News

Zagreb - Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković and Canada Senate Speaker George Furey said on Thursday the two countries are friends and allies as well as agreed on the support to Ukraine.

Zagreb - Justice Ministry State Secretary Juro Martinović said on Friday that there was no conspicuous lack of staff  in the penitentiary system, and explained that currently jails are overcrowded due to a rise in transit crime.

Zagreb - Several Opposition lawmakers said on Wednesday that the government-sponsored draft amendments to the Trade Act, under which shops would be opened on 16 Sundays a year, did not mean that workers would not be required to work on all Sundays.

Zagreb - Roma minority MP Veljko Kajtazi said on Wednesday, on the occasion of International Women's Day, that Roma women were often exposed to multiple discrimination and consequently social exclusion.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković met on Wednesday with Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz, who was on an official visit to Croatia. 

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Wednesday extended his best wishes to the female members of Parliament and to all women in Croatia for International Women's Day, saying that there are still challenges in achieving full gender equality and equal opportunities.

Zagreb - The Croatian parliament unanimously adopted the Water for Human Consumption Act on Friday, which aims to encourage citizens to use more tap water and reduce the consumption of bottled water, which should lead to waste reduction. All 128 MPs attending the session voted in favour.

Zagreb - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković survived a no-confidence vote in the 151-seat Parliament on Friday, as 56 lawmakers voted in favour of his resignation and 77 were against, with one abstaining.

Zagreb - Vesna Fabijančić Križanić and Josip Salapić should be co-chairing the State Election Commission (DIP) in the next eight years and Slaven Hojski, Ivana Ljulj and Draženko Pandek should become its members. A proposal to that effect was formulated on Thursday and forwarded to the Sabor by its Elections, Appointments and Administration Committee and the parliament could vote on it on Friday.

Zagreb - Croatian MPs on Wednesday commended the work and results of the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes, stressing that its work was free of any scandals and that it implemented programmes with multiple benefits.

Zagreb - The proposed bill on water for human consumption aims to encourage citizens to use tap water tap instead of water in plastic bottles, which will contribute to the reduction of waste, Health Ministry State Secretary Marija Bubaš told the parliament while presenting the bill on Wednesday. "The bill intends to encourage residents to use tap water, which could contribute to reducing the use of plastic, reducing plastic waste and greenhouse gas emissions and should have a positive impact on efforts to mitigate climate change," Bubaš said.

Zagreb - Chief State Inspector Andrija Mikulić said in the parliament on Wednesday that the State Inspectorate received two first-instance court rulings that state inspectors had accurately identified an unjustified increase in prices upon the euro adoption on 1 January.

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Friday adopted the report on the work of state attorney's offices in 2021 by a vote of 76 to 56, confirming its confidence in State Attorney-General Zlata Hrvoj Šipek.

Zagreb - The Sabor adopted a new Reconstruction Act on Friday by a majority vote, which should simplify and speed up the reconstruction of earthquake-affected areas, while the Opposition criticised the reconstruction efforts to date.

Zagreb - The parliamentary Committee on Information, Computerisation and the Media on Thursday endorsed a report on the work of the Hina Steering Board in 2021 by six votes in favour, one against and one abstention.

Zagreb - Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković met with the Chair of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, during her visit to Zagreb on Thursday.

Zagreb - The Croatian parliament's Physical Planning and Construction Committee on Tuesday supported by a majority vote a draft bill on the reconstruction of buildings damaged by the earthquake, and in addition to the ruling coalition, the draft bill received support also from part of the opposition.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Wednesday extended his condolences to the families of the victims of the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria, calling on MPs to observe a minute's silence for those killed.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said on Friday, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, that one must never turn a blind eye to outbursts of hate against members of a different ethnic group or religion.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković attended a meeting of representatives of various Christian communities in Croatia and expressed his support for strengthening the dialogue between Christian churches and among stakeholders in society.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Thursday met with  Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the Belarusian opposition in exile, and supported her in the fight for democratic values and free elections.

Zagreb - Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković said in Parliament on Wednesday that the new law on maritime domain and seaports would not allow privatisation or fencing off of beaches, assuring the opposition that the articles in question would be clarified before second reading.

Zagreb - On Wednesday, the parliamentary Committee on the Family and Youth presented proposals to improve the law on inter-country adoptions, including a ban on adoptions from countries that are not signatories to the Hague Convention and for an expert body to monitor adoptions.

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament adopted by a majority of votes on Friday the prime minister's report on the European Council meetings held in 2022.

Zagreb - The parliamentary opposition on Thursday had no major objections to the amendments to the Law on Salaries in Local Government Units, however, it warned about the excessive number of local government units compared to the number of residents, underscoring the need for a comprehensive reform.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Thursday met with European Commission Vice President for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica. Šuica informed Jandroković about the European Commission's Work Program for 2023, which she presented earlier at a session of the Parliament's Committee for European Affairs.

Zagreb - After a four-hour debate, the relevant parliamentary committees on Monday supported Branko Bačić as the future Minister of Physical Planning and Construction, and the Opposition called for a faster post-quake reconstruction. Bačić, who has so far been the whip of the bench of the ruling HDZ party, was presented at the joint session of the Physical Planning and Construction Committee and the Economy Committee by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Zagreb - The Parliamentary Committee on Regional Development and European Union Funds on Monday supported Šime Erlić as the new Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds with seven votes in favour for, while Sanja Radolović of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was only one against his appointment.

Zagreb - Croatia lawmakers will gather on Tuesday for the beginning of the spring sitting, after a month-long winter recess, and as usual the session will be ushered in by Question Time. The first session in 2023 will last until 31 March, with 199 items on the agenda.

Zagreb - Croatian lawmakers are becoming less interesting to citizens, as shown by data on visits to their personal websites last year released by Parliament.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Friday extended greetings to believers who celebrate Christmas according to the Julian calendar, saying that the world needs peace and that this Christmas "we are strongly reminded of that by the suffering of the friendly Ukrainian people."

Zagreb - In 2022, slightly more than 1,500 citizens contacted the parliamentary Citizens Service with a specific inquiry or to comment, complain or provide a suggestion to the Sabor, according to a report by the service.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković on Saturday issued a Christmas message, offering his best wishes to Croatian citizens as well as Croats in the homeland and abroad, noting that the increasingly complex world needs the message of the victory of light over darkness that the birth of the Son of God brings.

Zagreb - The Jewish holiday Hanukkah was observed in the Croatian Parliament on Monday by lighting the first candle on the Hanukkah menorah. The ceremony was organised by the Croatia-Israel Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group and was attended by Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković, Israeli Ambassador Gary Koren, the chief rabbi of the Bet Israel Jewish Community in Croatia, Kotel Da-Don, and the leader of the friendship group, Marijana Petir.

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament in an extraordinary session on Friday adopted the Law on Excess Profit Tax, according to which companies with increased profits will become liable for this tax regardless of the business they are in.

Zagreb - The Sabor on Friday unanimously voted for free meals for elementary school students as of the second semester of this school year which will cover 311,000 pupils who will have at least one free meal at school financed by the state budget and the total allocation for this purpose is € 72.5 million.

Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Friday, by a majority of votes, with 77 in favor and 54 against, amended the Labor Act (ZOR), which introduces a number of novelties in the regulation of individual rights and obligations in employment relations.

Zagreb - The Croatian parliament on Friday adopted two strategies, passed several laws, accepted reports by different agencies and thus concluded the extraordinary session and this year's work.

Zagreb - MPs of the ruling majority on Thursday spoke of positive steps in domestic agriculture, while the opposition complained about import growth, saying Croatia is importing even grass, sawdust and cereals for rodents.

Zagreb - The Croatian IT sector is growing and has proved to be less vulnerable to the negative impact of the crisis in 2020 and 2021, the state secretary of the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society, Bernard Gršić, said during discussion on the proposed Digital Croatia Strategy 2032 in Parliament on Thursday.

Zagreb - At the beginning of a debate on the package of healthcare laws that are crucial for the implementation of the healthcare reform, Opposition MPs claimed that there was no healthcare reform, only the introduction of "crawling privatisation," while the HDZ members say that it is a step forward.

Zagreb - The parliamentary physical planning committee on Wednesday endorsed reports on the effects of the Reconstruction Act, which say progress has been made in the adoption of decisions, while the opposition remarked they contained too many numbers and too few projects realised.

Zagreb - Strengthening the public healtcare system, improving preventive healthcare, reorganising the hospital system, investing in human resources and, above all, making the system sustainable and placing the patient in the focus are the aims of the reform, Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Wednesday.

Zagreb - During a parliamentary debate on the final bill to amend the Income Tax Act on Tuesday,  both the ruling majority and opposition welcomed the rise from HRK 15,000 to HRK 24,000 that a dependent family member can earn in a year and still qualify as a dependent.

Zagreb - The Croatian parliament will hold an extraordinary session on Friday at the government's request, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković announced on Monday, December 16.

Zagreb - The parliamentary committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and political system on Wednesday decided on the distribution of allocations for the parliamentary parties in 2023 when the total disbursement for this purpose amounts to €8.3 million.

Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said on Friday that the Croatian national legislature would continue giving its contribution to all the initiatives aimed at improving the status of ethnic minorities.

Zagreb - Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković on Friday informed the parliament about good results in Croatia's marine and freshwater fisheries and significant investments in this sector.

Zagreb - The 2030 draft strategy for the development of sustainable tourism was commended on Thursday by MPs from the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), while the opposition ironically wondered where continental tourism had "disappeared", especially tourist industry in Slavonia.

Zagreb - Croatian lawmakers on Wednesday were debating the government's proposal to allow Ukrainian soldiers to train in Croatia as part of the EUMAM mission.