Latest Croatia News

Croatian FBI

Croatia will soon have its own FBI, special police unit that will be concentrated only on serious crimes and corruption. For a long time there have been discussions about forming this kind of police unit, and now all preparations have been made. Croatian FBI will have stations in four Croatian cities, Zagreb, Osijek, Rijeka and Split, and they will solve only bigger criminal cases. They will answer only to one chief in Zagreb, director of police. In this way the possibility of local influences, leaking of information, and avoiding responsibility will be reduced significantly.

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, officially spelled out Slovenia’s reservations Tuesday (February 5th) regarding Croatia’s fishing policy, particularly the introduction of a controversial protected environmental fishing zone (ZERP) in the Adriatic. Jansa said in his opinion, Croatia failed to meet the conditions to open accession negotiations with the EU on the fisheries chapter of the acquis. Jansa also criticised recent remarks by Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who had suggested that one EU member was blocking Croatia’s accession talks. “We are not blocking negotiations on fishery, rather, it is Slovenia’s understandable position,” Jansa said.

Meanwhile, Croatian President Stipe Mesic said on Tuesday that the biggest obstacle facing Croatia is not Slovenia, but the fact that Croatia has not opened enough chapters of the acquis and has not closed all of the chapters that are open. (Vjesnik, Poslovni Dnevnik - 06/02/08; HRT, Vecernji List, Javno.com, Makfax)

ZAGREB, Croatia — Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), denied on Monday (February 4th) recent reports suggesting that talks with the EU are blocked over the recent introduction of a protected environmental fishing zone (ZERP) in the Adriatic. At a meeting with fellow HDZ party members, Sanader said Croatia is proceeding towards EU membership “in fifth gear” despite the fact that “a country” has been unofficially blocking certain chapters of Croatia’s talks since 2006. That “country” is neighbouring Slovenia, which adamantly opposes the ZERP. (Vjesnik - 05/02/08; HRT, Vecernji List, Javno.com)

Zagreb Municipality State Attorney`s Office has proposed charges today before the Zagreb Municipality Criminal Court against retired general Vladimir Zagorec for instigating a felony of obstructing evidence and against Suzanne Di Mauro Bunjevac for committing a felony of obstructing evidence.

Croatian State Attorney`s Office announced today on its web site it has proposed charges against Croatian citizens V.Z. (1963) and S.B. (1972).

Suzanne Di Mauro Bunjevac is proposed to be charged with initiating and keeping several written and personal contacts with a Zagreb attorney A.N. (Anto Nobilo) on Zagorec`s persuasion to help him improve his position in processes against him before the Zagreb County Court and Austrian Court in Vienna in May and June 2007, and then with a representative of authoritative bodies of prosecution in Croatia, falsely telling them she has information on the existence of secret accounts and hidden valuables belonging to Vladimir Zagorec, and then delivering photographs of these valuable items and photographs of vault keys with accompanying codes which the defendant supervises in foreign vaults.

Susanne Di Mauro Bunjevac is charged of doing this in order to lead the state prosecution on the wrong track, thus discrediting existing mentioned processes in progress and that she was in contact with Vladimir Zagorec via telephone the whole time.

Extension of custody was proposed against Suzanne Di Mauro Bunjevac.

croatia news @ croatia site

In Croatia, a New Riviera Beckons

By STEVE DOUGHERTY

“YOU will cry when you see it. Bring tissues. You will need them.”

We are finishing a marathon meal at Macondo, a seafood restaurant on a nameless back alley in Hvar. My dinner companion, a local painter, writer and actor named Niksa Barisic, was talking about a historic theater built in 1612 during the Dalmatian Renaissance and still in use half a millennium later. But he could just as well have been describing his feelings for Hvar itself, a mountainous, lavender-scented isle set in the blue, sun-blasted Adriatic Sea off the Dalmatian coast of Croatia.

For centuries, the island has lured visitors and inspired poets. “I know paradise now, I know Hvar,” a lyric local saying goes. Now, 10 years after the end of a bloody civil war that devastated much of Croatia, it still struggles as it sees hope for its future in ancient tourist meccas like Hvar, sister islands like Korcula and Mljet, and Dubrovnik - Croatia’s, and, arguably, Europe’s, most beautiful city.

Recently rediscovered as an off-the-radar haven by the international celebrity set and their media-camp followers, Dubrovnik and Dalmatia’s many romantic islands and hidden coves provided backdrops for lavish photo layouts in magazines like GQ, which this year proclaimed the Croatia “the Next Riviera, ” and Sports Illustrated. In May, Croatia, a scythe-shaped country that sits astride the star-crossed, blood-drenched Balkans, was named the world’s hottest travel destination in the new edition of the Lonely Planet guide to Croatia, which cited its “rich diversity of attractions,” accessibility and “relative affordability” (its currency, the kuna, is far friendlier to the dollar than the euro is) as well as its “stunning beaches and islands” and “magnificent food.”

read all at NEW YORK TIMES

After an investigation was carried out, USKOK (Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime) filed an indictment in Zagreb’s county court against Branko Vukoje.

As we find out, Vukoje is charged with using his position to give asset gains to a trade company that was founded and directed by his daughter-in-law, where his son was an official representative.

Ina “helped” his son and daughter-in-law with 1.6 million kuna

The former director of INA is being charged with making deals about acquiring furniture, printing and graphics machines, and the associated materials for them, in violation of the law on the public acquirement of goods. This was in the period between 2002 and 2004.

USKOK filed the indictment because it found evidence that Vokoja gained around 1,638,000 kuna of profits for his son and daughter-in-law. Besides the indictment, the accused is now banned from carrying out any function or business.

November 06,2007

Crimes indictee Branimir Glavas will not await the continuation of his trial outside detention. This was decided on by the court council after Glavas’s defence team put in a request for his release at Wednesday’s portion of the trial. It was stated that the conditions under which the crimes were committed were too grave for the defendant to be set free.

The comment made by indictee Branimir Glavas that nothing in Osijek of the 90’s could be done without informing Vladimir Seks, had not been commented on by Seks himself who said that since the criminal procedure against Glavas was under way it was not right for him to comment on his words.

Read the rest of this entry »

November 05,2007
Someone must be held rsponsible for Vukovar turning into Stalingrad, and for the execution of 300 wounded from Vukovar hospital in one day, Mesic told Del Ponte.
President of Croatia Stjepan Mesic meet with Carla del Ponte,head prosecutor at The Hague Tribunal .Together they took part at a conference about the future of the west Balkans in Brussels, that gathered the representatives of the countries and regions of the European Union.
Mesic spoke to the head prosecutor at The Hague Tribunal about the “Vukovar three” and “that scandalous sentence” .
Croatian government is criticising the sentences as too lenient.
- What we can do is to condemn the three, demand their extradition, or we can, according to the agreement we have with Serbia, give them all the evidence connected with the facts that are known to our organs and demand that Serbia trials them under international monitoring – said Mesic, adding that he has Del Ponte’s support in this.
Our cooperation with Croatia is excellent, we had access to documents and witnesses. Gotovina is in The Hague and fortunately he has not been set free temporarily as it was asked. The Court Council decided to keep him in detention, so that next year in spring, the trial of the Gotovina, Cermak and Markac cases will start – Del Ponte said

Prime Minister Ivo Sanader’s Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, finished first in Sunday’s election but failed to secure the 77 seats necessary for a majority in parliament.
“The HDZ’s victory is certain… Croatian voters have shown that they trust the HDZ and the policies we’ve been implementing in the last four years,” Sanader said.
The electoral commission said the HDZ have 61 MPs - five more than the opposition Social Democrat Party (SDP).
Both parties said they had begun talks with potential coalition partners to secure the parliamentary majority of 77 seats necessary to govern.
President Stipe Mesic said he would give a mandate to the party that confirms it has majority in parliament.

Today in the President’s Office Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and PM Ivo Sanader discussed over the functioning of the institution until the election of a new cabinet, and that the consultations for the handing of the mandate for assembling a new government will begin after the president receives the results form the National Election Committee (DIP).

Considering that the elections will be repeated on December 9, in three polling stations around Croatia, and after that 48 hours have to pass for possible negotiations, the DIP will probably not send the official elections results to the president before December 11.

President of SDP (Social Democratic Party) Zoran Milanovic, who also announced that he will form a new government, a centre-left one, will go to the president on a meeting tonight.

President of HNS (Croatian People’s Party), the party that yesterday signed a coalitions with SDP, Vesna Pusic, today will join Zoran Milanovic again. The presidents of the HSS-HSLS (Croatian Peasants Partiy – Croatian Social Liberal Party) coalition party, Djurdja Adlesic and Josip Friscic, will hold a meeting within their parties, and after that why will join the president of HDZ Ivo Sanader. Sanader expects their mandates to gain the majority in parliament and to form his government.

President and PM over the institutions functioning until the election of a new cabinet.

President Mesic will be in Brussels from December 2 to December 5, where he will discuss with the highest functionaries of the European Union, of the European Parliament and of NATO, and he will attend a lecture on the approaching of Croatia to the Euro-Atlantic organisations. The president and the prime minister discussed the over the institutions functioning in the time before the elections of a new cabinet, according to which it was stressed that all the institutions work in harmony with their authority, was written in the report from the President’s Office.

The president and the PM also discussed the preparing of activities connected with the membership of Croatia in United Nations Security Council.

PM Ivo Sanader informed President Mesic about the congratulations he received for well carried out elections, as well as for the success he reached, it was reported from the President’s Office.

source:Javno.hr

By Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop | NEWSWEEK
Nov 26, 2007

The new A1 highway in Croatia winds 416km from near the capital, Zagreb, south, offering breathtaking views of the mountainous terrain and the Adriatic Sea. Built in six years, at a cost of €3 billion, it has been hailed as a “national pride,” a “masterpiece” and the “freeway to Europe.” Indeed, the A1 is more than just a pretty highway. It is a symbol of everything that has, of late, gone right in the Balkan country.

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