Minister Lovro Kuščević resigned. Who is to be blamed - media.
Public Administration Minister and HDZ political secretary Lovro Kuščević resigned from both posts because of affairs with real estate in his possession that were not registered. Prime minister Andrej Plenković said this is the right thing to do regarding “all the circumstances in media”. Kuščević continued saying he is “responsible politician” and that “this negative media perception has impact on party and government”. Kuščević will return to Sabor (parliament) as MP. Read more in Jutarnji list. Kuščević said that we was the victim of “whole left”. Read more on Jutarnji list.
Coalition partner HNS (RE), which requested minister’s resignation, was satisfied with resignation. But, they announced new talks on relations with HDZ in the future and about HNS’s political priorities.
"Unfortunately, in this scandal, as well as in previous ministers with affairs, reactions of institutions are absent”, Nikša Vukas, political secretary of biggest opposition party SDP commented on his Facebook profile.
Problem with minister Kuščević is solved, but Plenković still has affairs with state assets minister Goran Marić (also with houses and apartments). And he has to nominate: Croatian EU commissioner, minister of foreign affairs and new public administration minister.
Eurozone welcomes Croatia's bid to join the euro waiting room
“We welcome the intention of the Croatian authorities to put in place the necessary elements for a successful entry into ERM II”, announced Finance Ministers of the euro area Member States and Denmark, the President of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the representative of the Central Bank Governor of Denmark. “The letter of intent is an early stage on the path to membership of the euro currency, and the commitments offered by Croatia in its letter were welcomed by the bloc’s finance ministers at a meeting on Monday”, Eurogroup president Mario Centeno said.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that acceptance of Croatia's letter of intent to join the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) was yet another confirmation of the country's good reform course.
Slovakia welcomes Croatia ́s plan to adopt the euro. Croatia is on a good path, but needs to work on its debt which is above 60 % threshold, said Slovak Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický (SMER-SD, PES) on the margin of the Eurogroup meeting. Slovakia, the only Eurogroup member in Visegrad region, is also already assisting Bulgaria bilaterally in its earlier bid by providing an expert for the process of joining “euro waiting room”, the ERM-2. (Zuzana Gabrižová, EURACTIV.sk)
Representatives of the Unions criticised the government before the statement from Brussels saying that letter of intent was kept secret. Read it here. Unions and most of the political parties are strongly against the entering euro area pointing to Hungary, Czech Republic, and Poland that did not accept euro. Some of them even demand referendum for entering the eurozone.
Police and army on Slovenia-Croatia border, Frontex on Croatian border with Serbia and BiH
After joint patrols with Italy on the border, Slovenian prime minister Marjan Šarec announced more police and even army on the “green” border with Croatia following more intensified flows of migrants. He added that the problem of illegal migrants entering Slovenia could be solved only by deploying Frontex on the EU's external borders, i.e. on Croatia's borders with Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Karl Erjavec, minister of defense, said that he will do all that is needed for to people “to feel safe”. This year, 5,000 irregular migrants have been arrested in Slovenia, half of whom have been returned to Croatia, and about 130 human traffickers have also been detained.
Slovenia already, after the migrant crisis put razor wire on the border with Croatia. Hina, STA
Independent lawyer to say on Nov 6 if CJEU competent for Slovenia's suit against Croatia
An independent attorney at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Priit Pikamae, said on Monday that on November 6 he would give his opinion on the matter of the CJEU's competence for Slovenia's border arbitration suit against Croatia.
At the hearing on Monday, both parties reiterated their positions. The hearing concerned only the matter of the CJEU's competence, not the content of Slovenia's objections against Croatia. Slovenia brought the suit against Croatia under Article 259 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, demanding that the CJEU find that Croatia is in breach of articles 2 and 4, which concern respect for the rule of law and loyal cooperation between member states. Slovenia also claims Croatia is violating the EU's fisheries policy, Schengen rules on the movement of people across the border and the directive on a framework for maritime spatial planning. Croatia argues that the CJEU is not competent to decide on Slovenia’s demands given that the dispute between the two countries should be settled by applying international law, including through negotiations, and that the settlement of the dispute does not depend on the application of EU law or its interpretation.
The state secretary at the Croatian Foreign Ministry, Andreja Metelko Zgombić, followed today's hearing and said the judges were mostly interested in the international legal aspects of the dispute and matters relating to the fisheries regime that was was arranged by Croatia and Slovenia in an agreement on border traffic and cooperation.
As it was joining the EU, Croatia incorporated that agreement into the acquis in good faith, so that now the accession treaty has a footnote saying the reciprocal fisheries regime will go into force once the arbitration award has been implemented, said Metelko Zgombić. She said the European Commission too made an official statement to the effect that the arbitration award had not been fully implemented and that the fisheries regime was not being applied yet. Slovenia sees in that footnote a link between the border arbitration agreement and EU law. A representative of the Slovenian Foreign Ministry, Marko Vrevc, said he would be surprised if the CJEU said it was not competent for the dispute. Hina
Croatia will push for EU-Turkey dialogue
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković met with Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on Monday, telling him that during its European Council presidency in the first half of 2020, Croatia would continue to push for constructive dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Turkey. Plenković presented the priorities of Croatia's presidency and underlined the importance of implementing the EU-Turkey migration control agreement.
Minister Soylu before that signed a memorandum of cooperation between the two countries' police academies with Croatian interior minister Davor Božinović. According to the press release, they were pleased with the continuation of the intensified cooperation in the fight against international terrorism, illegal migration, and drug smuggling. It is the fourth meeting of two ministers in several months.
At the same time, the EU is considering sanctions against Turkey because of drilling in the Exclusive economic zone of Cyprus.
At the same time, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested reviving dialogue between Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and Serbia to improve the situation in the region and reinforce good neighbourly cooperation, according to a press release issued after his meeting with the members of the BiH Presidency in Sarajevo. Hina
Orbico Group takes over Romania's Interbrands
Zagreb-based Orbico Group stated on Monday that it had become a majority owner of Romania's Interbrands company. Orbico Group signed a contract with the Holson Ltd on the takeover of 60% of the interest in the Bucharest-based logistics and supply chain Interbrands Marketing &Distribution. Orbico management board chair Branko Roglić said that the process of the acquisition would be conducted in a few stages. In mid-January, the Croatian group bought 25% of the Romania company's stock and now the portion held by Orbico has risen by 35% to 60%.
Orbico Group is the leading distributor for a large number of international brands ranging from beauty care products through food and non-food products, technical and electrical appliances to pharmaceuticals, toys, textile, cigarettes as well as motor oil products.
Interbrands's annual revenues are more than 200 million euros. It says on its website that it "is handling around 8% of the fast moving consumer goods in Romania". It has some 2,000 employees, "22 distribution partnerships, 3 logistic centers and a fleet of 1470 vehicles," Interbrands says on its web site. It is distributors, among others, are the brands like Philip Morris, BAT, Danone, Nestle, Duracell.
More on novac.hr where is an interview with Mr. Roglić.
Tourism minister: No problems exist where quality has been improved
Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said that no problems existed in tourism where quality had been improved, which he considers is particularly evident in Istria. "Tourism is no longer the same as we saw until three years ago. In Croatia, where quality has been improved in tourism, there are no problems and in Istria that is particularly evident," Cappelli said.
Commenting on data from the Croatian Tourism Association, according to which reservations in hotels, camps and apartments have slowed down, Cappelli said that one could talk about a slowing down, but also about raising quality and prices.
Numerous tourist destinations from the beginning of July started complaining that the number of visitors is falling down compared to last year. Tourism makes around 20 percent of Croatian GDP. Hina
INCEPTION - Project of innovative 3D modeling of cultural heritage
The INCEPTION project, innovation in 3D modeling of cultural heritage, was presented at the Technical Museum Nikola Tesla in Zagreb, organized by the University of Ferrara and with the help of the Institute for Construction of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Zagreb.
"The basis of the project is digitalization of cultural heritage at a slightly higher level where is collected as much data as possible for the basis of complete documentation, including all types of data such as pictures, films, and other accompanying data, which then provide a large base or complete description of an object, "said a responsible project partner from Croatia, a professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Vlatka Rajčić. Hina