ZAGREB, October 31, 2019 - The president of Croatia's ORaH party, Antun Petrović, and the international secretary of the German Greens, Jamila Schaefer, said on Thursday it was extremely important that climate change remained a priority in chairing the European Union in 2020.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Petrović said he hoped that "A Europe that protects", one of the four key areas on which, according to the government, the Croatian presidency of the Council of the EU will be based, meant protection of the environment, climate and human rights, and not the external border, ORaH said in a press release.

The two parties expect the Croatian and German governments to continue next year the trend set by Finland during its presidency and set climate change as one of their EU presidency priorities.

ORaH said Schaefer arrived in Croatia to discuss cooperation, but also to check the human rights situation in the wake of reports of inappropriate police treatment of migrants on the border.

The common task of the EU is that the governments of all member states protect human rights and check all credible reports on violations, Schaefer said.

She warned that climate change knew no national borders and that slowing it down required coordinated action by all European countries, ORaH said.

More news about environmental protection can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, May 20, 2019 - Former Greek finance minister and one of the leaders of the Democratic in Europe Movement 2025 (DIEM25), Yanis Varoufakis, called on citizens in Croatia to vote for the political platform Možemo! (We Can!) which runs in the European Parliament election in coalition with the New Left and ORaH parties, We Can! said on Monday.

"Možemo! have adopted this Green New Deal, I think you should read it and I think you should support it. The best way of supporting it in the next few days is by voting for Možemo!," Varoufakis said in a video message.

DIEM25 is running in the European Parliament election with its partners under the motto, "European Spring" in seven countries: Greece, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Spain, France and Portugal. It is led, among others, by Croatian philosopher Srećko Horvat, US linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky and musician Brian Eno.

We Can! has supported DIEM25's Green New Deal which represents an investment programme for developing a post-fossil economy in Europe, under which 500 billion euro would be annually invested across the EU in renewable energy resources, green industry, construction and infrastructure. Funding would be provided through government bonds that would be guaranteed by the European Central Bank (ECB), We Can! said.

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

ZAGREB, April 27, 2019 - Zorislav Antun Petrović, leader of the nonparliamentary ORaH party, said on Saturday that nine members of the European Parliament from the Green group had asked of European Commission Vice-President Maros Šefčovič, in charge of Energy Union, that the EC immediately stop supporting the project to build an LNG terminal off the northern Croatian Adriatic island of Krk.

Petrović said that energy independence was in Croatia's interest and that it was achieved by investing in renewables rather than spending money to enable the import of foreign energy products in Croatia.

He said that energy transition was one of the key topics for the Green Left coalition (consisting of ORaH, the We Can! platform and the New Left party), which is running in the coming elections for the European Parliament.

Petrović said that in their letter to Šefčović, the nine Green members of the European Parliament said that not only was the LNG project in direct contravention of the EU's obligations assumed under the Paris Agreement but that they had noticed numerous irregularities in its implementation that so far had not affected the EC's support for the project.

Petrović said the Green MEPs cited in their letter a number of reasons why the project was unacceptable in its present form.

They asked the EC not to approve the assistance requested by the Croatian government for the project and not to renew the Projects of Common Interest (PCI) status for the LNG terminal on the fourth PCI list that is currently being worked on.

Petrović said the letter was signed by MEPs Thomas Waitz, Monika Vana (Austria), Max Andersson (Sweden), Reinhard Buetikofer, Sven Giegold (Germany), Philippe Lamberts (Belgium), Florent Marcellesi, Michele Rivasi (France) and Tilly Metz (Luxembourg).

More news about the LNG project can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, April 8, 2019 - The Sustainable Development of Croatia (ORaH) party and the European Green Party (EGP) said on Monday they would insist on full transparency of the financing and construction of an LNG terminal on Krk island so that it does not jeopardise Croatian citizens' standard of living as well as the health and livelihood of the people of the Kvarner coastal region, notably the people of Krk.

The two parties held a press conference after Thomas Waitz, a member of the European Parliament and of the EGP executive committee, visited the northern Adriatic island to establish the facts concerning the construction of an LNG terminal in Omišalj.

He said that because private investors had pulled out of the project, the 107 million euro from European cohesion and development funds which should have covered 27% of the investment now covered 45%.

All private investors have withdrawn from the project, so it's legitimate to ask if the project is cost-effective at all, Weitz added.

It is unusual that the environmental impact study used for the project was made for the land and not the floating terminal and that the permits issued for the land terminal were simply expanded to the floating one, although they are essentially different projects, he said.

He said no EU funds had been granted yet and that he would ask the European Commission to review the allocation and warn it that the project was different than the one agreed for financing.

ORaH president Zorislav Antun Petrović said his party would follow the developments in cooperation with the EGP.

More news on the LNG terminal can be found in the Business section.

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