PM Says No Reason to Deploy Army to Protect Border

ZAGREB, Sept 16, 2020 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told the parliament on Wednesday that currently there was no valid reason for the engagement of army troops to protect the country’s border against illegal migrants.

Our policy is that the Croatian police protect the border, and more than 6,000 police officers safeguard the border around the cock, the premier said in response to a question by Bridge parliamentarian Miro Bulj, who asked during Question Time whether the authorities would deploy the military along the border because local inhabitants in the Dalmatian hinterland felt insecure due to the influx of illegal migrants.

Plenkovic said that for the time being there was no valid reason for the army to be deployed on the border.

However, he elaborated that in the event that “hypothetical circumstances were such that the job within the remit of the police might increase to such levels that they could not perform them, we can consider other possibilities.”

Plenkovic confirmed that there was certain migratory pressure and that the efforts to reduce this pressure should be made on the borders between Greece and Turkey and possibly between Bulgaria and Turkey.

Answering questions from MPs, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric expressed his confidence that during the four-year term of the current government, that was inaugurated this July, Croatia could introduce the euro as its official currency.

Nothing will be done overnight, a lot of work lies ahead of us, he admitted.

PM against the revocation of mandatory fees for membership of chambers

Marijana Puljak of the Pametno party suggested that mandatory fees should be abolished for membership of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), the Croatian Chamber of Crafts and Trades (HOK), and for the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ), insisting that this move would reduce the huge tax burden on businesses.

In response to this suggestion, PM Plenkovic said that “there are certain lobbies that would like to see” that those chambers had nothing in their revenues, which would then create room for somebody else’s activities.

Those chambers have some sense, and many other countries also have organisations like that, Plenkovic said and added that he believed that the costs of those chambers could be lessened.

In this context, he underscored that cost-cutting processes were being conducted within the HGK.

As for the taxation burden, Plenkovic recalled that his cabinet had to date reduced that burden by HRK 9 billion.

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