Politics

August the 29th, 2022 - Croatian Eurozone accession is just around the corner, with all requirements filled, all boxes ticked and the date for entry marked out for the 1st of January, 2023. The public is still divided on the issue, however, so what are some of the advantages and some of the risks and costs of Croatia finally becoming a Eurozone member? As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marina Marovic writes, here is no alternative to joining the Eurozone for Croatia, as it was part of the referendum the country held on joining the bloc. It did so back in July 2013 and according…

ZAGREB, 27 August, 2022 - SDP leader Peđa Grbin said on Saturday that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's announcement about a plan to buy back Hungarian energy group MOL's stake in Croatian peer INA had come to nothing while the plunder at the once successful company was continuing, a reference to arrests made earlier in the day. Earlier on Saturday several persons, including an INA executive, were arrested on suspicion of abuse of trust in doing business and money laundering in gas trading, which, according to available information, has caused damage to INA in the amount of more than HRK 100 million. "Six years ago Plenković announced INA's buyback.…

ZAGREB, 27 August, 2022 - Shots were fired at the main offices of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in downtown Zagreb on Friday afternoon but fortunately there were no casualties even though employees were in the building at the time of the shooting, the party said on Saturday. "The SDP is appalled at and strongly condemns this act. Any violence against or an attack on the property of any party is unacceptable and deplorable, especially an act as dangerous and mindless as this one," the party said. An on-the-site investigation was carried out due to damage caused to a window on…

ZAGREB, 27 August, 2022 - MOST party member of parliament Nikola Grmoja and Sisak-Moslavina County Assembly member Luca Gašpar Šako said on Saturday the government was manipulating figures on the post-earthquake reconstruction process in Sisak-Moslavina County. "It is not true that 3,500 houses have been repaired and that construction work and investments have been underway. Twenty months after the earthquake dangerous structures have not been removed yet," Gašpar Šako, a member of the MOST party, said. Structures damaged in the 29 December 2020 earthquake have started collapsing, she said, adding that wooden prefabricated houses, which take 60 days to build, had not…

ZAGREB, 27 August, 2022 - The Croatian Finance Ministry said on Saturday it had actively participated in an investigation into a case involving abuse of trust in doing business and money laundering in gas trading, which resulted in the arrest of several persons on Saturday. Investigators of the USKOK anti-corruption office earlier in the day arrested Damir Škugor, an executive in the INA oil company, and his father. Also arrested were owners of the OMS Upravljanje company, businessman Goran Husić and Josip Šurjak, president of the Croatian Bar Association. Marija Ratkić, management board chair at the Plinara istočne Slavonije gas company, whose supervisory board includes Damir…

August the 28th, 2022 - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic rarely has a good word to say about Croatia, and his recent statement that Croatia is 200 years ahead of Serbia in the economic sense came as quite a surprise, despite it being quite the backhanded compliment. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, on Saturday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic proposed current Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic as his candidate for the composition of the new Serbian Government, announced the postponement of the Pride Parade, and also said that the Republic of Croatia had always been economically more advanced than Serbia, both during the time…

ZAGREB, 26 August, 2022 - War Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved said on Friday, at a meeting with four pilots of Croatia's Air Force from Operation Storm that the Croatian state, its institutions, and especially the government would use all mechanisms to protect them from accusations from Serbia. Minister Medved and Justice and Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica held a meeting at the government headquarters with the four pilots of Croatia's Air Force from the 1995 Operation Storm about the war crimes indictments issued against them by Serbia. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of War Veterans' Affairs, the…

August the 27th, 2022 - Croatian GDP growth has been considerably higher than it has been in the rest of the European Union, despite the ongoing troubles being faced by spiralling inflation and pressure on the government to step in with measures to protect some of the most vulnerable in society. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic recently visited Rijeka where he commented on the news about the 7.7 percent Croatian GDP growth in the second quarter of this year, saying that it represents the second highest growth in the European Union (EU) and is almost double the average…

ZAGREB, 26 August, 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who on Thursday said that Croatian households are paying ten times lower prices of electricity than the market price, explained on Friday that before the war in Ukraine, a megawatt hour of electricity cost €57, only to now rise to nearly €600 on the market. This means that the price of electricity supplies bought on the market by the state-run HEP power provider is tenfold higher than last year, while households are still paying the electricity bills as if electricity prices had not gone up, and this exemption of households from paying the market…

ZAGREB, 25 August, 2022 - Minister of Public Administration and Justice Ivan Malenica said on Thursday, ahead of a meeting with the pilots accused by Serbia of airstrikes against civilians after Operation Storm, that Croatia will provide them with full legal support and prevent the issuance of an international arrest warrant. Malenica said that he would meet with the four accused pilots on Friday to discuss further activities regarding the proceedings initiated by Belgrade. He said the pilots should not worry because Croatia would give them full legal support.  "We will also work on preventing the issuance of an international arrest warrant if Serbia…