EC expects Croatia to implement structural reforms

The European Commission (EC) wishes to come to a satisfactory solution with Croatia concerning the excessive macroeconomic imbalances and expects Croatia to resolutely implement the necessary reforms, a public debate held in Zagreb on Wednesday heard. “We are aware that the solutions are long-term and will not change things overnight,” the Head of the European…

Referendum question on motorways lease unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court has found that the proposed referendum question on the lease of motorways is not in line with the Constitution, ruling that a referendum may not be called. The court said on Tuesday it had made the decision following Parliament’s motion to establish whether the referendum question was in line with the Constitution.…

“We expect the intensive public debate on the TTIP”

Ahead of Global Action Day against the transatlantic trade and investment agreements TTIP and CETA, to be marked on April 18, activists of several nongovernmental organisations and trade unions on Friday distributed leaflets outside the parliament building in Zagreb, asking MPs to take a clear position on those agreements which they believe will restrict workers’…

Unregulated lobbying opens door to corruption

epa03621518 A Member of the European Parliament raise his hand in a voting during the plenary session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 13 March 2013. The European Parliament rejected the compromise of EU governments for the financial planning of the European Union until 2020. EPA/PATRICK SEEGER

Transparency International said today that Europe urgently needs lobbying reform. A new report from the anti-corruption group found that of 19 European countries assessed, only seven have some form of dedicated lobbying law or regulation, allowing for nearly unfettered influence of business interests on the daily lives of Europeans. The 19 countries together score just 31 per…

Zagreb University students stage performance in tribute to slain Kenyan students

Zagreb University students staged a performance outside the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb on Thursday to commemorate 147 students killed on a university campus in Kenya earlier this month. The performance began at 14 hours and 7 minutes, with 147 students wearing white T-shirts lying still on the ground for 147 seconds. Its purpose was…

“We must monetise motorway operators’ debt one way or another”

Zagreb, 18.7.2013.- Dvjestotinjak zaposlenika Hrvatskih autocesta, èlanova Nezavisnog cestarskog sindikata, krenuli su nešto prije 10 sati s Trga bana Jelaèiæa prema Banskim dvorima, prosvjedujuæi protiv monetizacije autocesta. Na slici prosvjednici na Trgu bana Jelaèiæa. foto FaH/ Dario GRZELJ/ ua

Transport Minister Sinisa Hajdas Doncic on Thursday reiterated that the government would not abandon plans to monetise the debt of state motorway operators — the Croatian Motorways (HAC) and the Rijeka-Zagreb (ARZ) –, but the cabinet would only change a model how to do it. The minister said that the government had given up the…