Minister Božinović: Europe is very interested in Croatia becoming a Schengen member
"The migrant wave has never stopped. It is much less intense than in 2015 and 2016. Differences are important because in 2015 migrants were invited to Western Europe, and today is a completely different situation," Minister of Interior Davor Božinović told at HRT. "BiH is placing migrants close to the Croatian border with a message - go there to Croatia. But our message is - when you get there, then there is the Croatian police and you will not pass. Croatia will not allow illegal migration," he said. And added that "according to them (BiH), they are doing nothing at the eastern border of BiH and that migrants enter there”. Croatian police apprehended 589 human traffickers until Sunday (600 last year). More on human trafficking in jutarnji.hr report.
Regarding entry into the Schengen area, Božinović said that technical readiness was expected to be confirmed in September by this, “Juncker’s Commission”, that seven chapters were closed, and that another was expected in the next week or two, followed by a political decision. Europe is very interested in Croatia becoming a Schengen member, he stressed.
Political decision will be the hardest part: Croatia has a long border with BiH (1001 km), there are unresolved border issues with Slovenia, BiH, Serbia and Montenegro. And, Romania and Bulgaria are still not Schengen members. Although they fulfilled technical criteria. And there is an other argument: no new members of Schengen before reforme of immigration system.
“People want more authority for president”
"More than 60 per cent of people seek greater authority for the president. People are looking for opportunities, they are seeking correction of this bogus parliamentary democracy. What we have is not a parliamentary democracy”. These are the word of Miroslav Škoro, a pop singer who is a candidate in presidential elections.
He did not say where he found that figure of 60%, when or who made the survey.
President about Croats in World War II
"We are here to honour all war victims, both in Poland, which was the first to start fighting Nazism and in all other states which stood up in the defence of freedom and peace in Europe and the world. The Croatian people, proportionate to its population, contributed the most to the anti-fascist struggle in Europe in which more than half a million Croatian citizens actively took part," Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said. And it is true. Croatia was first in organising resistance movement on June 22nd 1941. Around 60 per cent of partisans were Croats.
Plan of the presidential campaign
Both Jutarnji and Večernji list in their today’s print editions have president’s plan for the campaign. Večernji emphasized:
1) she will not pay any attention to Miroslav Škoro because her headquarters regard Zoran Milanović (SDP) her main competitor;
2) she will not allow that interHDZ fights to be fought over her campaign (that was the reason Mate Granić, one of her advisers, lost his presidential campaign in 2000).
Jutarnji highlights another problem: how to motivate HDZ members unsatisfied with the government of Andrej Plenković to vote for her.
School in Vukovar becomes kindergarten
School in Vukovar, financed by Norway government, will become nursery school. But, it is still unknown will it be for little Croats or Serbs. This school was supposed to be an intercultural school “Danube” for Croat and Serb students where they will study by the same curriculum. Norway government gave €360.000 for it. But, it was not realised. The school was built but mayor Ivan Penava (HDZ) was against that project and at the end city councillors from HDZ and SDSS (party of Serb minority) helped in the destruction of the project. Croatian government returned money to Oslo. More in today’s print edition of Jutarnji list.
European Defence Agency chief executive in Zagreb
Closer cooperation in defence and security is necessary between EU member states given the challenges they face and this cooperation is an opportunity for the industry sector and economic development, European Defence Agency (EDA) chief executive Jorge Domecq has said to Hina. Domecq said his visit to Zagreb had four goals: The first is to learn about the priorities of Croatia's Council of the EU presidency in the first half of next year from the perspective of the Defence Ministry and about how the EDA can support Croatia in that. The other aspect is to see what the Croatian authorities expect of the EDA, the third is their feedback on how we can step up Croatia's participation in the EDA regarding defence cooperation, and the fourth is to see the Croatian authorities' stand on our agency's challenges in the months and years ahead, he added.
Banks profit up 10 per cent
In the first half of 2019, banks in Croatia reported pre-tax profits of HRK 3.8 billion (€512 million), which is 10% more than in the same period of 2018, according to Croatian National Bank (HNB).