euinside in Croatia
On the 1st of July 2013, Croatia is expected to become the 28th member of the European Union after it ended successfully the accession negotiations. The accession of a second country from former Yugoslavia to the EU (after Slovenia) is a big step forward for the region, as the expectations are this to serve as a catalyst for the European integration processes in the Western Balkans in the future. These processes have already been increasing after Montenegro started officially accession talks in 2012 and Serbia got a candidate country status; with Macedonia the European Commission has introduced a new approach - high level dialogue, while waiting for a solution to the dispute with Greece in order for the real accession talks to start; Bosnia and Herzegovina too is about to start on a journey to EU membership.
Because of this stir euinside decided to follow the events more closely and in July 2012 we have opened an office in Zagreb. From there we will be following the last steps of Croatia toward membership and also how are the other former Yugoslav republics moving onto this path. This is our main subject on Zagreb's accession, but please do follow the other subject of ours on the Western Balkans, where there are articles from the past 3 years of accession efforts of the countries in the region.
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic | © KGKCroatia's Nationalistic Paradox*
The football World Cup in Russia started with the familiar ethno-nationalism in the region of former Yugoslavia. Then, it evolved into a very rare unity and brotherhood among the peoples in the ex-state to return, again, in the channel of nationalism, leaving bitterness and disappointment behind ...
Jozo Rados | © European ParliamentJozo Rados: The Next European Parliament Could Be Worse
The European Parliament elections will most likely take place on 23-26 May 2019 across the EU. What they may be remembered with is the conflict between French President Emmanuel Macron and some of the big European political families and especially the European People's Party's. After winnin ...
Aleksandar Vucic, Andrej Plenkovic | © Vlada RHThe Incident Nobody Saw but Everybody Condemned
Serbia and Croatia know very well they have to repair their relations. The former to be able to join the EU, and the latter to avoid being perceived by its partners as an opportunist. It seems, however, that both countries are doing their utmost to show that a repair is impossible. The latest in ...
Andrej Plenkovic | © Vlada RHCroatia Ratified the Istanbul Convention and It Was a Big Victory over Fake News
With 110 "for", 30 "against", and two abstentions the Croatian parliament ratified last week the Istanbul Convention aimed at fighting against violence against women and domestic violence. Just a few years ago, this piece of news would have hardly made its way to the headlines because there ...
| © European CommissionCroatia Is in High Tourist Demand but There Are Downsides
In the past years, Croatia has turned into one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the EU, outperforming its competitors from the Northern Mediterranean (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain) in attracting international tourists. According to the Croatian ministry of tourism, 2017 w ...
| © HNBCroatia Is Starting Preparations To Join Eurozone
The EU's newest member state is starting for a new objective - membership, first in Schengen, and then in the euro area. The Croatian government expects preparations for Schengen to be completed in 2019 and for the euro area it will take more time. To Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic this is an e ...
Andrej Plenkovic | © Vlada RHCroatia Chooses To Be in the EU Core
Croatia made its choice for its future in the EU by choosing, out of the several options of integration, to be in the core of the EU, which this autumn begins a major overhaul that will deepen the integration in areas like defence, security, justice, the euro area. Croatia Prime Minister Andrej ...
| © euinsideOnly in the Balkans - Reforms Theft
You will probably not believe it, but in the Balkans the lack of rule of law and the tolerance of corruption have some fun aspects. This is the case with the theft of the most contentious reform in Croatia by ... Montenegro. No, this is not a joke and it's not a product of a local satiric site ...
| © Vecernji listRussia Has Got Croatia by the .... Agrokor
Someone I know recently asked me whether Russia is leading a hybrid war in Croatia. I had no hesitation in answering - the whole situation around Agrokor is an example of this, but there are other examples as well. Just two days after this conversation (August 13), one of the most popular Croati ...
Anka Mrak-Taritas | © HNSMore Uncertainty in Croatia after the 2nd Round of Local Elections
The Conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party is the biggest and convincing winner in the second round of the local elections in the country, but the dilemma remains at national level whether a stable coalition partner will be found or snap elections will be the way to go. The governm ...
Davor Bernardic, Anka Mrak Taritas | © SDPCroatia: A New Round of Instability for the Sake of Stability
Last fall, when snap elections took place in Croatia due to the crisis in the senior coalition partner - the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), and the collapsed coalition was repeated, but with renewed, more moderate leadership, it seemed like the former Yugoslav Republic, des ...
| © European CommissionDoes Croatia Have the Political Will to Implement Reforms?
All reforms, concerning Croatia’s long-term future, are practically blocked. This is the conclusion of the European Commission report on macroeconomic imbalances. Croatia is among the six countries experiencing excessive macroeconomic imbalances and are thus placed under special ...
| © A parent on FacebookChocolinda in the Balkan World
Right when the Croatian market is being shaken by findings of salmonella in the chicken and minced meat, as well as an obvious weak food control, society was scandalised by a chocolate problem. Chocolate had no other problems besides being... Serbian. On December 6th, President Kolinda Grabar- ...
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic | © euinsideCroatian President: Do We Really Believe in the Rule of Law?
Now is a defining moment for Europe and Euro-Atlantic solidarity, when key values need to be reaffirmed. This was the main message in the speech of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović in the London School of Economics this week. During her half-hour speech (you can watch it in the attach ...
| © Is Nationalism Growing in Croatia?
While doing the review of the press in the countries of the former Yugoslavia in the beginning of September, I stumbled into an article in the Serbian newspaper Blic, which quoted the distinguished Balkans expert from the London School of Economics (LSE) James Ker-Lindsay, who believes ...
Bozo Petrov | © Most NLA Strong pro-European Party Has Won Elections in Croatia
Croatia made an unbelievable U-turn in less than a year. In the beginning of 2016, when the coalition government of Tihomir Orešković was formed three months after the elections, it looked like another member state is being Orbán-ised. Almost nine months later the situation looks ...
| © Milan BandicSpanish or Irish Scenario for Croatia
On September 11th, Croats are once again coming out to vote after last year’s elections produced a strange coalition between a party, turned to the past, and a newly-hatched formation with great ambition for reforms, but with zero experience. Up until a week ago, or even a b ...
| © Croatia Is Worried - Romania and Bulgaria Are Catching Up!
“We should wake up from the winter slumber – the Romanians have caught-up with us and now the Bulgarians too are catching up! We should speed-up growth!” This is the sub-header of a thorough article [in Croatian] in Thursday's (September 1st) issue of one of the most ...
Zoran Milanovic | © Narodna koalicijaElections in Croatia - a Battle for the Political Centre
Less than a year after the regular parliamentary elections, a campaign is ongoing in Croatia for snap elections, scheduled for September 11th. The reason for a re-vote is that the fragile coalition government, led by the non-party Croatian emigrant Tihomir Orešković, fell in the ...
| © NacionalRussian Money Creeping into Croatia*
Scandals in one of the two leading political parties in Croatia – the Christian Democratic Union (HDZ) – seem to have no end and the road to catharsis will turn out to be way thornier than it was expected just a month ago. The party, considered fundamental to Croatian statesmanship b ...
Tomislav Karamarko | © HDZWhat Is Going on in Croatia?
There is a fierce battle going on at the moment in the newest member of the European Union between forces of the past and reformist powers. A battle, which is already costing a lot to the country, which has hardly raised its head above the 6-year long recession, having a huge public debt, and fa ...
Tomislav Karamarko | © HDZKaramarko's Fight for Survival Prolongs the Political Crisis in Croatia
It is a matter of days before Croatia’s government collapses. At a press conference that has been expected for days now, First Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the mandate-bearing party – the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) – Tomislav Karamarko announced that his party, wh ...
| © No Opening of Chapter 23 until Croatian Demands Are Met
Serbia is getting a green light to open Article 23 only when all interests, positions and opinions of member states are integrated in a common Council position. This is what Croatia’s Foreign Minister Miro Kovač explained at a special press conference in Zagreb, called to clear the numer ...
Predrag Sustar, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Boris Jokic | © Ured PredsjedniceCroatia Is Fighting the Conservative Revolution - UPDATED
There is something big happening in Croatia. So big, that it gathered almost 50 thousand people out in the streets of 11 Croatian cities. Even bigger, for it touches on a sensitive issue in the country. Often those, who participated in the war for separating Croatia from former Yugoslavia ask ...
Miro Kovac | © MVEPBalkan Dialogue: A New Exchange between Republika Srpska and Croatia
What would the Balkans be without provocative statements and words exchanges? After Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina recently enraged the Croats by not having the Croatian flag displayed in the press conference room in Banja Luka (the part of Bosnia and Herzegovina that is dominated by ...
Tomislav Karamarko | © Vlada RHCroatian Reformists Put Themselves in the Situation of the Bulgarian Ones
A true drama unfolded last week (May 16–22) in several South-East European countries. In Croatia, first Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko is testing how high is the Croats' integrity benchmark raised and, in Bulgaria, the nationalists of the Patriotic Front waged a war against civil ...
Tihomir Oreskovic | © Vlada RHEC Expects Croatia To Complete All Failed Reforms
Croatia suffers from severe structural problems, which add to the acute political crisis. In this year’s country-specific recommendations the European Commission continues to demand that the country completes all the reforms that had been proposed by the government up to now, but ...
| © euinsideInstead of Reform after Reform, Scandal after Scandal in Croatia
When on April 28 Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković began the presentation of the national programme [in Croatian] for reforms with the words “we have a problem”, the country was entering its fourth month of political crisis. Tension in the ruling coalition is ...
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Tihomir Orešković | © Vlada RHNo Uncomfortable Questions For Mr Erdoğan in Croatia
The big event in Croatia this week was the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the first time in 10 years. He visited Croatia in 2006 in his capacity of prime minister just a year after the two states officially started their EU membership negotiations. Croatia is a membe ...
| © Croatian Conservatism Is Fighting a Trench War for Survival
Unlike Polish conservatism, the Croatian one is fighting a hard battle for survival both internally and externally. The fact that the Croatian conservative party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which has strong connections with the Catholic Church, suffers from “severe patriotism” ( ...
Tihomir Oreskovic | © Vlada RHEC Is Closely Monitoring the Media Situation in Croatia
"The independence of regulatory authorities in the audiovisual field is a very important issue. They are key to safeguarding media pluralism and media freedom. The Commission is therefore closely following recent developments in Croatia, whereby the government proposed the replacement of the ent ...
| © Is Croatia Next After Poland?
The idea behind the young tradition of the euinside weekly reviews is to focus on the most important events in the EU and then cast a glance at the periphery as well. For the week of March 7-13 we will change the direction and will start with Croatia, because developments there are the next ...
Tomislav Karamarko | © Vlada RHCroatia Is not Poland, nor Hungary, but...
Is Croatia making a step backwards with its new government? Is it stepping back from the image of a country that has turned its back to a corrupt past and was served as an example to everyone in South Eastern Europe, but especially to candidate states from the realm of ex-Yugoslavia? Is there a ...
Ladislav Ilcic | © Ladislav IlcicCroatia Has Got Its Own Donald Trump
No, he does not have the same hairdo and is far from the image of a political clown, pictured by American media in their Entertainment sections. He looks stable and is a member of one of the two largest political coalitions, which has aspirations to form the next government of Cro ...
Bozo Petrov | © screenshotCroatia's Political Bubble Most Burst
A rare political event took place in Croatia on Monday – the three “winners” of the parliamentary elections of November 8th sat down at the same table – the two largest pre-election coalitions “Croatia is Growing” and the Patriotic coalition, a ...
Bozo Petrov | © euinsideCroatia is Heading Toward a Political Crisis
Most cannot decide who to form a government with – whether with the centre-left coalition “Croatia is Growing” or with the centre-right Patriotic coalition. Almost a month after the elections, which for the first time in history did not name a clear winner, the new politic ...
Bozo Petrov | © MostOne Bridge, Many Rivers
Croatia is sunk in political uncertainty. The results of the November 8th elections created a stalemate situation, in which it becomes clearer and clearer that no one is a winner. Negotiations have already started between the new political star Most (Bridge in Croatian), made up of ind ...
Zoran Milanovic | © Hrvatska rasteA New Political Power Disturbed Mainstream Parties in Croatia
After a half-hearted pre-election campaign Croatia woke up to a brand new political reality. A new force has risen to the Croatian political scene, a force at the brink of cracking the bipolar political model in the country. Even before Election Day it was expected that the political formation ...
| © HDZCroatia's Election Campaign again Brings out Ghosts from the Past
Skeletons have come out of the closet once more for this election campaign. This time, however, with new strength and a new face. The usual for Croatian election campaigns is the two large parties accusing each other for crimes in the distant past – Communist dictatorship and Ustashian s ...
Tomislav Karamarko | © HDZPre-election Sobering With a Tang of Sanader
Has the white swallow of enlargement turned black? This is a question that perhaps many are pondering both in the former Yugoslavia region and in Brussels, who saw Croatia as a guiding light for the rather murky process of enlargement towards South-East European countries. After the EU accepted ...
Daniel Mondekar | © euinsideDaniel Mondekar: Deepening Integration Will Solve Euro Area Problems
“The Greek crisis taught us that there needs to be more fiscal and political responsibility”, said in an interview for euinside the Chairman of the European Affairs Committee in the Croatian Parliament, Daniel Mondekar. In his opinion, it is the easiest to say that the Germ ...
Zoran Milanovic | © Council of the EUElections at Any Cost
A real trade war broke out between Croatia and Serbia because of the refugee crisis and Hungary’s behaviour. The border between Croatia and Serbia now is closed, now is open. It came all the way to requiring the intervention of the High Representative of the European Union for Fo ...
Daniel Mondekar, chair of the EU affairs committee | © euinsideThe EU Is Not Just For Celebrations
This situation, where each country fends for itself and Europe is only for celebrations will not work, said to me on Friday afternoon Daniel Mondekar, Chairman of the European Affairs Committee in the Croatian Parliament. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, which is part of the ruling ...
Kotromanovic, Milanovic | © Vlada RHZoran Milanović: Croatia Has a Heart, but a Brain too
Until 15:00 Central European Time on September 18th, 15 400 refugees had entered Croatia. The euphoria of the first day when only 500 people a day were expected is long gone. Tension came in its place. The country has not yet lost its humanitarian outlook but does not wish to become a hot ...
Zoran Milanovic | © Lars SchmidtCroatia - a Piece of European Humanism
The first collision of Croatia with the Western Balkans refugee flow on September 16 showed the total opposite of the EU face refugees saw in neighbouring Hungary. While at the closed Hungarian-Serbian border tension was growing between the hundreds of blocked refugees and police, the first arri ...
Croatia is growing | © SDPCroatia Is Patriotically Growing
After agonising expectation and speculations the cards have been dealt in Croatia. It remains to be seen when exactly the game is going to start. Since last week the country officially is in an election cycle. This happened after Croatian parliament speaker shed some light on a possible election ...
| © European CommissionHumanity by the Quota
Over the last few weeks, ever since the refugee and migrant crisis started flooding us through other routes as well, a lot was said and written of the most-affected countries, of the building of walls, of the Dublin regulation failure, of the dangers for Schengen, of the imperfections in the pro ...
Miro Cerar, Zoran Milanovic | © Council of EURecord Political Heat in Croatia
This summer was unusually hot with temperature records being set. July was announced to be the hottest in record. There was serious heat on the political scene as well. The inherited problems from former Yugoslavia put serious tension on Croatia’s relations with Slovenia and Serbia, especi ...
| © Croatia Has Not Lost Hope for Tomislav Salopek
The authenticity of the yesterday (August 12) report that the Croatian citizen Tomislav Salopek is really murdered by Islamic State terrorists in Egypt cannot be confirmed with 100% certainty. Tomislav was abducted on July 22 close to Cairo by masked jihadists, who later broadcasted a video reco ...
| © Presidency of CroatiaA Military Parade That Could Make the "Storm" Different
In the time before it was held the military parade in Zagreb, comemmorating the 20-year anniversary of operation “Storm”, was a controversial project, but after that it turned into an unquestionable success. Media and people of Zagreb unanimously hailed the parade as a dignified way ...
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic | © Croatia Presidency20 Years Later the "Storm" Has Not Subsided
The 20-year anniversary of operation “Storm”, with which Croatia restored its territorial integrity and ended its war for separation from former Yugoslavia, turned into an instrument for foreign and domestic political skirmishes. The Croatian armed forces’ military operation st ...
Karl Erjavec, Vesna Pusic | © euinsideThe Price of European Veto or How It Failed To Settle a Dispute between Slovenia and Croatia
In April 2009 the Stabilisation and Association Council had their fifth meeting with Croatia. Four years before its accession. Its “considerable” efforts for reforms and the progress made were commended. Negotiations had entered in their decisive phase. Little to go. Just two years l ...
| © Vlada HRCroatia Is Not Greece … Yet
On July 1st Croatia marks the second anniversary of its accession to the EU. Hardly an occasion to celebrate in view of the surprising development of the Greek crisis. It is not so much the Croats doubting their decision to join a union on the brink of disintegration but rather because the Croat ...
| © Dialogue with Russia Seems Civilisationally Impossible
Since the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of the Crimea the Russian government has been trying to redirect the attention of Russian, and international public for that matter, to World War II. Instead of finally beginning a debate about the crimes perpetrated by the Soviet regime but a ...
| © euinsideCroatia Can Do More But Not This Year
This conclusion emerged during the several hour-long visit of European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis in Zagreb among the crowds of foreign tourists and the occupation of protesting war veterans (from Croatia's independence war from Yugoslavia). Croatia is one of the stops in the t ...
Ivica Dacic, Vesna Pusic | © euinsideSerbian-Croatian Relations Are Good ... for Now
In the past almost three years, the relations between Serbia and Croatia are in constant tides and ebbs. At times, there is an improvement and perspectives emerge for resolution of the myriad of open issues between them, at others a new ghost from the past appears that immediately puts the good ...
Dalia Grybauskaite, Zoran Milanovic | © Council of the EUMoscow Warned Zagreb for Croatian Fighters on Ukrainian Side - UPDATED
Hours after the second peace deal between Ukraine and Russia (Minsk 2) was struck Russia hinted that it, too, might not have a chance because Russia will take advantage of the fact that citizens of EU member states are fighting on the Ukrainian side to claim that the Kremlin has nothing to do wi ...
Zoran Milanovic | © Vlada RHPolitics in Croatia Prevailed Over Reason
Croatia's woes have no end. The economy of the country has been in constant decline for six years in a row without a perspective the trend to change soon because the government gave in to politics than to doing deep structural reforms. Unemployment has been growing, the public debt too, also gro ...
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Ivo Josipovic | © HDZThere Is no Bosnia and Herzegovina without Croats
The most contested presidential elections in the history of independent Croatia has produced the first female president. This is also the first head of state of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in 15 years. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has won a thin victory of some 30 000 votes, mai ...
| © Milan KujundzicIn Croatia Is Blowing a Wind of Change
The presidential elections in Croatia in the end of 2014 have offered several surprises and lots of food for analyses and thought. The biggest surprise is that, in fact, the big winner in the first round, that took place on 28 December, is the youngest candidate in the country's history the 25-y ...
| © euinsideSlovenia, Austria and Croatia Are Sceptical about Juncker's Investment Plan
The prime ministers of Croatia, Slovenia and Austria - Zoran Milanovic, Miro Cerar and Werner Faymann - gave a torpid support for Jean-Claude Juncker's investment plan at their trilateral summit in the Croatian town of Opatija, on the Adriatic coastline. In their joint declaration, the three pre ...
Весна Пусич | © euinsideThe International Community Needs To Condemn Seselj
"I encourage my colleagues in Serbia to condemn clearly and unequivocally Vojislav Seselj's statements", said Croatia's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusic at a news conference responding to a question by euinside. She regretted that the Serbian a ...
Srdjan Gjurkovic | © euinsideCroatia Supports More Flexibility of Fiscal Rules
This year (6th in a row), too, Croatia will end up in recession of -0.7%, the unemployment will remain high - 17.3% - but the biggest negative change comes from the sharp increase of the public debt to 81.7% of GDP. The budget deficit will remain much above the Commission's expectations under th ...
| © U ime obiteljiIn Croatia Voters Matter while in Bulgaria they Don't
It took only a week for the Croatian citizens to turn upside down the position of the big political parties on a change of the election legislation. However, this happened thanks to the interference of President Ivo Josipovic. This is a frustrating contrast against the backdrop of the lightning ...
| © euinsideCroats Want People not Party Pawns in Parliament
While the Bulgarian political parties are analysing the scale of the disaster with the preferential voting at the snap parliamentary elections on October 5th, in Croatia, precisely at midnight (again on October 5th) expired the deadline for collecting signatures to hold a referendum on amending ...
Zoran Milanovic | © Vlada RHCroatia Is Still Wandering To Find the Exit from the Recession
In its September bulletin, the Croatian central bank (HNB) has revised downward its forecast about the real gross domestic product from its predictions in January for a 0.2% contraction of the Croatian economy. The bank does not offer a number how much does it expect the economic downt ...
| © euinsideCroatian MEPs Do not Want To Take a Hard Stance Against Hungary's Commissioner-designate
On 29 September begin the confirmation hearings in the relevant committees of the European Parliament of the members of the new European Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker. The composition of the Commission, its structure and distribution of portfolios are a result of tough negotiations, lobb ...
Ivica Dacic, Vesna Pusic | © MVEPSerbia Apologised for the Bombing of Dubrovnik
It is great that we have all gathered here in Dubrovnik - bombed and destroyed during the war, which Serbia absolutely condemns. Hardly someone expected to hear precisely this during the ninth consecutive Croatia Forum, dedicated this year to the European integration of the Western Balkans and p ...
Croatia Forum 2014 | © Croatia Forum 2014: State of Play of the Process of Integration of the Western Balkans
The last day of Croatia Forum, which is taking place in Dubrovnik, is dedicated on analysts and officials. The journalist from The Economist Tim Judah, Gerald Knaus with the European Stability Imitative, Dimitar Bechev with ECFR, Tvrtko Jakovina from the Philosophy Faculty with the Zagreb Univer ...
Croatia Forum 2014 | © Croatia Forum: Challenges to the European Values
The third and last for today panel of Croatia Forum will deal with the challenges before the European values like freedom, tolerance, solidarity. Participants in the panel are the foreign ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdžija, of Kosovo Enver Hoxhaj, of Estonia Urm ...
Croatia Forum 2014 | © Croatia Forum: The Future of EU Enlargement
This is the topic of the second panel of Croatia Forum which is taking place in Dubrovnik. It will focus on the challenges to the enlargement policy. The participants in this panel are the foreign ministers of Sweden, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Luxembourg as well as the minister of c ...
Croatia Forum 2014 | © Croatia Forum: "EU Integration of the Western #Balkans: similarities and differences"
This is the first panel of this year's Croatia Forum in Dubrovnik. The participants are EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, the foreign minsters of Italy, Slovakia, Serbia, The Netherlands and Montenegro. In the discussion will also participate Lithuania's deputy FM Vytautas Leškevič ...
Croatia Forum 2014 | © Croatia Forum 2014: EU Enlargement to the Western Balkans
The traditional Croatia Forum will take place between July 10-12 in Dubrovnik, where the EU enlargement to the countries from the Western Balkans will be discussed. In the forum will participate foreign ministers from EU member countries, the countries from the region, representatives of US, Rus ...
Milanka Opacic | © Vlada RHTrade Unions Are again Blocking Reforms in Croatia
One of the nine key reforms announced by the Croatian government with the aim to reduce the budget deficit after the European Commission launched an excessive deficit procedure against the country, will not be implemented. Under pressure from trade unions, the government has given up the plan to ...
Zeljko Jovanovic, Rajko Ostojic | © Vlada RHOdd Reshuffle of Croatia Government
A little more than a week after the European Commission published its first specific recommendations for Croatia since the country became a member of the EU and its participation in the European Semester is now mandatory, and just days after a session of the governing committee of the Social Dem ...
Zoran Milanovic | © Vlada RHEU Commission with a Profound Analysis of Croatia's Economy
The first specific recommendations for Croatia since the country's accession to the EU almost a year ago, provide a relentless analysis of the economic situation in the youngest member and are much more specific than for the others. The recommendations are eight and are accompanied by deadlines ...
| © EP Information Office Zagreb#EP2014 in Croatia: Peculiarities of Political Survival
The news from the elections for the European Parliament in Croatia are many, but three emerge as the biggest. The first is that voter turnout has increased insignificantly, which refutes last year's excuses that it was low because of the too short campaign. This year, when the Croats voted for a ...
Zoran Milanovic | © vlada HRNow EU Is Guilty for Croatia's Recession?
You will often hear in Croatia comparisons with Greece and the determination of Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic not to let Croatia turn into a second Greece. But, this year, when economic growth is almost ubiquitous in the EU and even for Greece the European Commission forecasts a positive growth ...
Ivo Sanader | © TV screen shotGuilty until Proved Innocent Should be the Presumption for Politicians
The Croatian public domain is shaking with another portion of corruption scandals at the highest political levels. The senior in the ruling coalition Social-Democratic Party has recently lost two key members of its who resigned from the leadership of the party. Those are the governor of Croatia' ...
Vesna Pusic, William Hague | © Council of the EUIs EU Ready To Change Approach toward Bosnia and Herzegovina?
In the beginning of February, Bosnia and Herzegovina reminded of itself again and seriously worried, especially its neighbours which, with terror, recalled the bloody wars that accompanied the break-up of former Yugoslavia in the beginning of the 1990s. The mass protests that erupted across the ...
| © euinsideFrom Efficient Justice to Prosperity
Time is money. The most important factor for foreign investors is legal certainty but also predictability and clarity. Among the top priorities of investors are also the level of tolerance for corruption, the speed with which trade disputes are resolved, the quality of institutions. This ca ...
Ivana Calic | © HTV4The Croatian Precedent: First Political Party Convicted
In spite of the Perkovic case, Croatia can nevertheless be the white swallow of enlargement. March 11th can be described as a "good day for the Croatian democracy" after the Zagreb District Court gave a lesson in justice in the broadest meaning of the word. A court council, chaired by Justice Iv ...
Dragan Zelić, Davorka Budimir, Josip Kregar, Dinko Cvitan, Ivan CRNČEC | © euinsideThe Fight Against Corruption at Local Level in Croatia Is the Biggest Challenge
94% of the Croats believe that corruption is widespread in their country. This is well above the EU average (76%). More than half of the respondents in the 2013 Eurobarometer poll say that corruption affects their lives daily. The EU average is 26%. 89 percent had stated that bribe and favo ...
Herman Van Rompuy, Zoran Milanovic | © Council of the EUIts' Geopolitics, Stupid!
Croatian media follow the developments in Ukraine with special interest because they remind them of the Balkan wars in the beginning of the 1990s. That is why, the comments in Croatian dailies and weeklies are particularly interesting. "It's the geopolitics, stupid!", wrote Drazen Curic, a colum ...
Vladimir Putin | © KremlinFrom Croatian Media: Putin Is Trying To Recreate the Soviet Union
Putin is turning into a crime version of Leonid Brezhnev, wrote in a comment [in Croatian language] Davor Butkovic, a columnist with the Croatian daily Jutarnji list. He recalls that the doctrine of limited sovereignty was typical for the former Warsaw Pact. It is also the foundation of the Sovi ...
Zoran Milanovic | © euinsideZoran Milanovic Does Not Want More Europe
One of the disadvantages of the process of EU accession is that it prepares for the fundamentals, yet not always successfully, but it does not prepare for membership itself. In this way, all member states from the big bang enlargement (mainly from Eastern Europe) joined completely unprepared for ...
Titus Corlatean, Vesna Pusic | © euinsideThere Are Three Reasons Why the EU Exists
While in the north-western end of the European Union possible treaty changes are being discussed quite intensively, in its south-eastern end have been articulated the three main reasons why the current EU exists. This happened in Zagreb on February 5th during a joint news conference of the forei ...
Slavko Linic | © euinsideSlavko Linic's Confession
The government in Zagreb is in a blind alley - in the middle of its term, with a constantly growing unemployment and public debt, without economic growth. Confidence in the governance and especially in the prime minister is on steady decline. The fact that the opposition, too, does not seem less ...
Orsat Miljenic | © Council of the EUCroatia Is Reforming Its Judiciary Without Monitoring
Every time when I read the European Commission's reports on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) in the area of justice and home affairs, it reminds me of the slices of bread with jam in the Sofia District Court that I once found officials spreading in front of their switched of ...
| © European CommissionThe Perkovic Saga - the Beginning or the End of Dismantling Totalitarian Legacy?
1:0 for the EU in its efforts to impose the European values onto the newest member state Croatia, but the match is yet in the beginning. The first clash between the European system of values and the remnants of Croatia's communist past ended quickly and with a happy end. Last year, precisely two ...
| © Vlada RHWas Croatia's European Face only a Mask?
In 2013, Croatia has become the 28th member state of the European Union. Another country from the torn by centuries' long conflicts Balkans. Another one that had to open a new page in its history. Instead of a review of that highly dynamic and interesting year, we offer you herewith a translatio ...
Milanka Opacic | © euinsideNine Reforms That Will not Change Croatia
At its last for 2013 meeting, the Croatian government has approved a plan of nine new and long-term reforms, the main purpose of which is to reduce spending and increase efficiency. The presentation of the plan came just days after the European Commission recommended the launch of an excessive d ...
Zoran Milanovic | © Council of the EUCroatia Is at Crossroads - Painful Reforms or Sinking
Croatia has a deadline until April 2014 to decide what it should do with itself in the upcoming decades. If so far the Zoran Milanovic's government has been claiming that it is completely aware of the situation, the European Commission's decision to launch an excessive deficit procedure (EDP) ag ...
| © Council of the EUSerbia Begins a Diplomatic Offensive against Croatia
The noose around Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic's neck is beginning to tighten up more and more precisely especially around the second anniversary of his government. In the middle of his term, Mr Milanovic has to fight not only the severe economic problems in the country and defend the minority' ...
| © HNSReferenda Hysteria in Croatia
There is no doubt the hottest topic in Croatia in the past weeks is about the third referendum since the country's independence. On December 1st, the Croats are invited to vote on whether to be explicitly stipulated in the Constitution that marriage is a union only between a man and a woman ...
| © euinsideCroatia Needs a Third National Consensus
"We had national consensus around the establishment of the state. We succeeded. It was not easy in the beginning, but it lasted 10 years. The next ten years we had consensus about Europe. In the beginning, too, not everything was smooth, but we succeeded. If you want the structural reforms to be ...
| © euinsideThe Ljubljanska Banka Issue between Croatia and Slovenia Is again Open
It took only nine months to allow a decades long post-Yugoslav problem to surface again on the agenda. This is the issue of the transferred deposits from the former Ljubljanska banka which Slovenia and Croatia have been arguing upon for years. The conflict threatened Croatia's accession to the E ...
| © Who Will Unite Vukovar Croatia with non-Vukovar Croatia?
22 years after the fall of Vukovar, Croatia instead of united is divided into a Vukovar Croatia and a non-Vukovar Croatia. On November 18th, when the anniversary of the devastation of the city by the then Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) is marked a group of war veterans, calling themselves a Staff ...
Slavko Linic | © Council of the EUCroatia Enters the European Semester with Huge Problems
"An IDR [in-depth review] is also warranted for Croatia, a new Member of the EU, given the need to understand the nature and potential risks related to its external position, trade performance and competitiveness, as well as internal developments". This is written in the Alert Mechanism Report o ...
Slavko Linic, finance minsiter | © Croatia in Mirrorland
After the big conflict between Brussels and Zagreb this summer, which marked the beginning of Croatia's membership in the EU, comes the next big bad news - the country is preparing to enter the European Commission Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). This became clear after the publication of the ...
Ivo Josipovic in Serba | © Presidency of SerbiaSerbia and Croatia Claim They Are Mature To Leave the Past Behind. Are they?
On November 16th 2012 The Hague Tribunal pronounced the acquittals for two key Croatian generals from the war on the separation from former Yugoslavia. The way they were welcomed in Zagreb and the political reactions were the drop that put the relations between Croatia and Serbia in the freezing ...
Vukovar | © euinsideVukovar - the Wounded City
When in the beginning of July I went with colleagues to Vukovar, the city was boiling with construction works. Streets and public buildings were being renovated, the heat was saturated with dust and a feeling of renewal. The scars of the war, however, were striking hard. A part of the house ...
Vesna Pusić | © euinsideCroatia Gears Up Its Diplomacy in a Battle with Recession
Croatian diplomacy is transforming to put itself in service of the economy through a number of measures which the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs has enforced as of October 1st. After a deep analysis and a selection of the most appropriate European models Croatia is introducing economic ...
| © euinsideIt's Possible the CVM To Be Bound to the Common European Rule of Law Mechanism
It is not impossible corruption and organised crime to be bound in some way to the new rule of law mechanism the European Commission is preparing. This is what Vice President Viviane Reding told euinside responding to the question whether the mechanism Jose Manuel Barroso announced during his an ...
| © EUFirst Conflict of Croatia with the Commission
From day minus one it was clear that Croatia would not be an obedient member of the EU, the so called "yessir". In the last working day before the country formally joined the Union on July 1st this year, the Croatian parliament adopted amendments to the law on police and judicial cooperation wit ...
| © euinsideTax Terror or Rule of Law?
Closure of restaurants and cafés for 7 kunas (1 euro) surplus in the cash register. Inspections of touristic objects in the peak of the touristic season. Semi-empty market places for fruit and vegetables. A governmental invasion in media. Generally, this is how the past weeks in Croa ...
Zoran Milanovic | © Council of the EUA Very Awkward Situation
The marking of the anniversaries of operation "Storm" in Croatia is a very special national holiday. The date is literally considered sacred as this is the day (August 5th) when is put an end to Croatia's war for independence from former Yugoslavia. The 18th anniversary, however, was marked by a ...
| © euinsideA Judge Who Shook Croatia
The political summer this year in Croatia is as hot as the meteorological one, as even the political heat waves are sometimes much more unbearable than the usual July dog days. One of the culprits for the rising temperatures is a young judge from the commercial court in Zagreb. Mislav ...
Marko Jurisic | © euinsideIs the Right of Same Sex Marriage Fundamental?
Is the right of same sex marriage a fundamental right? Should it be guaranteed by the Constitution? Should there be a referendum on that? How far should democracy go and is it a sum of past practises or does it allow a change to something unknown? These are only part of the questions that raised ...
Valdis Dombrovskis, Tomislav Nikolic | © Vlada RHThe New EU Member State: Proud, Independent and in Recession
The accession of the 28th EU member state definitely marks the end of the European political romanticism that spread in Europe after World War II and that got a new boost after the fall of the Berlin wall. With Croatia's membership it could be said that a huge chapter of the European history has ...
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Vesna Pusuć, Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia | © euinsideVesna Pusic to Serbia: There Are No Fair or Unfair Membership Criteria
From a request to convey a message to Serbia on the basis of Croatia's experience with EU accession, through cooperation with the countries in the region, EU funds absorption and membership in Schengen and the eurozone, to the dark and bright moments of the Croatian past. This is one way to summ ...
| © Does EU Take a Risk with Croatia as It Did with Bulgaria and Romania in 2007?
Tomas Lundin, a journalist with the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, published an analysis [in Swedish] about the upcoming accession of Croatia in the EU on July 1st. "In less than a month, Croatia will be the new member of the EU. Does the EU risk the mistakes from 2007 to be repeated ...
| © Economy of Zero Growth or an Ethnomarket Model?
Croatian media, companies, supermarkets, politicians and analysts are counting the last days remaining to the official accession of Croatia to the EU on July 1st. The entire country is coloured in huge advertisement billboards of big supermarket chains or simply big companies which, aside from a ...
Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, Slavko Linić | © euinsideHow Can Austerian Zoran Milanovic Take Croatia Out of the Roundabout?
"Democracy is a wonderful thing while it's functioning. And it functions if people feel free and not less importantly, it is even the most important - if there is economic growth". This is why Croatia's Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said in the end of the ProInvest tour - an initiative of ...
| © euinsideCroatian Catholic Church - Best Organised Institution in Croatia
Against the backdrop of global achievements in terms of legislation that is more receptive of same sex marriages, the Catholic Church in Croatia has organised its own campaign under the name “U ime obitelji”/”In the name of family”, starting weeks before the loc ...
Vyldas Gedvilas, Vesna Pusic | © euinsideLithuania Opens a Temporary Office in Zagreb
Small Lithuania takes over the EU Council Presidency on July 1st. Exactly when the Union will accept its 28th member - Croatia. On this occasion the speaker of the parliament of Lithuania, Vydas Gedvilas, said that small Lithuania will take over on July 1st the biggest union ever. Many things wi ...
Ruza Tomasic | © euinsideRuza's Dream
Ruža Tomašić, the leader of the rights' party "Dr. Ante Starcevic", scared quite a lot of people in the political and administrative establishment in Croatia. The tested for the first time option for preferential voting raised Ruža Tomašić, former Canadian emmigrant, to winner ...
| © euinsideCroatia Has Changed Mindset. Next Step Is Active Citizenship
Do you remember when the former tsar of the Bulgarians, Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotta, called for a change of mindset? We laughed a lot back then. And it was even funnier when it became clear after his rule that he was hardly the person to talk about a mindset change. Nonetheless, against the backdro ...
| © EUThe Economic Winter Will Stay in Croatia
Quite pessimistically is titled the spring forecast of the European Commission for Croatia - "Recovery slipping further away. Stuck in recession". Only two months before its accession to EU, the moods in Croatia are not at all festive. The economy has been in recession since 2008 as by now the e ...
| © HDZ/FacebookTerror of Minority Continues*
One of the most appropriate ways to learn more about a country, its problems and attitudes is by reading local press. That is why, from time to time we offer you herewith translations of some of the most colourful commentaries in the serious political and economic media in Croatia. While follow ...
Ruza Tomasic | © HSP dr. Ante StarcevicCroatian Rose with Many Thorns Enters European Parliament
The first European elections in Croatia have been won by Ruza Tomasic or as they call her here Ruza Hrvatska (Croatian rose). Thanks to the applied for the first time model of preferential voting, Ruza Tomasic surfaced from sixth place on the list of the right-wing coalition, led by the symbolic ...
| © euinsideIn Croatia Apathy Has Won the First European Elections
April 14th was a very sunny and nice spring day. The citizens of Zagreb, but also a large part of Croats, had not seen so much sun for quite a while after a continuous period of torrential rains, accompanied by floods, and an exhaustingly long winter with record snow that opened large holes in t ...
Didier Reynders, Vesna Pusic | © euinsideCroatia Prefers Bilateral Issues To Be Resolved on a Bilateral Basis, Without Mediators
Croatia is not inclined to allow a third party to interfere in the resolution of a bilateral issue, unless it is impossible the issue to be solved between the interested parties, while Belgium does not object the creation of an arbitration mechanism to solve bilateral issues but only if it is in ...
| © euinsideProtest Against Cyrillic Alphabet in Zagreb, but not Exactly
On Sunday, April 7th, on the central square in Zagreb, a mass protest took place against the introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet. In fact, this sentence is not very precise. The protest was not against the Cyrillic alphabet in general, but against its introduction specifically in Vukovar, Croa ...
| © HDZMajor Elements in the First in Croatia Election Campaign for European Parliament
A little less than a week remains until the first in Croatia election for members of the European Parliament which will take place on April 14th. In the competition take part 27 parties and coalitions among which there is a Pirate party as well. But the parties that have the biggest chances, acc ...
| © euinsideSlovenia and Croatia Will Import Their Problem into the EU
Another bilateral problem between Slovenia and Croatia - for the old transferred deposits of Ljubljanska banka - got an unexpected denouement. Instead of a solution, the two countries have agreed to get back to the issue later, when Croatia too will be a member of the EU as of July 1st 2013. Th ...
| © euinsidePaul Vandoren: There Are So Many Important Reforms, No Time Should Be Wasted
The politicians in Croatia know very well which are the important reforms that have to be undertaken. Those are reforms which all international financial institutions and the European Commission have been repeating for a year that should be implemented, said in an interview with this website Pa ...
Vesna Pusuć, Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia | © euinsideCroatia: First Time European Elections, First Time Preferential Vote
In Croatia, on April 14th there will be elections for the European Parliament for the first time. Croatian voters will choose their 12 representatives in Strasbourg for the first time with a preferential vote.
| © euinsideFor Now Croatia Does Not Need To Be Included in the Imbalances Procedure
Croatia will take part in the European Semester in 2013 together with the other member states, but on a voluntary basis. The semester is an essential part of the reform of the economic governance of the EU caused by the debt crisis and includes enhanced surveillance and coordination of economic ...
| © Vlada HRThree Challenges to Croatia's EU Membership
With the 1st of July approaching, when the accession of Croatia to the EU is planned, the challenges before the entry of the 28th member state become clearer. And they are not directly related to the implementation of the remaining commitments the European Commission outlined in October and wit ...
| © European ParliamentRoucek: Croatia Does not Need a Post-Accession Monitoring Mechanism
Croatia's rapporteur in the European Parliament Libor Rouček (Socialists & Democrats, Czech Republic) is convinced that the country does not need a post-accession monitoring mechanism, similar to that imposed on Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. The reason, according to him, is that Croatia is full ...
| © European ParliamentMEPs Call for a Post-Accession Monitoring of Croatia
A monitoring mechanism to be imposed on Croatia after its accession to the EU to evaluate the track record of conflict of interest, corruption and organised crime, as well as the implementation of the plan for reform of the judiciary, Romanian MEP Monica Luisa Macovei (EPP) proposes. She is one ...
| © euinsidePolice in Zagreb on Alert because of a Series of Explosions
18:50 Earlier information that the perpetrator of the Zagreb explosions is clear, have not been officially confirmed. Police claim they still have no suspects. 14:00 The perpetrator of the two explosions in Zagreb is the man who was injured during last night's incident in the western part ...
| © The Council of the EUThe Government in Zagreb Is Confident It Will Be Ready with the 10 Tasks by the Spring
By the 31st of December 2012, the Croatian government will implement 8 out of the 10 recommendations in the European Commission report from October 10th. The other two points will be ready by January 31st, the first deputy prime minister and minister for foreign and European affairs, Vesna Pusic ...
| © EUCroatia Will Find It Difficult to Be a Success Story for Enlargement
In the end of November, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule came to Zagreb to make sure that the Croatian authorities are aware of the great hopes the EU has invested in the country's membership to the Union, scheduled for 1st of July 2013. His message was that the EU desperately needs a suc ...
| © euinsideThe Long Arm of Law
"I would like to tell all those who mess up with something illegal, all thieves, criminals, all who give and take bribes, that they will not be able to sleep peacefully anymore. This is my message, dear friends!" Pronouncing these words five years ago, the then Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanade ...
| © euinsideA Decision that Stirred the Spirits in the Balkans
The people who expected on Friday the Hague tribunal for former Yugoslavia to release the most high-ranking military officers so far - generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac - were not many. Instead of confirming their sentences of respectively 24 and 18 years in prison, the Appeals Chamber fo ...
| © Vlada RHFirst Political Challenge for Croatia's Government
Croatia's Prime Minister Zoran Milanović is facing a touch political test on the eve of the first year of his term after the parliamentary elections in December last year, when a liberal-socialist coalition was installed to govern the country with an interesting name - "Cock-a-doodle-doo". His m ...
| © Government of CroatiaCroatia Will Revise the 2012 Budget
The Croatian government is undertaking a "technical" revision of the country's budget for this year, because of non-implementation of the set target to reduce the budget deficit in 2012 by 1%, as envisaged in the fiscal discipline law. Two billion kunas (circa 266 million euros) is the over-expe ...
| © euinsidePolice Officers Protested in Croatia against Benefit Cuts
Several hundred police officers protested today in the centre of Zagreb against benefit cuts. The protesters gathered highly organised at 10 o'clock CET in the central square of the city Ban Jelačić from where they headed toward the government buildings in a strict order of three people in a row ...
| © euinsideVesna Pusic: Croatia Will Be Completely Ready before Spring
The shadow of Bulgaria and Romania has hung heavily over Croatia in the days after the publication of the progress report of the European Commission, which reflects the country's achievements before its EU accession, scheduled for the 1st of July 2013. A little after the publication of the repo ...
| © EUA First Member of Ivo Sanader's Government Is in Jail
Damir Polančec, former deputy prime minister and minister of the economy in the government of former Croatia's prime minister, prosecuted for corruption and embezzlement, Ivo Sanader, is already in jail. But not for the charges on which he was convicted two years ago - corruption - but because o ...
| © vlada.hrPM Milanovic: The Report Is More Than Optimistic
The regular meeting of Croatia's government last week started with a first point on the agenda the report of the European Commission presented on October 10th in Brussels by EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule. The report was presented to the members of the cabinet by the country's minister ...
| © EUIn the Shadow of Bulgaria and Romania, Croatia Is Walking Steadily toward EU
Croatia remains to fulfil ten tasks before its EU accession on July 1st, 2013, if, of course, the process of ratification of the country's accession treaty goes as planned. For now, there is a risk only Slovenia to delay the ratification process but it is still too early to forecast. The Europea ...
| © euinsideWhat's Eating Ivo Sanader?
Almost half of the Croatian citizens who were in front of the TV in the early afternoon of Sunday, September 30th, watched the first interview of former PM Ivo Sanader he gave for the state-owned Croatian TV (HTV) under controversial circumstances - it is questionable whether he had right, while ...
| © euinsideYoung Medical Interns Protested in Zagreb
Tens of graduated healthcare workers protested on Thursday before the government building in Zagreb, Croatia, against the lack of a public tender for financing their internship, which is obligatory in order for graduates in radiology, physiotherapy, nursery, various therapies, laboratory diagnos ...
| © euinsideCroatia Needs to Change Its Model of Thinking
Recently the Croatian government received good news from the Fitch credit rating agency which kept the country's rating and upgraded its outlook from negative to stable. This proved to be a tap on the shoulder on behalf of the international agencies for the government's efforts to reduce public ...
| © VladaZagreb Got a Good Assessment from the Outside but Challenges Lie Ahead
Last week brought a lot of good news for the government of Zoran Milanovic who desperately needed them because of the tough economic situation of Croatia, enhanced additionally by the biggest drought in decades. The first swallow to bring good news was the decision of the Fitch credit rating age ...
| © euinsideCroatia Hopes To Reach Poland's EU Funds Absorption Rate
As of the 1st of January 2013 Croatia will be with new statistical territorial classification, presented on August 29th by Branko Grcic, deputy prime minister and minister for regional development and EU funds, and Vesna Pusic, minister for foreign and EU affairs. The aim of the change is the co ...
| © Vecernji listCroatia asks: "Are We Really More Successful than Bulgaria?"
On August 9th, in the blog of the most circulated Croatian daily Vecernji List, a commentary was published of Marko Biocina, a columnist in the newspaper, who makes a parallel between Bulgaria and Croatia and asks the question which of the two countries is more successful. We offer you herewith ...
| © euinsideCroatia Is Looking for Investors
Ever since the government officially admitted that its forecast 2012 to be the year when the recession will end and the country will come up with positive growth of 0.8% would not come true, the tension in Croatia started growing together with the summer temperatures. Will the debt of 48.5% of G ...
| © euinsideCroatia Is Preparing for a Tough Battle with the Crisis
Emotions in Croatia have been running high since July 31st when the Ministry of Finance decided to publish a list with the biggest tax debtors in the country who have not paid taxes for years totally amounting to 30 bn kunas (circa 4 bn euros). To compare, the budget of the country for this year ...
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