News

Zagreb - Senior Croatian state officials laid wreaths at Zagreb's Mirogoj Cemetery on Independence Day on Wednesday to commemorate all Croatians who had struggled for the freedom and independence of Croatia.

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament held a special session on Wednesday to mark Independence Day.

Zagreb - Environment protection, renewables in construction, sustainable tourism and the development of an eco-cities project were some of the topics on the agenda of a meeting of the Union for Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Energy, Environment, and Water, which convened in the Croatian parliament on Monday.

Zagreb - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko in Budapest on Friday pointed out the importance of implementing all flood defence projects planned by the Danube strategy and of cooperation with neighbours in water management.

Orašje - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said on Tuesday that his tour of the Posavina area of northern Bosnia and Herzegovina was "interesting, fruitful and instructive".

Odžak - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said in Odžak, northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Monday that the transport corridor 5C would improve development prospects for that region, announcing participation in developing projects designed to protect the area of Odžak from natural disasters such as floods that recently hit the Bosnian Sava River Valley region.

Domaljevac-Šamac - Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Josip Leko, who is currently on a two-day visit to neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, said on Tuesday that Croatia would consider the possibility of providing assistance to municipalities in the country's northern Posavina region which were severely hit by recent floods.

Tuzla - Bosnia and Herzegovina is more than a partner and neighbour for Croatia and Zagreb will help it on its path towards the European Union, Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said in Tuzla, northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Monday.

Brčko - Croatian Parliament President Josip Leko said on Monday that Brčko District in the northeast of Bosnia and Herzegovina served as an example of peaceful coexistence, announcing that he would advise Croatian business people to invest there.

Tuzla - Local Croats in the northeastern Bosnian city of Tuzla said during a meeting with Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko on Monday that they were committed to contributing to Bosnia and Herzegovina's development and that they wanted to live there on an equal footing with the other two constituent peoples, the Bosniaks and the Serbs.

Zagreb - Trust is key for Europe's southeast to develop, chairmen of foreign policy committees of several Southeast European parliaments said at a meeting in Zagreb on Thursday. This, the fifth such meeting, was attended by Milorad Pupovac of Croatia and his counterparts from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia and Germany as well as many representatives of the Croatian government and ministries, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

Zagreb - Under amendments to the Penal Code which the Croatian parliament was discussing on Thursday, there will no longer be a statute of limitations for premeditated murder, domestic mental abuse will be outlawed, for a petty offence to be treated as such its value will be lowered, and the criminal offence of defamation will be defined more precisely.

Washington - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko is in the US Congress attending the Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum on terrorist threats, and on the sidelines of the conference he has held bilateral meetings with senior members of Congress, who told him that they considered Croatia a partner country, the Croatian Parliament's press service said on Friday.

Mali Lošinj – European Interparliamentary Conference on sustainable tourism ended today in the town of Mali Lošinj with presentations of experts and panel discussions on cultural tourism and tourism in the function of environmental protection.

Oslo - The problem of Ukraine is an extremely important and tough problem for Europe and shows that threats posed by violations of international law have not disappeared, Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said in Oslo on Friday following a two-day conference of parliament speakers from the Council of Europe member states.

Oslo - Civil society is an important form of extra-institutional opposition, Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said at the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Oslo on Friday, adding that there was in Croatia "a sort of rush on referendums by those who are against government decisions."

Oslo - Europe is faced with many difficult challenges such as millions of jobless people, violations of human rights in parts of the continent, serious breaches of international law and armed conflicts that inflict suffering on civilians, notably in Ukraine, said speakers who opened the European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments in Oslo on Thursday (ECPP).

Zagreb - In the final part of the plenary session, the first part of which was held in Zagreb, the participants were addressed by representatives of international organisations, with the central topic being the importance of integrating different policies in the development of sustainable tourism.

Oslo - Participants in the European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments (ECPP) in Oslo have expressed different positions on the Ukraine crisis and therefore the talks should continue as there is no alternative to talks and to looking for common standards and values, Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said in a statement for Hina in the Norwegian capital on Thursday evening.

Zagreb - In the continuation of the European Inter-parliamentary Conference on “Challenges of Sustainable Tourism: Promoting Cultural Heritage and Environmental Protection” presentations were made by Hrvoje Carić (Institute for Tourism, Zagreb, Croatia), Ugo Soragni (Head of Regional Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Landscape of the Veneto Region, Italy), Panos Livadas (Secretary General of the Greek National Tourism Organization, Greece), Matija Franković (Head of State Institute for Nature Protection, Croatia) and Sandra Vlašić (UNDP – Programme Officer of the United Nations Development Programme, Croatia)

Zagreb - The Challenges of Sustainable Tourism: Promoting Cultural Heritage and Environmental Protection is the topic of the first European Interparliamentary Conference on Tourism which started in the Croatian Parliament on Wednesday. The Conference is being held in Zagreb and Mali Lošinj from September 10 to September 13 and is organized following the initiative of the Tourism Committee of the Croatian Parliament.

Zagreb - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko, who is on an official visit to South Korea, on Monday met with his Korean counterpart Chung Ui-hwa for talks on strengthening bilateral relations, notably on the economic front, with the South Korean official saying that the opening of a Croatian embassy in Seoul would be conducive to that goal.

Zagreb/Beijing - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko met in Beijing on Saturday with the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, Zhang Dejiang, who invited Croatia to utilise China's increasingly intense cooperation with Central and East European countries.

Zagreb - High-level state delegations laid wreaths at Zagreb's Mirogoj Cemetery on Monday, marking Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, Croatian Defenders' Day and the 19th anniversary of Operation Storm. The Croatian Parliament delegation was led by MP Gordana Sobol.

Zagreb - Croatia commemorates the Day of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving and the Day of Croatian Defenders on August 5, the day when 19 years ago its military and police forces regained control of most of the occupied territory in a military offensive dubbed Operation Storm.

Zagreb - The parliamentary European Affairs Committee has endorsed Neven Mimica as Croatia's candidate for the European Commission in the 2014-19 period. Addressing the committee, Mimica spoke of the EC's achievements in consumer protection, for which he was in charge, the need to strengthen the European Union's democratic legitimacy through cooperation with the national parliaments, and the political guidelines of new EC President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Zagreb - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko and Deputy Speaker Dragica Zgrebec on Wednesday attended a meeting of a United States business delegation and representatives of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) and the Croatian Employers Association which discussed possibilities of developing economic cooperation.

Zagreb - The Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Josip Leko, welcomed participants in the 15th Transatlantic Forum of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation entitled "Croatia: From Independence to the 28th Member of the European Union and NATO - A Guarantee for a Peaceful Future", which was being held in the Croatian Parliament building on Wednesday.

Zagreb - Speaker Josip Leko said on Wednesday that parliament had fulfilled its constitutional task with its work in the first half of the year but that he was not fully satisfied with it, notably with the fact that the bulk of the laws was adopted in fast-track procedure.

Zagreb - Italy as the EU President wants to be a catalyst of political changes which should ensure sustainable growth in the European Union and restore citizens' trust damaged by the economic crisis, Italian Ambassador to Croatia Emanuela D'Alessandro said in Zagreb on Monday.

Zagreb - Members of Parliament on Monday warned about the need for a more active role of society in better protecting children's rights, agreeing that as the most vulnerable group, children were affected by poverty the most.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Josip Leko told Croatian members of the European Parliament (EP) on Monday that their task, as well as that of the Croatian parliament, was to bring the EP closer to Croatian citizens, acquainting them about its importance for Croatia and them.

Zagreb - Speaker Josip Leko said on Thursday the Croatian Parliament had a good framework, good experience, the political will and good intentions when it came to the parliamentary monitoring of the national security system.

Zagreb - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko and the visiting Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović agreed in Zagreb on Monday that the border dispute did not affect the Croatia-Montenegro cooperation in which the former transferred its experience in European Union integration processes to the latter.

Zagreb - To mark the Croatian Parliament Day – 30 May – when the first multiparty Parliament was constituted, Citizens Service of the Croatian Parliament will be organizing the Open Day event this year again. Entrance will be allowed to all visitors on 1 June 2014 without previous announcement.

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament will help the victims of the cataclysmic floods in eastern Slavonia with a total of HRK 225,000.

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament will join in efforts to extend assistance to people living in the flood-hit areas of eastern Croatia, Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said, expressing solidarity with the flood victims.

Zagreb - Cooperation between Croatia and Azerbaijan is developing well, but there is room for enhancing and making it more dynamic, Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said after meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ogtay Asadov in Zagreb on Monday.

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Monday hosted a meeting of delegations of the national parliaments of Southeast European countries to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Bucharest - Southeast European countries took a new step in institutionalising their cooperation by inaugurating the Parliamentary Assembly of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Bucharest on Saturday.

Ljubljana - The Slovenian and Croatian parliamentary committees on European affairs agreed in Ljubljana on Tuesday to convene twice a year so as to advance parliamentary cooperation and provide better information to citizens about European Union issues, adding that other Southeast European countries would gradually join this form of cooperation.

Jasenovac - Surviving former inmates, top Croatian officials, foreign ambassadors in Croatia, and many other delegations on Sunday attended a ceremony commemorating the 69th anniversary of the break-out of inmates from the Ustasha-run Jasenovac camp on 22 April 1945, paying tribute to 83,000 victims of this WW2 camp.

Tirana - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said in Tirana on Tuesday that Albania should be given the status of an EU candidate in June this year because it had made great progress in meeting the membership criteria. -Albania has long deserved it, and it is in the interest of both Croatia and the EU, said Leko, who is on an official visit to Albania, the Croatian Parliament said in a press release.

Tirana - Parliament speakers of Adriatic-Ionian Initiative (AII) member states, including Josip Leko of Croatia, endorsed in Tirana on Monday the development of the European Union Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) as a new model of cooperation aligned with the Europa 2020 development strategy.

Zagreb - The newly-appointed Chief State Prosecutor Dinko Cvitan was officially sworn in at a ceremony in the national parliament on Wednesday before Sabor Speaker Josip Leko.

Zagreb - The chairman of the Croatian Parliament Committee on Labour, Pension System and Social Partnership, Silvano Hrelja, and Committee members met in Zagreb on Monday with a delegation of the Slovenian Parliament Committee on Labour, Family, Social Issues and Persons with Disabilities to discuss the effects of the economic crisis on the two countries' social policy and labour legislation.

Istanbul - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko in Istanbul on Thursday held talks with several Turkish businessmen, who have already invested in Croatia, and discussed future investment plans, sources in the Croatian delegation on a visit to Turkey. A dinner organised by the Croatian Ambassador in Turkey, Drazen Hrastic, was attended by representatives of Dogus, Suezer and Rixos groups.

(Ankara) - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko met in Ankara on Wednesday with Turkey's Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek, President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who called on Turkish business people to invest in Croatia.

Zagreb/Vilnius - Roma need to be integrated into society and given access to education, employment, health care and housing, according to a joint declaration adopted in Vilnius on Tuesday at a conference of the European Union's 28 parliament speakers, including Josip Leko of Croatia.

Zagreb/Vilnius - Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko is in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Monday and Tuesday for an annual conference of European Union parliament speakers.