Andrej Plenkovic

After Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that Croatia was ready to take in some child refugees trapped in refugee camps on Greek islands, hostile comments on social networks condemned the idea, some claiming that parents and wider relatives would then accompany the children - some of whom might be extremists.

Heating Up

In a statement on March 3, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles warned against inflammatory language.

"Refugees seeking protection should not be treated as a security threat, with heavy-handed military tactics and language," the organisation said.

Undoubtedly the visit of the presidents of the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Parliament (accompanied by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis) to the Greek-Turkish land border at Evros constitutes a strong message of solidarity with Greece.

The top EU officials made declarations of solidarity and support for Greece at a critical moment.

The presidents of the executive European Commission, the European Council (which represents national governments) and the European Parliament - Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel and David Sassoli - have arrived in northern Greece for a planned tour at the country's land border with Turkey.
The EU officials were met at the airport by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to hold multilateral talks on easing the migrant crisis that would involve Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has claimed according to reports.

The brother of a boy, who was diagnosed with coronavirus yesterday after returning from Milan where he and his girlfriend were at the Champions League game, got infected, "Jutarnji list" reports, citing Minister Beros' confirmation.
The girl was confirmed to be negative for the coronavirus.

The Croatian Prime Minister on Thursday confirmed that he had accepted the resignation of Chief State Prosecutor Drazen Jelenic, who quit on Wednesday, after admitting he belonged to a masonic lodge.

Croatia's Chief State Attorney, Drazen Jelenic, resigned on Wednesday after local media revealed that he is a member of the Freemasonry organization.

According to an MIA correspondent, the prosecutor resigned after a conversation he had with Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic and after Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic's call to step down or otherwise be fired.

"There is no external pressure to encourage change; the [European] Commission, for example, has abolished the anti-corruption reports it once had."

Responsibility for the fight, Ivkovic Novokmet said, had fallen on institutions now firmly in the hands of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, in power since January 2016.