The Constitutional Court rejected the request of the initiative People Decides
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia announced on Wednesday that it had rejected the request for a citizens' initiative People Decides which was unsatisfied with the conclusion of the Parliament from February this year that they did not meet the conditions for calling a referendum on changing the electoral legislation including abrogation of some rights of national minorities.
As the first reason for rejecting the request, the Court stated that Parliament's conclusion was not another regulation that could be subject to review of constitutionality and legality.
The Constitutional Judges further stated that the challenged conclusion was reached by the Parliament on 15 February this year, while the initiative only addressed the Constitutional Court on 17 June. The Court, therefore, considered that the request had been submitted outside the 30-day deadline and was therefore considered inadmissible. Hina
Miro Kovač: I will be next HDZ president
Miro Kovač, former Minister of foreign affairs, on rtl.hr declares that he will be a candidate for the president of HDZ, the party that is leading government coalition. And he said that SDSS, Serb minority party led by Milorad Pupovac, has no place in Croatian government. That is because of statements made by Mr Pupovac regarding the growing fascism in Croatia seen through attacks on members of the Serb minority.
Citizens divided on former Ustasha salute Za Dom Spremni (ZDS, ready for home)
RTL.HR published survey (1300 people questioned) regarding salute ZDS.
48,1% think that ZDS in the songs of Marko Perković Thompson (who is banned from some European countries) should not be penalized, 41,7% would punish it. Interesting, 70,5% of HDZ voters are against and the same percentage of SDP voters is for punishing.
28,4% think that ZDS has to be a part of history, 21,4% want moratorium for 30 years, and for 18,9% this is a salute from Homeland war. Only 9,2% stated that is Ustasha salute.
45% is against the prohibition of ZDS, and 30,4% for prohibition in any form. 12,8% would prohibit it but not for the HOS (Croatian Armed Forces, militia at the beginning of Serbian aggression that had ZDS as an official sign).
A lot of offers for fighter planes
Dnevnik.hr discloses that Italy, Denmark and Norway are also interested to sell fighter planes to Croatia. It is already known that the USA, France and Sweden have shown interest. Croatia will buy 12 fighter planes. Italy, as dnevnik.hr finds out, is offering Eurofighter, and Denmark and Norway F-35. Deadline for offers is September 16th.
Stricter penalties for domestic violence and violence against women
The government will send into public procedure law amendments introducing stricter penalties for domestic violence and violence against women, including the qualification of sexual intercourse without consent as rape, which will be punishable with three to ten years' imprisonment, Justice Minister Dražen Bošnjaković said on Wednesday. "They are envisaged to enter into force on January 1 next year”, he said. And highlighted the "redesign of the crime of rape", saying that until now this qualification required the use of force and there was a separate crime - sexual intercourse without consent. He said the amendments qualified the latter crime as rape and stipulated stricter penalties.
Three laws will be amended - the Penal Code, the Protection from Domestic Violence Act and the Criminal Procedure Act. More on jutarnji.hr.
European Commission approves funding for Croatia to fight African swine fever
Due to preventive measures and the recent onset of African swine fever in Serbia, the Ministry of Agriculture has announced new preventive measures that all farms must adhere to prevent the occurrence of the disease within Croatian borders. More on Euractiv.hr.
Under the new preventive measures:
- All farms that do not meet the biosecurity requirements will not be allowed to sell or move pigs
- European Commission approves Croatia funding for the selected shooting of female pigs' throats
- The Ministry of Agriculture is introducing cash prizes for reporting the location of dead pigs
Interesting exhibition
"Ljudska mjera/Human Scale ", an exhibition by Damir Očko in the Museum of Modern Arts, which opens today, on Thursday, September 12, for the first time presents in one place production of this young visual artist created in the past ten years. Jutarnji list in its today’s print edition emphasized that Očko’s works were presented in Tokyo, Vienna, New York, Paris. But, he is less known to the Croatian public.