We are back. We said we will be. Summer was and still is hot. First edition after the holidays will be light.
Joint European solution, not barbed wire
Croatian Interior Minister Davor Božinović said that a joint European solution was the best response to the issue of illegal migrants after Slovenia decided to continue putting up barbed wire and fence along its border with Croatia. There are currently 179 kilometres of "temporary technical barriers," along the Slovenian border with Croatia, 116 kilometres of which is barbed wire fencing and 63 kilometres of panel fencing.
Zoran Ničeno, Head of the Border Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, said on HTV that this year there is an increase of nearly 200 per cent of illegal border crossings. “That's 9487 cases for the first seven months. At the same time, we have 505 arrested smugglers”, he said. Ničeno said that BiH is intentionally putting immigrants in camps close to the Croatian border.
Zoran Ničeno, Head of the Border Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior,
President is leading in polls, but ...
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the incumbent president, has the support of 34,6% of voters, two more than a month before, according to polls. But, only 49 per cent of voters think positively about her, and only 37% approve her work as president. That is the lowest percentage for any Croatian president from 1990. In the second round of presidential elections in December will enter Zoran Milanović (SDP - S&D), who has 24,6 %. The third is singer Miroslav Škoro with 18%.
52%: do not approve work of the president; 37% approve; 10% do not know
But, in HDZ nothing new. KGK’s presidential campaign becomes another space for the clash between circle close to PM Andrej Plenković and the others. Davor Ivo Stier said that he will not react on attacks that will come from the camp of Miroslav Škoro, and people close to Plenković saw that as treason. Some persons close to Stier said that Plenković is very nervous because he would not survive another election defeat - presidential after EU elections. The new leader of HDZ will be elected in the first half of next year and Stier and Miro Kovač, former Foreign affairs minister, are in the run. But, as Marko Špoljar wrote in Jutarnji list, if KGK wins elections it can make PM’s life more difficult: it will be her’s second mandate and she can attack the government, work for right-wing. Simply, being a problem for the government if Plenković will be leading it.
Reaction to Aleksandar Vučić
Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Ministry says that the statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić that the armed rebellion of local Serbs against Croatia's authorities in the early 1990s aimed at undermining the Constitutional and legal order was justified is unacceptable. Zagreb recalls that many relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly, verdicts of the Hague-based UN-tribunal for war crimes in former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as well as the judgement of the International Court of Justice in the case of Croatia's genocide lawsuit against Serbia and Serbia's counter-suit, clearly speak about Serbia's responsibility for these developments in the 1990s.
Digitalization, what digitalization?
New data show that 21 % of Croatian citizens never used the Internet, wrote Jutarnji list in its today’s print edition. EU average is 11%. The problem is elderly people: 62% of citizens older than 65 have never used the Internet. And, only 27% of Croats buy online: EU average is 50%. Digitalization is supposed to be one of the priorities of Croatian EU presidency in the first half of 2020.
'We make indestructible engines. They survived Chernobyl”.
Workers in Adriadiesel that are making best machines in the world
Last week in Zagreb landed one of the biggest aeroplanes in the world, Antonov. With a machine that needs to be repaired. It was made in Karlovac, 40 years ago. And still works. Jutarnji list has a story about the people from the factory Adriadiesel. “Our engines survived Chernobyl. When everything was shut down after the disaster, our engines kept running until they were out of fuel - workers are telling to the reporter.
Dubrovnik showed the way
Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said on Sunday that this year's 70th edition of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, with its very ambitious and diverse program, showed what direction a contemporary European festival should go.