ZAGREB, 11 February, 2021 - Deputy Prime Minister Tomo Medved said on Thursday that 1,377 housing containers and mobile homes had been set up in Sisak-Moslavina County so far, and 391 more containers would arrive soon.

Medved said in today's cabinet meeting that the construction of the container settlement in Petrinja was progressing faster than expected.

"By Thursday, 81 housing containers will be set up, and the first containers will be ready to move in by the weekend," he said, adding that preparations for setting up container settlements in Glina were in progress.

To date, HRK 73 million has been spent on the payment of cash benefits to citizens, and an additional HRK 8.2 million has been paid to war veterans in the form of one-time assistance.

After the adoption of the Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Act, the task force dealing with the earthquake aftermath has been working on assembling mobile teams of experts who will help citizens in preparing documentation for submitting applications for reconstruction, and they are also preparing a mobile office.

Six companies have been mobilised so far to work on the demolition of dangerous buildings, and 39 buildings in the quake-hit area have been marked for demolition. The state has allocated land to Sisak, Petrinja and Glina which will be used for the collection and disposal of construction waste.

To date, 28,780 buildings damaged in the earthquake have been inspected, and 3,537 are unusable, while 6,224 are temporarily unusable, Medved said.

ZAGREB, 1 February, 2021 - The head of the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake in Sisak-Moslavina County, Tomo Medved, said on Sunday that the reconstruction of the area could start in March or April.

"I believe that it is realistic to expect that the reconstruction process will be launched in March or April," Medved told the HRT public broadcaster, stressing that one had to take into account aftershocks that still happened on a daily basis.

"We have to be patient, wait for aftershocks to calm but until then we will complete all preparations - the law (on post-earthquake reconstruction), damage assessment, reconstruction plan," said Medved.

He noted that three companies currently worked on demolishing buildings in the county that had been damaged beyond repair.

"More than 3,000 buildings have been found unfit for use and they are now being thoroughly inspected. The removal of those buildings which structural engineers eventually find unfit for reconstruction... will be given priority," he said.

ZAGREB, 11 January, 2021 - The head of the task force for dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December quake, Minister Tomo Medved, on Monday expressed hope that the process of accommodating inhabitants of the quake-hit area in mobile homes and housing containers would be realised in the following 20 days.

Speaking for Croatian Radio, Medved said that the programme for the purchase and provision of mobile homes and containers had started on the second day after the devastating earthquake and that there were 369 of them in the quake-hit area of Sisak-Moslavina County today.

He also said that 299 mobile homes had arrived yesterday, as organised by the government and the task force, and 70 more were expected during today.

According to him, 1,500 mobile homes and housing containers are needed.

Medved said that 20 housing units had already been set up at the brickyard in Petrinja and people had moved into them, and the same had been done in Sisak's Sajmiste Street and at the parking lot of Sisak's Segesta football club, where 35 units had been set up.

It was announced that Sisak's hotel Panonia would also be reconstructed to accommodate the population, and by the end of the week temporary accommodation should be available.

Medved said that another 222 people were accommodated in Petrinja's barracks.

He said that the state-owned company Pleter had started preparing and delivering food and thanked all hospitality workers who had been preparing food for the past two weeks.

It is up to the municipalities and cities, he added, to provide data on a daily basis on food needs, delivery locations, and the person in charge of food distribution.

"You can rest assured that no one will be left without a meal," he said, announcing that the process with hospitality workers will continue as long as they can and want to.

Medved said that due to the snow and low temperatures, services and volunteers had stepped up visits to all settlements and were handing out sleeping bags, blankets and all necessary materials so that people could overcome these difficulties as easily as possible.

ZAGREB, January 9, 2021 - In the last 24 hours the Red Cross has distributed 12,600 tonnes of food in Sisak-Moslavina County, Minister Tomo Medved, who heads the task force for dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December quake, told press on Saturday morning.

In the last 24 hours, 12,600 tonnes of food has been distributed, including 18,580 hot meals for the population in the quake-affected area and 2,377 meals to emergency services and personnel on the ground, Medved told the specialised radio broadcast dedicated to the developments in Sisak-Moslavina County since the devastating quake and aftershocks.

He added that a viable plan was being devised to have long-term solution for providing food and meals and thanked all cooks, chefs and hospitality businesses that arrived in the county immediately after the quake to help in preparing meals for people who were left homeless in the disaster.

On Friday, 86 heaters plus five gas-powered generator units were also delivered, and 295 psychological counseling services were offered, while the relevant services visited 11 villages, hamlets and settlement in 24 hours, Medved said.

Currently, 1,914 members of emergency services are being deployed in the area concerned. Those are personnel of the Civil Protection, Firefighting Community, the HGSS Mountain Rescue Service, Red Cross, police, army service people, engineers and so on.

Commenting on the local economy, Medved said that the meat processing company Gavrilovic did its business as usual.

Additional HRK 160 million for job-retention scheme for quake-affected businesses

The government has in the meantime set aside 160 million kuna to help businesses in the quake-hit area. They will be covered by the job-retention grants of 4,000 kuna per employee per month.  An estimated 20,000 workers are likely to be encompassed by this measure, and thus HRK 160 million should be set aside for this purpose in the first two months of 2021.

Prefab containers being provided

Medved said that to date 297 mobile homes had been dispatched to the quake-hit county, and an additional 70 containers were expected to arrive from Turkey to Croatia in the course of Saturday or Sunday. He also praised private donations and initiative to provide temporary accommodation for quake victims. 

Thus about 550 different types of objects have to date been made available for the temporary accommodation, according to Medved.

One-off grants for quake-affected households

The Labour Ministry has set aside the necessary amount of financial aid for quake-affected households, and single-person households are entitled to one-off grant in the amount of 2,500 kuna and households with more members can apply for a grant of HRK 3,500. So far, 2,800 applications have been received and a half of them have been processed.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

ZAGREB, October 31, 2020 - War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved said in Vukovar on Saturday that the eastern city's Water Tower, which was inaugurated on Friday after being renovated, was a symbol of the defence of Vukovar and Croatia today and in the future.

We must all be proud of the completion of its reconstruction, he added.

Medved said the government supported the reconstruction project from the beginning, adopting at a session in Vukovar in 2016 a decision to support the project to whatever extent was necessary and investing more than HRK 20 million in the reconstruction.

"Just as it has been a symbol of Croatian unity until now, I'm confident the Water Tower will be so in the future too. This is a very strong contribution to remembering the suffering and heroic defence of Vukovar," he said after laying a wreath and lighting a candle at the local Homeland War Victims Memorial Cemetery together with Defence Minister Mario Banozic.

Medved said the renovated Water Tower sent a strong message to the Croatian people to build a society of prospects, without forgetting the past or the Homeland War victims.

Meeting on Remembrance Day commemoration next week

Speaking of this year's observance of Homeland War Victims Remembrance Day and Vukovar and Skabrnja Victims Remembrance Day on November 18, he recalled that the government last year proclaimed it a national holiday.

Medved said this year's commemoration was different because the coronavirus pandemic restricted the organisation of all events. He said Vukovar came up with several suggestions and that he convened a meeting for next week, inviting the mayors of Vukovar and Skabrnja as well as the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

Medved said he was confident that after the meeting, they would adopt together a programme adjusted to the epidemiological situation.

Commenting on a bill on civilian Homeland War victims, which is in public consultation, he said it would be put into procedure by the end of the year.

After visiting the Water Towever, Medved said it was "full of symbolism and I believe that it will be for future generations what it was in the Homeland War and during the reconstruction, a symbol of unity, strength, security and prospects."

The renovated Vukovar Water Tower was inaugurated on Friday night, without the presence of the public due to the pandemic. Reconstruction lasted three and a half years and cost HRK 46 million. It is a memorial to the suffering of Vukovar and its people in 1991 during the aggression by the Yugoslav People's Army and Serb paramilitaries.

(€1 = HRK 7.57)

ZAGREB, Aug 24, 2020 - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic said on Sunday that Croatia had won an imposed war and that it was oriented to the future and wished to commemorate every victim, and that it expected Serbia to take part in that dialogue more constructively.

"Croatia is turned to the future and we primarily want to commemorate every victim," Jandrokovic said in Barban in a comment on the announced visit of Deputy Prime Minister Tomo Medved to Grubori, where members of Croatian forces committed a war crime in 1995.

Jandrokovic, who was attending the 45th Prstenac tournament in Barban, said that history was well known and that it was well known who in the 1990s war was the aggressor and who the victim.

"Our messages have been very clear - the ball's no longer in our court, we expect Serbia to participate in that dialogue much more constructively, turned to the future," he said.

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ZAGREB, July 31, 2020 - Minister for Veterans' Affairs Tomo Medved said on Friday he was glad that all cabinet ministers would attend the central commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Operation Storm in Knin, adding that the government had been given a mandate by the people to build a tolerant society.

"There are a lot of commemorations and anniversaries before us. Twenty-five years after the Homeland War, the government was given a mandate by the people to build relations in society that is based on tolerance, on honouring all victims (of the war), especially civilian victims, and we will continue working towards that end," Medved told the N1 television channel.

Asked if this was a sort of trade-off because he would attend a commemoration for the Serb victims of war in the village of Grubori, while Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic, who is an ethnic Serb, would attend the celebration of the Operation Storm anniversary in Knin, Medved declined to comment.

"The prime minister made a clear statement yesterday and there is no need for further comment," Medved said, adding that he was glad that the whole cabinet would be in Knin on August 5.

"Every autumn when anniversaries of grave war crimes come, it is our obligation to remember all those people, give them our respects and build the future on that basis. Too many years have passed since the Homeland War, the same wounds are being reopened all the time, and now our government has the mandate to establish such relations on the basis of which we will build a society of tolerance and respect and one that has a future," the minister said.

He said that the 25th anniversary of Operation Storm, which crushed a Serb armed insurgency in central and southern Croatia in August 1995 and effectively brought the war to an end, was a great day for the Croatian society and people.

"Every year before the anniversary, emotions run high as we think of our fallen Croatian defenders and everyone who made a sacrifice in this magnificent, brilliant and heroic victory, the greatest in the Croatian history," Medved said.

ZAGREB, June 5, 2018 - The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) on Monday condemned in the strongest terms threats which War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved made against Index news portal reporter Vojislav Mazzocco, saying that they represented a dangerous attack on journalists' rights and media freedoms that were guaranteed by the Constitution and the Media Act.

ZAGREB, June 4, 2018 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Monday that the police were considering a report filed by a journalist of the Index.hr web portal Vojislav Mazzocco against War Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved, who accused Medved of threatening him, while the minister denied the claims.

Minister Medved criticized Croatian security services for not knowing that Bosnian Croats would be arrested.