Prime Ministers of Croatia

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced at a government session that as of January 1, 2020, the country's minimum wage was 3250 kuna (435 euros). Since the beginning of the current government's term of office, the minimum wage has been increased by about 100 euros, MIA reported.

Amid an ongoing crisis in the ruling coalition in Croatia, with the junior coalition partner, the Croatian People's Party, HNS, threatening the senior Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, that it will vote against the draft budget for 2020, speculation grows about about the coalition collapsing.

The European Commission announced on Tuesday that Croatia has "taken the measures needed to ensure that the necessary conditions for the full application of the Schengen rules and standards are met".

A series of warnings about the rise of intolerance against ethnic minorities, hate speech and historical revisionism in Croatian society have attracted very little or no public attention - except one, from Croatian Serb leader Milorad Pupovac, which has been causing controversy for over a month.

Why has the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, that has run the country for 20 of these 28 years, waited so long to promote Vukovar Remembrance Day, a de-facto date of national suffering, to a national holiday?

The European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs on Thursday evening decided to give a green light to Dubravka Suica, Croatia's proposed candidate for the Commission's vice-presidency for Democracy and Demography, after she was questioned for three hours by MEPs.

Some 1,500 teachers from all across Croatia held a protest rally on Wednesday to demand higher wages in the education system.

They walked in a procession in the centre of Zagreb, ending their walk in front of the government building, where organizers and union representatives made speeches.

"These are individuals, perhaps organised, but they are not the fruit of some climate in society, they are deviations that need to be dealt with based on individual responsibility," Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday.

Plenkovic added that the government "won't be sucked into a spiral of hate".

Newly-elected President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is on a working visit to Croatia.

She will talk with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković  about the priorities of the upcoming Croatian presidency of the EU Council, the negotiations on the multiannual financial framework, and Croatia's aspirations for membership of the Schengen area and the euro area.

Uncertainty

Few European countries have seen the same levels of combined economic and political turmoil as Greece over the last decade. Thankfully, Greece seems to be coming out of the turbulent years, but as it does so, will its economy be able to accelerate forward or remain stuck in limbo?