ZAGREB, April 16, 2020 - Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica said on Thursday that Croatia could emerge from the coronavirus crisis with a smaller state administration, stressing that the government was considering ways to secure funds to help the economic sector by making cuts in public administration.

Reporters asked the minister ahead of today's government session if he believed that Croatia could emerge from the current crisis with a smaller public administration, to which he said that it could and that the government was going in that direction with a decision to ban hiring and make cuts in government departments.

"With its first and second set of measures designed to help the business sector the government has shown that savings can be made in public administration and some other departments to help the economic sector," he said.

He added that the government was working on new measures to help businesses as well as citizens.

Asked about wage cuts in the public sector, Malenica said that the matter should first be discussed with union representatives.

With regard to the reform of public administration through a reduction of the number of counties and municipalities, the minister said that the number of local government units could be reduced but that they first should be classified to determine which can provide certain services and which cannot.

More news about the Ministry of Administration can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, April 14, 2020 - Croatia on Tuesday unveiled its first digital assistant to advise people how to diagnose and manage suspected COVID-19 infections.

This "virtual doctor", powered by artificial intelligence, has been developed by Croatian IT companies in cooperation with epidemiologists, including doctor Branko Kolaric, who said at the presentation that by developing the new COVID-19 service, Croatia followed the examples of South Korea and Singapore.

The digital assistant is available at https://andrija.ai/ and can be activated on WhatsApp under the name Andrija.

The digital assistant "Andrija" is named after Andrija Štampar, a distinguished Croatian doctor and scholar in the field of social medicine. From 1931 to 1933, Štampar worked as an expert of the Health Organization of the League of Nations. He also spent time in China, from 1933 to 1936, after the Health Organization sent him as an advisor to help the Chinese health administration in the control of mass infectious diseases that appeared after devastating floods in 1931.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's chief-of-staff Zvonimir Frka-Petešić said that the online health self-assessment tool was available to all Croatian smart phone users.

Kolarić said that the digital assistant was very helpful to the healthcare system as it could process tens of thousands of requests on a daily basis, while doctors can handle some 50 calls a day.

Public Administration Minster Ivan Malenica said that the digital assistant was a voluntary and anonymous application.

The companies that have participated in the development of the application are Mindsmiths, Neos, Oracle Croatia and Infobip, members of the CroAI artificial intelligence association.

The government praised the companies for working free of charge on this project, aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus.

Mislav Malenica, the founder of the Mindsmith company, said that Croatia was a step ahead of other countries by having developed the digital assistant that provides users with personalised health advice and guidance.

More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, April 10, 2020 - The e-Građani (e-Citizens) system is being used by a growing number of users due to the coronavirus epidemic and currently it has 934,762 users, with their number having increased by more than 80,000 in the period from April 1 to 8, the Public Administration Ministry said on Friday.

More than 860,000 passes have been issued via the platform's e-Propusnica (e-Pass) service, the ministry said, noting that the platform now provided 72 services.

Two new services have been developed - one that enables citizens with blocked bank accounts to access information on due payments and one enabling people living on islands to apply for island passes for persons and vehicles and access information on valid passes, travel information and submitted applications.

As for the e-Pass service, since its introduction more than 860,700 passes have been issued while more than 34,000 applications have been turned down.

Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica said that given the experience so far, the ministry would continue to intensively digitalise the work of public administration.

The other services available on the e-Citizen platform make it possible for citizens to register the birth of a child, apply for a driver's licence and passport, access the register of births, marriages and deaths or view information on their chosen doctor, laboratory tests, therapies, etc.

Also, citizens can check their child's grades via the e-Dnevnik (e-Gradebook) service and use many other services available at https://pretinac.gov.hr/.

The ministry says that it has been in talks with the Health Ministry regarding service digitalisation and its connecting to the e-Citizen platform.

It notes that more new services will be introduced in the coming period, for example, one enabling citizens to pay for fiscal stamps online.

More politics news can be found in the dedicated section.

ZAGREB, February 9, 2020 - Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica said that the term of Anita Nosić as the head of the southern municipality of Lovreć ceased as soon as she changed the place of residence to buy a socially-subsidised flat in Zagreb through the Real Estate Agency (APN).

Nosić's deputy will be now in charge of the municipality, said Malenica.

Malenica's comment ensued after media outlets reported that Nosić, a member of the HDZ party and head of Lovreć municipality in Split-Dalmatia County, had bought a socially-subsidised flat in Zagreb and also changed the place of residence.

Even though she continued to live in her family home in Lovreć, Nosić registered permanent residence in Zagreb on 10 December 2018, more than a year after signing a housing loan agreement with the Croatian Postal Bank (HPB). This automatically disqualifies her from being the head of the municipality where she has no longer the registered place of residence, under the Act on Local Elections.

Media speculate that Nosić risks a criminal report as she has unlawfully served as municipal head for more than a year.

More politics news can be found in the dedicated section.

ZAGREB, December 17, 2019 - As many as 18 public services in Croatia are available online for Croatians and citizens of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA), which puts Croatia among the seven most developed countries.

The Public Administration Ministry on Tuesday organised a conference to mark the completion of the implementation of the 505,407 euro project "ePIC - Electronic Public Identification Croatia". The project, implemented by the Croatian Financial Agency (FINA), was co-funded with 379,055 euro from the EU.

The overall goal of the ePIC project was to promote the uptake and speed up the use of eID Digital Service Infrastructure (DSI) among EU/EEA citizens and public entities established in Croatia.

Launched in 2019, the project enabled online services such as "Construction e-Permit service", online submission of applications for construction permits requiring no physical presence in Croatia and/or documentation preparation and sending; "Land Register service "– requesting and obtaining official Land Register excerpts in electronic form; "Starting a business online" - establishing a new company online without needing to personally visit a court in Croatia; "Consent" for procedures within the scope of the Ministry of the Interior - possibility for one parent to give his/her consent to the other parent to complete the process of obtaining identification documents for their child (e.g. ID card or passport) or to change child’s address of permanent residence; "eNautika" - enabling EU/EEA citizens to buy a vignette, report data changes in the Register of Boats and the Register of Yachts; "ePomorac" – enabling EU/EEA citizens to apply for exams for maritime professions as well as to apply for exams and obtain licences for operators of pleasure crafts; and "Electronic Public Procurement Service" for publishing procurement notices and processing public procurement.

Public Administration State Secretary Katić Prpić said that Croatia had been now in the company of Estonia, which is perceived as the most developed e-state in the world.

In 2016 and 2017, Croatia also implemented "Ensuring Access to Croatian Public e-Services within e-Citizens Platform for EU/EEA Citizens".

It launched the e-Citizens system for the purpose of modernising, simplifying and accelerating communication between citizens and the public administration and increasing the transparency of the public sector with regard to the provision of public services.

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

ZAGREB, November 9, 2019 - Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica has announced that a bill on the 2021 census, which has been put up for public consultation, also envisages the electronic collection of data, apart from census takers who will collect data in the field.

This will be the first time for Croatia to conduct a population census by census takers and also to have an e-census conducted simultaneously.

"The draft act is currently being discussed. We will see what the next steps could be," Malenica said.

The electronic collection of data is expected to be conducted from 1 to 10 April 2021 through the e-citizen system, and will provide an opportunity for citizens to present the necessary data about themselves and their households online.

The second stage, set for 16 April to 7 May 2021, will be conducted on the ground by census-takers in households which have not been covered by the e-census.

More news about Public Administration Ministry can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 2, 2019 - The Croatian parliament on Wednesday passed a set of 61 laws to streamline state administration, under which state administration offices would be abolished and their duties taken over by counties.

The laws were aligned with the State Administration Act which provides for all state administration offices, except the administrative and sports inspectorates, to be abolished and their duties assigned to counties.

Counties will thus be put in charge of about 200 additional proceedings, and so far, they had nearly three times fewer. They will also take charge of about 2,000 staff, which will bring their total staff to about 4,200.

Of 2,500 state administration staff, about 500 have opted for severance pay, for which purpose 150 million kuna (20 million euro) will be secured.

A total of 96 assistant ministers will lose the status of government officials and their positions will be filled by heads of directorates for four-year terms.

The Ministry of Administration says that the planned changes will streamline the state administration system and save between 30 million kuna (4.05 million euro) and 40 million kuna (5.4 million euro).

Parliament rejected an amendment put forward by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), under which members of the European Parliament and the European Commission would have been included among office holders subject to the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act.

SDP lawmakers used the amendment to again raise the issue of the property holdings of the Croatian candidate for European Commission Vice-President, Dubravka Šuica of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). The ensuing debate escalated into personal accusations and insults being exchanged between SDP and HDZ deputies.

Branko Bačić (HDZ) said that the government remained open to the SDP's proposal, saying that Šuica's declaration of assets had been made public while she had held office in Croatia and that there had never been any issues at that time.

More politics news can be found in the dedicated section.

ZAGREB, August 29, 2019 - The Office of the Chief State Prosecutor (DORH) has sent a request to the national parliament that a lawmaker, Lovro Kuščević, be stripped of his parliamentary immunity due to suspicion that he committed abuse of office and powers, the parliament's Credentials and Privileges Commission (MIP) said on Thursday.

The commission's chairman, Željko Tušek, explained that he would convene a meeting for Friday so that the MIP can discuss the DORH request to be given the green light to launch an investigation into Kuščević who is believed to have been implicated in several real estate murky dealings when he was the municipal head of Nerežišća on the island of Brač.

The MIP has usually to date granted DORH's requests to strip a parliamentary deputy of immunity.

On 20 August, the Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) confirmed media reports that, together with the relevant police services (PNUSKOK), it was conducting an investigation into the case of former Public Administration Minister Kuščević, who resigned on 8 July over reported involvement in murky real estate deals.

USKOK said then that it would decide on further steps in this case after collecting the necessary evidence and that the public would be informed in a timely fashion. The information was released after web portals reported that Kuščević’s house on the island of Brač had been searched by the police on the morning of 20 August.

Some web portals claim that Kuščević is suspected of wrongdoing in real estate transactions and of abuse of office while he was at the helm of the municipality and that more suspects were involved in the affairs.

On 8 July, Kuščević resigned from the ministerial post and the post of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) political secretary. Upon his resignation, Kuščević said that he was "a responsible politician".

"I've been in politics a long time," Kuščević said, adding that "it's clear to me that this negative perception in the media, the basis of all the unfounded attacks on me, represents a big burden on both the party and the government."

Kuščević is currently a member of the national parliament and a councillor in the Split-Dalmatia County Assembly.

Kuščević said on Thursday he had no reason to hide behind parliamentary immunity and that he was glad he would have the chance to disprove all the accusations against him.

Speaking to Hina, Kuščević said "there is no reason to treat me differently than any other Croatian citizen. Let the Credentials and Privileges Commission act at its own discretion."

The ex-minister said he was glad he "will finally have the chance... to refute and disprove all the accusations against me, refute all these attacks and present my defence."

Asked who would defend him, Kuščević said he would choose a lawyer, "if that will be necessary at all," after seeing the charges.

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

ZAGREB, August 21, 2019 - The Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) confirmed media reports that it together with the relevant police services (PNUSKOK) is conducting an investigation into the case of former Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević who resigned on 8 July over reported involvement in murky real estate deals.

USKOK will decide on further steps in this case after the collection of all necessary evidence and the public will be informed in a timely fashion, the Office said on Tuesday afternoon after web portals reported that Kuščević's house on the island of Brač had been searched by the police on Tuesday morning.

Some of the web portals claim that Kuščević is suspected of wrongdoing in real estate transactions and of abuse of office and that some more suspects were involved in the affairs.

On 8 July, Kuščević resigned from the ministerial post and the post of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) political secretary. Upon his resignation, Kuščević said that he was "a responsible politician".

"I've been in politics a long time," Kuščević said, adding that "it's clear to me that this negative perception in the media, the basis of all the unfounded attacks on me, represents a big burden on both the party and the government."

Kuščević is currently a member of the national parliament and a councillor in the Split-Dalmatia County Assembly.

Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday evening that an USKOK investigation and search of the property of former Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević was being conducted following a warrant issued by the court and that he had no other comments.

"Those are just procedural steps, we'll see what it will turn out to be," Plenković told reporters in Opatija.

Plenković said that he would propose Ante Sanader for the new party political secretary.

The new Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica was sworn in in mid-July.

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

ZAGREB, July 23, 2019 - Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica said on Tuesday the issue of bilingual signs on state institution buildings in Vukovar and the eastern town's government's dissatisfaction about them could be resolved through dialogue and agreement between representatives of ethnic minorities and the majority population.

He was asked by reporters if any legal solution was being considered to punish the local government should it fail to comply with a recent Constitutional Court decision under which the rights of the Serb ethnic minority in Vukovar must be enhanced.

"All bills should be considered... in agreement and dialogue between representatives of ethnic minorities and the majority Croatian population. I hope the Vukovar Town Council will adopt a conclusion on that in October so there will be no need to dissolve the council."

Malenica said they planned to draw up such a bill and table it so that the Constitutional Court decision was complied with.

"It's up to the government and the Public Administration Ministry to honour Constitutional Court decisions, as it is up to Vukovar," he said, adding "there should be a dialogue between representatives of ethnic minorities and the Croatian population on legal norms and acts that will regulate minority rights."

Malenica said a legal norm made sense only if it envisaged certain sanctions.

More news about national minorities can be found in the Politics section.