Politics

ZAGREB, 16 May 2022 - The "Croatia Volunteers 2022" campaign took place on 11-14 May as part of the European Year of Youth, focusing on the potential of young people in tackling the challenges of current natural and social crises, the Croatian Volunteer Development Centre (HCRV) said on Monday. The campaign involved 200 organizers and several thousand volunteers in over 90 towns across the country who carried out over 300 activities benefiting the local community. Its aim was to promote the importance and benefits of volunteering for social development. "This year we wanted to emphasize the potential and strength of…

ZAGREB, 16 May 2022 - This year the Croatian economy is expected to grow by 3.4%, the employment rate should increase by 1.5% and inflation might reach 6.1% due to increases in energy and food prices, the European Commission says in its Spring 2022 Economic Forecast, released on Monday. "After a strong rebound of the economy in 2021, with a growth rate of 10.2%, GDP growth in 2022 is expected to be more modest but still solid at 3.4% as the direct exposure of the Croatian economy to the effects of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine is limited," the Commission said…

ZAGREB, 16 May 2022 - One more attempt should be made to reform the electoral law in Bosnia and Herzegovina because the present one does not guarantee the equality of its constituent peoples, Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman said in Brussels on Monday.  "Bosnia and Herzegovina still does not have an electoral law that guarantees the equality of its three constituent peoples and other ethnic groups, and that is not good for the country's stability. We need to make yet another attempt to carry out the electoral reform because that it the way towards EU membership…

ZAGREB, 16 May 2022 - No agreement on the reform of electoral legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is possible at this moment, and talks should continue only after the general election in October, the leader of the ruling Bosniak SDA party, Bakir Izetbegović, said on Sunday. "There is no legal space to amend the electoral law because the Central Electoral Commission called the election ten days ago. And also, we are too far off from an agreement," Izetbegović said in an interview with the Bosnian Faktor news website. He said that negotiations on the electoral reform had fallen through because the…

ZAGREB, 15 May 2022 - Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman on Sunday asked at a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for additional US engagement on the election reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, warning that otherwise radicalisation was possible in the country. "I told the US Secretary of State that we are very much concerned about the missed chance to amend the BiH election law. I also warned of possible radicalisation of the situation after the elections," Grlić Radman told reporters. He added that he had asked Blinken that the US enhance its presence and help ensure agreement…

ZAGREB, 15 May 2022 - HDZ party leader and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Saturday, on the occasion of the 100th birth anniversary of Croatia's first president Franjo Tuđman, that few 20th century statesmen can measure up to Tuđman in terms of their historical importance for their own nation. Tuđman's political legacy democracy, freedom and state Speaking at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of Tuđman's birth at Zagreb's "Vatroslav Lisinski" concert hall, Plenković said that a free and sovereign Croatia was Tuđman's life's work. Tuđman's political legacy is what we live today - democracy, freedom and an own state,…

May the 15th, 2022 - Split politician Ivica Puljak has claimed that the City of Split will become one of the best places in all of Croatia when it comes to education. As Morski writes, presenting his programme in the City of Split, Croatia's second largest city, Centre's mayoral candidate Ivica Puljak announced the construction of apartments, kindergartens and schools, and said that if making a return to the helm of Split's city administration, they'd continue where they left off. According to Ivica Puljak, they wanted to share the programme with the people at a public presentation at the place…

ZAGREB, 14 May 2022 - Serb National Council (SNV) president Milorad Pupovac said on Saturday, in a comment on the commemoration of the Bleiburg tragedy, that every victim deserved to be commemorated and remembered but that criminal ideologies and their executors deserved condemnation and social and moral contempt. "Each victim deserves their suffering to be commemorated and remembered. Ideologies that are criminal deserve condemnation and contempt. Perpetrators of crimes deserve social and moral contempt. Those who do not want to make this kind of distinction are not guided by the highest of moral principles," Pupovac said at Petrova Gora, where…

ZAGREB, 14 May 2022 - An event was held in Vukovar on Saturday to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Croatia's first president Franjo Tuđman, with speakers at the event saying that the current state leadership and Zagreb city authorities disregard the role of the late president. Vukovar Mayor and Homeland Movement leader Ivan Penava, historian Josip Jurčević, the late Croatian president's advisor, former justice minister and member of parliament, Bosiljko Mišetić, and academician Josip Pečarić spoke about Tuđman at the event. Jurčević said that the more "Tuđman is de-Tuđmanised, the greater symbolic importance he has." Pečarić believes that the…

ZAGREB, 14 May 2022 - Mass was held on Saturday outside the Church of Croatian Martyrs in Udbina, about 150 kilometres south of Zagreb, to commemorate victims of the Bleiburg tragedy and the Way of the Cross of the Croatian people of 77 years ago. The event at Udbina was organised by the Bleiburg Victims Commemoration Committee and held under the auspices of the Croatian parliament. Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković and several hundred pilgrims were in attendance. The events of 77 years ago are embedded in the history of the Croatian people because at the time an endless column of refugees,…