Matic: Croatia could be evicted from the EU due to war veterans protest

Zagreb, 25 October 2014 (MIA) - Croatian War Veterans' Affairs Minister Predrag Matic said in an interview with the "Vecernji List" daily that hit the newsstands on Saturday that the behaviour of the protesting veterans could lead to the "eviction of Croatia from the European Union", HINA reports.

Homeland Defence War veterans with 100% disability and other disgruntled veterans continued their rally outside the war veterans' affairs ministry in Zagreb on Saturday, the sixth straight day, demanding that Minister Predrag Matic and his two closest aides step down.

During their sit-in rally, the protesters spent one more cold night in a tent they set up on the premises of the ministry, with Zagreb residents coming to give them support and the local office of the Red Cross organisation providing them with blankets, food and drinks.

Nevenka Topalusic, 60, a disabled female veteran, died during the protest on Wednesday and it provoked the angers of other veterans and sympathies from Zagreb citizens who brought food and blankets to the protesters.

A commemoration for Topalusic brought together several hundred people on Thursday and traffic along site was disrupted for some time.

On Friday the organizers of the protest refused a suggestion from President Ivo Josipovic to mediate in his office between Matic and the protesters. sk/15:41

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Croatian MEP hopeful W. Balkan countries will join EU immediately after 2020

Sarajevo, 26 October 2014 (MIA) - Western Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina could become new European Union members soon after 2020, provided that they seriously take the opportunity and resolutely implement the necessary reforms, a Croatian member of the European Parliament, Tonino Picula said in Sarajevo on Saturday.

Addressing a conference organised by the Pan-European Union on Bosnia and Herzegovina's new approach to its integration into the EU bloc, Picula, who is the chairman of the EP delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, said that Bosnia and Herzegovina was and would be "a stress test for the ability of the European Union to expand both its territory and influence as a community that shares the same values".

He called on the new European Commission and on the local government which would be set up in Bosnia after the latest elections to create space for a new approach to the European integration processes.

As for reasons for disinclination to further enlargement, the Croatian MEP said that "the crisis has played its part in it, and populist movements have made use of it."

Picula also warned that a statement by the new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker about a halt in enlargement in the next five years, should not be used as a pretext for not doing anything concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU membership bid.

He said that a big job was ahead of the country and efforts might be rewarded adequately upon the expiry of the term of the Juncker commission.

Soon after 2020, a new wave of the EU enlargement to include the Western Balkans may ensue, Picula said.

To this end, Bosnia should homogenise itself as a country, he added.

"This is the time of brutal resetting of international relations," the Croatian politician said. sk/11:11

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Sanader transferred from jail to hospital due to heart problems

Zagreb, 26 October 2014 (MIA) - Former Croatian Prime Minister and former leader of the HDZ party, Ivo Sanader, who is behind bars on charges of corruption, was transferred from the Remetinec penitentiary to a hospital in Zagreb due to his health problems, media outlets reported on Sunday.

According to media reports, Sanader was taken ill on Saturday and Sanader's lawyer Jadranka Slokovic was quoted by the national broadcaster HRT as saying that he underwent cardioversion procedure in order to convert his heart rate into a normal rhythm using electricity.

Sanader is currently at a coronary care unit of the "KBC Rebro" hospital in Zagreb.

He has been sentenced for the graft in the Hypo and INA-MOL scandals and is also standing trial for some other murky dealings involving public companies and ministries during his premiership.