Croatia

Croatia abolished visas Saturday (January 1st) for Albanian citizens travelling to its territory. Before this, only summer travel was visa-free. From now on, Albanians will be able to spend up to 90 days in Croatia without a visa. The foreign ministry in Tirana welcomed the move, saying it would boost …

Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said on Monday  that Austria supports her country’s EU integration process. After meeting with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann in Vienna, Kosor explained that the talks focused on additional efforts Croatia must make in order to close the negotiation chapters on judiciary and competition. She said …

Representatives of Serbs who fled Croatia during the 1991-1995 war announced on Monday (December 13th) they are launching a petition drive to insist that Croatia resolve their property rights and other outstanding issues before joining the EU. They will start collecting signatures as of Wednesday in Serbia, Montenegro, Republika Srpska, …

Croatian wartime official Tomislav Mercep, suspected of the murder or disappearance of 43 people in 1991, has been placed in 30-day custody. An investigation has been launched against Mercep, an assistant interior minister in Croatia during the war there, on suspicion

The UN war crimes tribunal Wednesday (December 8th) cut the sentence of Veselin Sljivancanin, a former senior officer in the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), from 17 to ten years in prison. He was found guilty of

Croatia hopes to close another three chapters in its accession negotiations with the European Union at the intergovernmental conference in December. “It is the ambition of the Croatian government to close three more chapters at the intergovernmental conference on December 22 during Belgium’s

European Parliament (EP) rapporteur for Croatia Hannes Swoboda believes that Zagreb’s accession talks could be wrapped up in the first half of next year. In a draft report quoted by local media Friday (November 26th), he notes that accession negotiations could be completed by then if the country maintains its …

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his visiting Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor agreed on Friday (November 26th) in Ankara that there are no open political issues between their countries and vowed to boost economic ties. Erdogan said he expects the Turkish-Croatian trade volume to rise to 1 billion euros …

Slovenia has denied claims seen in Croatian media that it is blocking Croatia’s efforts to enter the EU. Instead, official Ljubaljana said, they were only protecting their own interests. Milan Balažic, the spokesperson to the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Slovenia only wished to protect, within

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said that Croatia is in the final stage of its EU integration process but urged more reforms to achieve the membership goal. After meeting President Ivo Josipovic on Thursday (November 25th) in Zagreb, Fuele pointed out that a lot has been done in the past …