- Croatian presidential elections to be held on December 29
On November 21, according to the Croatian government’s decision, the presidential elections will be held on Sunday, December 29. The decision will come into effect on November 28, 2024.
The official election campaign will start on December 13, and may last until midnight on December 28 and end 24 hours before the elections.
If no candidate receives a majority in the first round, a second round between the two candidates with the largest number of votes will be held on January 12.
The five-year mandate of the current President Zoran Ivanović ends on February 18, 2025. He has already announced that he is eligible to run for the President again.
So far, 11 more candidates have expressed their intention to run for the post of head of state. In particular, an independent candidate, former Minister of Science and Education of Croatia Dragan Primorac, who is supported by the ruling coalition parties – HDZ and the Homeland Movement (Domovinski pokret).
- Serbia is to sell weapons to Kazakhstan
During the first visit of Kazakh President to Serbia as head of state, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has announced their intentions to expand cooperation between the countries.
Representatives of Serbia and Kazakhstan have signed 10 agreements and memorandums on bilateral cooperation in various areas in the presence of the Presidents of the two countries. Among them are readmission, education, labour and social protection, tourism, the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, as well as the military-industrial complex.
It is planned to pay special attention to defence cooperation. As part of these plans, during the visit, Tokayev and Vučić have visited the military-industrial exhibition at an air base near Belgrade. “Serbia’s extensive experience in the military sector is of interest to strengthening Kazakhstan’s defense potential,” the Kazakh presidential administration noted. However, Russian experts believe that this is about a possible transit of Serbian military equipment through Kazakhstan to Russia.
- Serbia continues to be in a state of political turmoil after Novi Sad tragedy
On November 21, it became known that 11 people were arrested following the tragedy in Novi Sad, when 15 people died and two were seriously injured after a canopy collapsed at the city’s railway station.
The arrested individuals are facing up to 12 years in prison.
Among those arrested were former Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesić, former director of the Serbian Railway Infrastructure company Nebojša Šurlan, and Jelena Tanasković, who until recently was the director of the Serbian Railway Infrastructure.
Vesić resigned on November 5, five days after the tragedy. Tanasković resigned on November 20, as well as the Minister of Internal and Foreign Trade, Tomislav Momirović.
The Serbian opposition expresses dissatisfaction with the government’s response to the tragedy in Novi Sad. On November 25, opposition MPs called for a vote of confidence to be held in the government. The ruling coalition’s refusal to discuss the issue led to days of chaos in the parliament chamber.
- Croatia is to buy six Bayraktar drones from Turkey
The agreement was signed by Croatian Defense Minister Ivan Anušić and the CEO of the Turkish Baykar defence company.
The package includes a command&control center, a training simulator, ground control stations (GCS), ground data stations, an initial provisioning spare parts, a two-year warranty, the presence of Baykar technical experts in Croatia for two years, training at the Baykar training center in Turkey and the transportation of the entire package to Croatia.
The total contract value excluding VAT is 67 million euros
The company will deliver all goods and services within nine months following the agreement, according to which the entire system should be put into operation by the end of September 2025.
Bayraktar is needed not only for combat operations. It can be used by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Construction, the Ministry of the Interior, when it comes to combating illegal migration and fighting fires, Croatian government officials said.
