exception of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, from which emigration towards Croatia was the most intensive,'' stated Klempić Bogadi.

By the year 2015, Croatia, along with Serbia, Germany and Austria, was the most common destination for immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, since 2016, the trend is for the Bosnian population to migrate to Germany and Austria, and the number of such persons in Croatia and Serbia is steadily decreasing.

"According to Eurostat's data, immigrants from third countries, predominantly immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, are better involved in the Croatian labour market than the domestic population and immigrants from other EU countries in terms of the employment rate of young people aged from 15 to 29. The employment rate of young people from third countries in Croatia is higher by 18 percent when compared to the employment of domestic youth,'' said Snježana Gregurović.

As stated, the unemployment rate for young people up to 29 years of age is highest among the domestic Croatian population, and is actually the lowest among young people from third countries.

"Because of their small share of the total population of Croatia, immigrants haven't endangered or undermined the country's social cohesion. Because of the modest share of the immigrant population in Croatia who do not have Croatian ethnic origin, and the large share of those who do have it, the integration challenges are not yet posing any sort of significant cost to the state, or a threat to the domestic population,'' says Podgorelec.

In Zagreb, the largest concentration of immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina live in Sesvete, where the research "Influence of immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina on the socio-demographic development of Croatian urban regions" was conducted on a sample of 301 people aged 18 and over born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Most of them (93.4 percent) were ethnic Croats, ethnic Serbs made up 3.7 percent of them, Bosniaks made uo 2.3 percent, and 0.7 percent was made up of others. Otherwise, 85.2 percent of Croats born in Bosnia and Herzegovina and living in Croatia are actually Croats, 6.3 percent of them are actually Serbs, and just 6 percent are Bosniaks.

A third of respondents hold dual citizenship, (Croatian and Bosnia and Herzegovina). Almost half of them work, of which 68 percent are mostly in trade or the construction industry. 14.6 percent are unemployed, those who stay at home make up 6.6 percent, pensioners make up 29.2 percent, and students and pupils in education make up 2.7 percent. The largest number of immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina living in Sesvete have secondary education, and 6,3 percent have higher education.

"Most respondents feel very welcome in the local community, they have a strong sense of belonging to the Croatian society, and they vote in large numbers during elections in the Republic of Croatia, but are exceptionally poorly involved in any organisation and/or civil society. Given the fact that many of them also have Croatian citizenship and therefore they vote in the elections in the Republic of Croatia, many are significantly less interested in political developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which shows a high level of political integration,'' concluded Podgorelec, reports Večernji list.

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As Adriano Milovan/Novac writes on the 2nd of April, 2019, the economic expansion period for most of the transition countries, including the Republic of Croatia, is now over, and in the coming years we can count only on very modest rates of economic growth, this was the message from experts from the renowned Vienna Institute for International Economics Studies (WIIW).

According to the latest forecasts of the Vienna Institute, this year, Croatia can expect a growth rate of 2.6 percent. However, in the coming years, economic growth will slow down even more, meaning that the Croatian economy will likely grow at a rate of 2.5 percent in 2020 and again in 2021. Although the GDP growth rate of 2.5 percent doesn't deviate much from the previous growth rates in Croatia, given that they were still less than in other comparable countries of the so-called "New Europe", it's worth noting that this rate is still less than was previously expected.

Additionally, and more concerningly yet, the Republic of Croatia will be among the new EU member states with the lowest rates of economic growth of all. On the other hand, the fastest growing economies among transition countries will rather surprisingly be non-EU European countries, such as Kosovo and Albania and even more surprisingly, Moldova, at least according to an analysis taken by the esteemed Vienna Institute. According to these forecasts, Kosovo's economy, for example, was to grow at a rate of 4.1 percent this year, in the following year at a rate of four percent, and in 2021, at a rate of 3.9 percent.

In their forecasts, the analysts of the Vienna Institute cited the slowdown of economic growth in the world as a whole, especially in Germany, and the strengthening of protectionism in world trade and uncertainty brought about by Brexit (should it occur at all), as among the main reasons for the ''cooling'' of the transition economies.

Openly, however, the question remains about how the current crisis in Uljanik will reflect on the Croatian economy as a whole. Vladimir Gligorov, a longtime analyst at the Vienna Institute and now an external associate, says the events in Uljanik will have negative effects on the Croatian economy in the short term, primarily through the activation of state guarantees and the cost of dealing with former workers who will be left jobless, but in the medium term, it shouldn't actually reflect all that much on the macroeconomic image of the country that significantly.

The attitudes of Croatian macroeconomists, Zeljko Lovrinčević from the Zagreb Institute of Economics and Zdeslav Šantić, the chief economist of OTP banka, don't differ significantly from the above statement from the Vienna Institute, and they also don't expect huge consequences on the Croatian economy from the collapse of Uljanik. Moreover, Lovrinčević believes that the first half of this year could be even better for Croatia than expected, whereas we will likely only feel a slight slowdown in the second half of this year and next year.

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Click here for the original article by Adriano Milovan for Novac/Jutarnji

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Some companies are importing more and more workers from Kosovo and neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Nine foreign nationals were caught illegally crossing the state border between Montenegro and the Republic of Croatia in four separate cases.