Politics

ZAGREB, 27 Aug 2021 - Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, who heads the national COVID-19 crisis management team, said on Friday that there were still no plans for the introduction of COVID certificates in the educational and health sectors, but the authorities were considering such a move. He announced the extension of the validity of the current COVID certificate, whose current validity is nine months. Božinović called for compliance with anti-epidemic rules such as social distancing, room airing and mask wearing. Croatia's 14-day incidence 143.4 per 100,000 The head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, said that…

ZAGREB, 27 Aug 2021 - Croatia's GDP growth of more than 16% in Q2 2021 shows that the country's economy is recovering faster than expected, and that confirms that the government has responded strongly to the crisis, ensuring economic stability in the current pandemic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) on Friday published its preliminary estimate showing that GDP in Q2 grew by 16.1% from the same period of 2020. This is the first time the country's GDP has grown after going down for four consecutive quarters and it has grown at the highest rate since 1996, when the…

ZAGREB, 26 August 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that there would be no tight lockdown and called on citizens to show personal responsibility and get vaccinated against COVID-19. It is crystal clear that Croatia will not opt for a tight lockdown, the PM said after a government meeting. He said that the government had secured sufficient amounts of vaccines against coronavirus. "The threat (of the spread of the disease) will be considerably lower, provided that people get vaccinated, comply with basic measures: wearing masks, keeping a social distance, and airing rooms," Plenković said when asked by the press to…

ZAGREB, 26 Aug 2021 - Croatia now has the strongest position in foreign affairs since it gained independence, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković told reporters on the sidelines of a conference of Croatian diplomats in Zagreb on Thursday. Pointing out the country's strongest status on the foreign policy front since its international recognition, the premier recalled that Zagreb's main foreign policy priorities were now admission to the Schengen area and to the euro area. As for the current challenges, Plenković cited economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis and the developments in Afghanistan and potential migrant waves, while Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković cited the coronavirus pandemic, economic recovery,…

ZAGREB, 26 Aug (Hina) - The government on Thursday decided to add the project of reconstruction and extension of the port of Sjeverna Luka in Split to its list of strategic projects in the country. This €44.5 million project aims at reconstructing and extending the port in the Vranjic-Solin basin, under the management of Split Port Authority. The extension envisages seven new berths for the reception of ro-ro ships. The project also envisages the construction of some other port facilities. For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 26 Aug 2021 - Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, who heads the national COVID-19 response team, said on Thursday that the team was not planning to change or tighten current epidemiological restrictions just as it had not done so far. "After we have been communicating on a daily basis for the past 18 months about the pandemic, I think there is no one who lacks basic facts about protection against the infection," he said, expressing hope that Croatia would stay orange on the epidemiological map of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Speaking of a decrease in…

ZAGREB, 26 Aug 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said at a ceremony commemorating civilian victims of the war who died 30 years ago in Kijevo, outside Knin, that reconciliation and forgiveness required reciprocity and not arrogance and haughtiness. Speaking of Karst areas where residents of Kijevo live and where the early medieval Croatian state hails from, Milanović said "our first churches were built here, our identity is here, our roots are here, this is stone." "Hardly anything grows in stone, and those who survive, who are strong, who resist, those have a worth and those cannot be rooted out. Those are the…

ZAGREB, 26 Aug 2021 - The Croatian Ambassador to Turkey, Hrvoje Cvitanović, who also covers Afghanistan, said in Zagreb on Thursday, that the situation in Afghanistan was getting more dangerous by the day, and believes that there is a threat of terrorist attacks. Cvitanović, who was attending a conference of Croatian diplomats in Zagreb, said that earlier in the day, there was an attack outside Kabul Airport and three people had died. We still do not know who is behind the incident, he added, The situation is more than complicated, and it is changing not by the hour but by the minute,…

ZAGREB, 26 Aug 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Thursday that the current anti-epidemic rules had no sense any more, and that Croatia should follow the example of Sweden rather than France and Germany considering measures taken to combat the COVID pandemic. Milanović said this did not mean that Croatia should not copy others, however, he admitted that the country was also a part of a wider community and "it cannot always be the way we believe is the smartest." "I think now that it would be more prudent to do something different than France and Germany or some…

ZAGREB, 25 Aug, 2021 - It is important that hate stops and is not passed on to new generations because only that way, can we build a better Croatia, Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milošević said at a commemoration for the civilian victims of the 1995 Operation Storm in Plavno and Grubori near Knin. "Unfortunately, those who know what happened in Grubori 26 years ago have chosen silence, they have chosen to protect those who committed the crime. Those who have chosen to keep silent and those who committed the crime, just as all of us here, need to be aware…