BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN NO. 7734

Croatia is represented by Mirjan Damaska, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, according to the ministry.

Apart from Damaska, Croatia's legal team includes Maja Sersic, a professor at the law school at Zagreb University, and Andrea Metelko Zgombic, the chief legal aide to the Croatian foreign ministry.

According to unofficial reports, Croatia filed the 2,000-page document whose content is confidential until the ICJ opens a debate on the matter.

The Serbian media have quoted Serbia's legal representative Sasa Obradovic as saying that Belgrade is expected to send its rejoinder to Croatia's reply by 4 November 2011.

In its 1999 suit, Croatia sued the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which comprised Serbia and Montenegro, for breaches of the 1948 genocide convention committed in Croatia between 1991 and 1995, that is during the Homeland Defence War.

The ICJ ruled on 18 November 2008 that Croatia's suit fell within its jurisdiction.

On 4 January 2010, Serbia's legal representatives filed the Counter-Memorial against Croatia at the ICJ in The Hague. The document contains information on crimes allegedly committed in Gospic, Sisak, Pakracka Poljana, Karlovac, Osijek, Paulin Dvor, Medak, Maslenica and operations codenamed Flash and Storm.

KOSOR MAKES TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS VISIT TO CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL IN GORNJA BISTRA

ZAGREB, Dec 26 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on Sunday visited the special hospital for children suffering from incurable diseases in Gornja Bistra, northwest of Zagreb, and brought the little patients gifts.

The hospital currently takes care of 106 patients, almost all of whom are bed-ridden.

On this occasion, PM Kosor said the government would try to permanently improve the care for those children.

The hospital's manager, Ivan-Zeljko Weiss, thanked Kosor for her traditional visits to this institution during the Christmas holidays.

The hospital's 93-member staff also cooperates with Italian volunteers. Some 4,800 volunteers from Italy have been to the Gornja Bistra hospital over the past 10 years.

SOCIAL COUNCIL FOR TEXTILE, FOOTWEAR, LEATHER AND RUBBER SECTOR ESTABLISHED

ZAGREB, Dec 26 (Hina) - A social council for the textile, footwear, leather and rubber sector held its inaugural session at the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship on Tuesday, electing as its president Nikola Mikic of the Croatian Employers' Association.

The establishment of the council is expected to help the sector, which is ailing owing to lack of competitiveness and constant downsizing - the first nine months of 2010 saw about 3,500 more layoffs than at the same time last year, Mikic said, adding that in 1992 the sector had 80,000 employees, whereas now it had 30,000.

"As a profession, we are not attractive to young people, as our workers are extremely underpaid, and despite the fact that the salaries are 45-50 per cent below the trade average, the trend of transferring the textile industry, not only from Croatia, but Europe as well, to markets with cheaper labour, remains strong," said Mikic.

Although the sector is export-oriented, the first six months of 2010 saw a year-on-year decline from HRK 3.4 billion to 1.8 billion, Mikic said, adding the extremely appreciated domestic currency did not facilitate exports.

Council vice president Svjetlana Sokcevic said it was good that the state was getting involved in dialogue with the sector, which could help preserve the remaining jobs.

A state secretary at the Economy Ministry, Rudjer Friganovic, said the textile sector, like the rest of the manufacturing industry, was suffering from the consequences of Croatia's deindustrialisation.

The government set aside HRK 40 million to support the textile sector this year, while next year's amount has not been determined, but it could be bigger, since HRK 100 million is envisaged for the manufacturing industry, 40 per cent more than this year.

The head of the government's office for social partnership, Vitomir Begovic, announced that social councils would soon also be established for the wood-processing industry and forestry and for the printing industry and publishing.

(EUR 1 > HRK 7.39)

NADAL VOTED EUROPEAN ATHLETE OF THE YEAR, VLASIC RANKS 3RD

WARSAW, Dec 26 (Hina) - Spaniard Rafael Nadal, a tennis player currently ranked No. 1 in the world, has been named the best European athlete in 2010, and is followed by German Formula One racing driver Sebastian Vettel and Croatian female high-jumper Blanka Vlasic, in a traditional vote conducted by 25 European news agencies, including Croatia's Hina.

Nadal mustered 179 points, Vettel came second with 155 points and Vlasic gained 114 points.

This is the second time for the Spanish tennis player to be voted European athlete of the year in the election co-ordinated by the Polish news agency (PAP). He was given this title also in 2008.

US KFOR TROOPS TO BE DEPLOYED IN NORTH KOSOVO AS OF FEBRUARY

PRISTINA, Dec 26 (Hina) - The US troops in the international Kosovo Force (KFOR) are expected to take control over northern Kosovo, predominantly populated by Serbs, next February, the KFOR's US contingent's commander, Francisco Neuman, said on Saturday.

Brigadier Neuman was quoted by the independent Klan Kosova TV station as saying that US troops would replace the French contingent that had been deployed in the north of Kosovo for 11 years.

CHRONOLOGY OF MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS FOR CROATIA IN 2010

ZAGREB, Dec 26 (Hina) - The following is a chronology of the most important events for Croatia in 2010:

JANUARY

1 - Croatia's two-year nonpermanent membership of the UN Security Council ends. Bosnia and Herzegovina takes its place.

3 - The then honorary president of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, accompanied by several HDZ members of parliament, announces his stronger involvement in the party, blaming "a deficit in leading the party" for the poor performance of HDZ candidate Andrija Hebrang in the presidential election. Sanader holds a special press conference at HDZ headquarters in Zagreb, his first since he resigned in July 2009.

4 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) presidency expunges from party membership former honorary president Ivo Sanader after his press conference at which he announced his return to active politics, HDZ president Jadranka Kosor says after a Presidency session. "I accept the Presidency's decision if it is to the benefit of the HDZ," Sanader said.

4 - Serbia files a lawsuit against Croatia at the International Court of Justice for genocide against Serbs during the 1991-95 war.

7 - The government adopts a plan for legislative activities necessary for the completion of Croatia's European Union entry talks. The plan envisages the passage of 12 laws in order to close policy chapters within Croatia's EU membership talks. Also adopted is a programme for implementing EU acquis communautaire in 2010.

8 - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic receives a very warm welcome in Pristina, while being harshly criticised in Belgrade for his day-long visit to Kosovo.

8 - State of emergency declared for Lika-Senj County after areas of Gornji Kosinj and Donji Kosinj and other communities in the municipality of Perusic were hit by floods.

10 - A presidential runoff between Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Ivo Josipovic and independent candidate Milan Bandic, the two candidates who garnered the most votes in the first election round on 27 December 2009 in which 12 candidates competed.

11 - SDP candidate Ivo Josipovic wins the presidential runoff, mustering 60.26 percent of the vote. Independent candidate Milan Bandic wins 39.74 percent of the vote.

11 - The Supreme Court upholds a seven-year prison sentence against retired general Vladimir Zagorec, handed down by the Zagreb County Court for abuse of office and a theft of jewels from a Defence Ministry safe in 2000.

11 - State of emergency declared for Ploce and Metkovic after the Neretva flooded that part of Croatia.

11 - The Croatian People's Party (HNS) leader Radimir Cacic says at a news conference he caused a road accident in Hungary on 8 January due to thick fog and that one of passengers in the other car died on the way to hospital. Another seriously wounded passenger died of injuries later in January.

12 - Freedom House says in its annual report on freedom around the world that the evaluation of political rights in Croatia has changed from 2 to 1, which is the highest grade in this category.

14 - Serbian President Boris Tadic says he will not attend the inauguration of Croatia's new president, Ivo Josipovic, because Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu has been invited.

14 - The government adopts a decision on measures for economic recovery and development, consisting of two models of active participation of the state in supplying credit to the business sector - models for the financing of business projects and a guarantee fund, and a decision on the participation of the government in the establishment of economic cooperation funds.

16 - The Main Committee of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) unanimously decides to expel 14 members of the SDP organisation in Zagreb who in the recent presidential campaign actively supported Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic, and it dissolves three local party branches in the Croatian capital for the same reason.

18 - The presidency of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) dissolves its branch in the City of Zagreb. HDZ chief and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor tell a news conference that the decision on dissolving this branch was made after an analysis of its performance at the last local elections and the Croatian presidential polls as well as due to the fact that a part of the branch membership did not support its head Jasen Mesic. Mesic is succeeded by Gordan Jandrokovic, Foreign Minister.

19 - Hloverka Novak Srzic is relieved of her duty as the editor-in-chief of the Croatian national television's news programme and Renato Kunic is appointed the acting editor-in-chief, according to a decision made by the HRT (national broadcaster) Programmes Council.

20 - In its report on human rights around the world, Human Rights Watch points to problems in Croatia related to war crimes trials, denial of rights to psychiatric patients, poor treatment of asylum seeks and threats against media freedoms.

21 - Former Economy Minister Damir Polancec under investigation for illegal brokerage services in the Podravka food company.

21 - The Split County Prosecutor's Office presses charges against the leader of the Federation of Independent Croatian Trade Unions (SSSH), Ana Knezevic, on suspicion that she sold a piece of state-owned real estate to a private company in order to acquire illegal gain for the trade union federation. Knezevic is accused of abuse of office. She is suspected of selling a catering establishment in Split to the Skladgradnja construction company, owned by Slaven Zuzul. Knezevic is suspected of selling the establishment that the federation was using for EUR 618,280, less than the market price.

21 - Former Croatian diplomat Ljubomir Cucic extradited to Croatia from Germany. An international arrest warrant was issued for Cucic for evading criminal responsibility by failing to appear at Zagreb's Remetinec prison in November 2008 to serve a one-year sentence for abusing his wife. The Interior Ministry is notified by the German police about Cucic's arrest last October. Cucic also has French citizenship.

22 - Tens of activists of the nongovernmental environmentalist group "Zelena Akcija" and of the civil society association "Pravo Na Grad" ("The Right to the City") stage a protest in Varsavska Street in downtown Zagreb to prevent construction works on a future underground parking garage, which is envisaged within the Cvjetni Prolaz project of the private HOTO Grupa led by CEO Tomo Horvatincic.

23 - In a UN Security Council discussion on Kosovo, Serbian President Boris Tadic vehemently condemns Croatian President Stjepan Mesic's informal statement that he would use the military if the Bosnian Serb entity organised a referendum on secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina, describing it as "war-mongering". At the same discussion, however, Mesic receives support from the US ambassador and is commended for his regional cooperation policy.

25 - US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano includes Croatia among 11 new countries in the programme for the issue of H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant visas, which provide for temporary or seasonal employment in the US.

27 - Great Britain, Belgium and Finland remove reservations to the opening of Croatia-EU negotiations on the judiciary and fundamental rights.

27 - The Supreme Court reduces from eight to seven years the prison sentence for a former Croatian special policeman, Mihajlo Hrastov, convicted for killing 13 Serb prisoners of war on the Korana bridge in Karlovac in 1991.

27 - The police press charges against two members of a former management of the Koprivnica-based Podravka food company -- Darko Marinac and Zeljko Djurdjina -- and against Koprivnica Mayor Zvonimir Mrsic on the suspicion that they signed a harmful contract on the sale of Podravka's holiday complex in the coastal town of Pirovac, The charges were pressed following an investigation that was carried out by the Koprivnica-Krizevci County Police Department and the national police office for the suppression of corruption and organised crime, in cooperation with the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor and the anti-corruption body USKOK.

28 - The government decides to issue a public tender for the privatisation of five of the six state-owned shipyards. The Uljanik shipyard in Pula will be excluded from the tender because its management has shown interest in buying it.

29 - At the start of their trial before the Zagreb County Court, former defence minister Berislav Roncevic and his aide Ivo Bacic plead not guilty to all charges in an indictment the Croatian national anti-corruption investigative agency (USKOK) issued against them for embezzlement of more than HRK 10 million and abuse of office in the purchase of military trucks in 2004.

29 - Parliament ratifies an agreement on police cooperation with Serbia.

29 - Parliament passes a law on the state-run commission for supervising public procurement operations. The commission will deal with complaints in public procurement, concession granting and in selection of private partners in public and private partnership. Lawmakers ratify Croatia's agreement with the European Union on the deployment of Croatian soldiers in Operation Atalanta, designed to prevent and combat piracy off the Somali coast.

FEBRUARY

1 - A former chairwoman of the parliamentary Conflict of Interest Commission and Zagreb University professor, Desa Mlikotin-Tomic, and another 18 accused in the Indeks 3 case are found guilty of buying and selling exams at the Zagreb Faculty of Economics. Another two indictees -- Professor Nina Liszt and student Danijel Malaric -- are cleared of charges. Zagreb County Court judge Zoran Luburic hands down five unconditional prison terms and 14 suspended sentences ranging from six months to one year and eight months, with probation periods ranging from one to four years. The 19 accused are found guilty of abuse of office, giving and taking bribes, and illegal brokering. The verdicts are subject to appeal.

1 - The owner of the Fimi Media agency, Nevenka Jurak, dismisses media speculations that she threatened a member of the Managing Board of the Croatia Osiguranje insurance company, Damir Mihanovic, who was apparently instructed to make business deals with her marketing agency without public tenders, Former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader already dismisses the statement made by Mihanovic in an HTV news programme that in his capacity as prime minister he recommended to executives of 20 or so state-owned companies at several government meetings in 2007 to start doing business with Nevenka Jurak's PR agency Fimi Media.

2 - Bojan Guduric, the only accused in the 2008 assassination of Croatian journalist and Nacional weekly owner Ivo Pukanic and his associate Niko Franjic, who was on the run, turns himself in to the Bosnian Serb police in Banja Luka just before the start of the trial for Pukanic's assassination.

2 - The police press charges against former deputy prime minister Damir Polancec on suspicion of his involvement in the unlawful construction of floodlights on the football playing field in his hometown of Djelekovec near Koprivnica. Another two people are also under investigation in this case.

3 - Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discuss Croatia-Germany relations in Berlin.

3 - The trial for the murder of the co-owner of the political weekly Nacional, Ivo Pukanic, and his aide, Niko Franjic, commences at Zagreb County Court. The defendants are Robert and Luka Matanic, Amir Mafalani, Zeljko Milovanovic, Bojan Guduric and Slobodan Djurovic, who have been indicted by the Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) for murder for gain, a crime against public security and a conspiracy to commit crime. Guduric and Milovanovic are not in the dock. Guduric, who turned himself in to the police in northwestern Bosnian city of Banja Luka on 2 February, is in custody in Bosnia awaiting extradition to Croatia, while Milovanovic is in custody in Belgrade where he is awaiting a trial for the same case along with Milenko Kuzmanovic and Sreten Jocic, aka Joca Amsterdam, who, according to Serbian prosecutors, paid 1.5 million euros for the assassination of Pukanic

3 - Hrvoje Vojkovic says he is leaving the the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS). The HSLS governing body decides to suspend Vojkovic as the party's vice-president for violating the party's statute.

4 - The government decides to issue a tender for the sale of 59.25 per cent of shares of the Pula-based Uljanik shipyard at an initial price of HRK 397.49 million, while the sale of 25 per cent of shares to the shipyard's workers would be regulated in a separate decision. The move to privatise Uljanik followed last week's decision to invite bids for the privatisation of the remaining five state-owned shipyards. The government intends to sell 1,324,960 shares, or 59.25 per cent, of Uljanik's share at a nominal price of HRK 397.49 million. A separate decision will be made for the sale of 559,064 shares, or 25 per cent, from the portfolio of the Croatian Privatisation Fund to the shipyard's workers under special conditions.

4 - Seven executives of the Djakovstina agribusiness taken in by Osijek police for questioning on suspicion of abuse of office in a scandal about the disappearance of 3,000 tonnes of wheat and corn from the company's silos. All seven are suspected of mismanagement and embezzlements, which has pushed the company, employing 470 people and more than 700 family farms, on the verge of bankruptcy. The state holds a 30 percent stock in Djakovstina and the government has already helped the company once. The company owes HRK 50 million to the state and has declared bankruptcy.

4 - Croatian Army brigadier Roko Mijic is acquitted by the Split Municipal Court of the charges that he concealed archive material. The court says it has not been proven that maps which the indictment alleges Mijic concealed belong to archive material. The court, however, rules that the maps are "material about combat activities". Mijic was indicted at the time when the Hague tribunal's prosecution insisted on obtaining military documents, known as artillery logbooks, for the trial of generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac.

5 - Parliament okays the establishment of a guarantee fund for economic recovery and development, but opposition caucuses underlines this is just "a drop in the sea" of all the measures required for helping the ailing economy. The state-run fund will provide HRK 2 billion for loans to be granted to businesses to help them stay afloat. The loans from the fund will be granted for a period of 3-10 years. Part of the money from the fund can be used to cover outstanding taxes or to reschedule loans taken after 1 July 2008.

8 - Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi discuss support for Croatia's EU accession in Rome.

9 - A former Croatian consul-general to Australia, Goroslav Keller, is charged with embezzlement, document forgery and destruction or concealment of archival material. The Zagreb Municipal Prosecutor's Office says that in December 2008, two weeks before the end of his term in office, Keller transferred pieces of furniture and equipment from the Croatian Consulate in Sydney to Croatia without necessary permission and contrary to explicit instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. In order to conceal this, Keller allegedly indicated in an official record that the furniture had been moved to the residence of his successor. The furniture and equipment is estimated at 10,000 euros.

10 - Members of the European Parliament adopt with a majority vote a resolution on Croatia's progress stressing that the accession negotiations can be wrapped up by the end of the year provided that requirements are met.

10 - Croatian Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic and his Bosnian counterpart Barisa Colak sign an agreement on the execution of court decisions in criminal matters, which means that convicted persons will no longer be able to evade serving prison sentences by abusing dual citizenship.

11 - The Netherlands is the last country to remove the blockade of the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights chapter in Croatia's accession negotiations with the EU.

11 - The government defines conditions for the second round of bidding for the privatisation of the state-owned shipyards and agrees with the texts of agreements regulating property-related issues between the state and the shipyards, which were expected to reduce the costs of shipyard restructuring. Bids for the privatisation of the six shipyards will be invited by February 15, and bidders will have 60 days to submit their bids.

11 - Demonstrating against the construction of an underground garage in that downtown Zagreb street 23 protesters in Varsavska Street are taken in for questioning. They together with a thousand protestors stage a rally protesting against the project invested by the Hoto Group of businessman Tomo Horvatincic.

12 - The Australian Supreme Court decides that Croatia has the right to appeal a federal court decision preventing the extradition of Dragan Vasiljkovic aka Captain Dragan to Croatia.

12 - With a talk at Berlin's Humboldt University, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic ends his last foreign trip in a 10-year presidential office.

12 - Mladen Bajic appointed by parliament for his third consecutive term in office as the Chief State Prosecutor.

16 - The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists says that press freedom in Croatia lags behind other reforms.

18 - Ivo Josipovic sworn in as the third Croatian president for a five-year term.

18 - The EU's COREPER committee of foreign representatives decides to unblock the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights policy chapter and invites Croatia to submit its negotiating position on the chapter.

19 - Slovenia has removed its reservations and Croatia opens negotiations in two more policy chapters - Environment and Fisheries - whereby the number of opened chapters in the entry talks with the EU has risen to 30.

19 - President Ivo Josipovic presents his team who will be assisting him during his term over the next five years with Josko Klisovic as his chief of staff.

19 - The government establishes a commission to coordinate preparations for the use of EU funds, which will be led by two deputy prime misters that is Finance Minister Ivan Suker and Regional Development Minister Bozidar Pankretic. A total of 3.5 billion euros is be placed at Zagreb's disposal in the first two years of EU membership.

19 - Montenegro extradites to Croatia Stanko Kovacevic, whom Sibenik County Court sentenced in his absence to 10 years in prison in 1993 for committing war crimes against civilians,

22 - Croatia-Montenegro cooperation can be a positive example in the region, it is said during Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor's visit to Podgorica.

25 - The government decides to help first-time home-buyers as well as those wishing to sell their smaller flats to buy larger ones with subventions ranging between EUR 100 and EUR 300 per square metre, depending on the price of the flat. The longest time term for the repayment of loans granted for this purpose will be 30 years, with a maximum grace period of 20 years, according to a bill. The legislation envisages the placement of loans by the end of 2011. The annual interest rate during the grace period would be 2 per cent, and during the servicing of the loan it would be 5 per cent.

26 - Bojan Guduric, one of indictees accused of killing Ivo Pukanic and Niko Franjic, extradited from Bosnia to Croatia where he is placed in custody in the Remetinec detention centre in Zagreb.

26 - Parliament adopts a plan of legislative activities for the completion of accession negotiations with the European Union which envisages the passage of 12 laws aligned with the acquis communautaire in the first half of 2010. It also adopts a national consumers protection programme by 2012. Also passed was the bill on primary and secondary school textbooks. The purpose of the new legislation is to bring more order to that field. The textbooks are to be used for at least four consecutive years.

MARCH

2 - Croatia and Russia sign an agreement on Croatia's accession to the South Stream gas pipeline in Moscow after talks between Prime Ministers Jadranka Kosor and Vladimir Putin.

3 - The police press charges against Rijeka Mayor Vojko Obersnel, two more officials in the city administration and an executive of the "Trznice" company in that Adriatic city on suspicion that they abused office and committed other economic white-collar crimes in order to ensure material gain for the "Trznice" company. According to the police report, the suspects have been abusing their powers since 2000 and thus embezzled HRK 80.8 million from the city budget in order to ensure illegal gain for the said company. The company was allowed to manage the city-owned real estate, with the city authorities having bypassed the procedure of inviting bids for concessions. Obersnel, a senior official of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), says he is ready to prove his innocence before a court of law.

4 - The Montenegrin government cancels a contract on the construction of a motorway across Montenegro signed with a Croatian consortium headed by the Konstruktor company.

4 - The government decides to issue ten-year bonds in the amount of 3.5 billion kuna and 350 million euros in the kuna equivalent on the domestic market. The annual interest rate will be 6.75 per cent for the kuna bonds and 6.50 per cent for the euro bonds issued in the kuna equivalent.

5 - On his first visit abroad as Croatia's new president, Ivo Josipovic visits Brussels and meets EU leaders.

5 - Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor, Croatian PM Jadranka Kosor and Serbian President Boris Tadic agree in Ptuj to hold such meetings in the future as well.

5 - The Zagreb Magistrate's Court rules in favour of four protesters from Varsavska Street, claiming the police should not have arrested them as they did not resist arrest nor disturb the peace, but the police say their operation is legal and that they will appeal the February 26 ruling. Police started arresting protesters, who were trying to prevent the start of construction of an entrance to an underground car park in Varsavska Street in downtown Zagreb, around 3 am on February 11, a few hours after a large protest rally was held there. Police arrested 23 protesters, but only four were brought before a magistrate on charges of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. On that occasion, police dismissed all criticism about the unwarranted use of force.

10 - The Zagreb police report that the man whose dismembered body was found in Jarun Lake in Zagreb was was 44-year-old Serbian national Cvetko Simic. According to media reports, Simic had criminal records in Serbia for drug smuggling and trafficking and was connected with underworld gangs in Belgrade.

11 - The US State Department releases its annual report on human rights around the world, making generally favourable assessments on Croatia, but noting problems such as judicial backlogs, inefficiency of some war crimes trials, and difficulties faced by Serb returnees.

11 - The two per cent crisis tax on incomes ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 kuna will be abolished as of July 1 this year, Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor announces at a government session.

11 - The government gives state guarantees for loans to the 3. Maj shipyard for several construction projects and to the Brodosplit-Brodogradiliste and Brodotrogir shipyards for financing production and maintaining operations. The government adopts a decision on giving state guarantees to the Credit Suisse International/Credit Suisse, London Branch, for loans to the Rijeka-based 3. Maj and the Split-based Brodosplit-Brodogradiliste, and on giving state guarantees to J.P. Morgan, London, for a loan to the Trogir-based Brodotrogir. The government also amends a decision on the issuing of state guarantees to the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development or other business banks in Croatia and/or abroad for a loan to the Split-based Brodosplit-Brodogradiliste Specijalnih Objekata shipyard intended for financing production and maintaining operations.

11 - The Supreme Court upholds the acquittal of General Rahim Ademi, who was cleared of charges of war crimes in Medak in a trial held by the Zagreb County Court, and reduces by one year the seven-year-prison sentence for the other defendant in this case, General Mirko Norac.

12 - President Ivo Josipovic visits Slovenia. It is assessed that Croatia-Slovenia relations are improving.

12 - The Zagreb County Court hands down a 30-year prison sentence pending appeal to Mladen Slogar, a homeless man who confessed to killing young legal trainee Ivana Hodak in downtown Zagreb in 2008.

13 - Pope Benedict XVI receives in the Vatican a Croatian delegation headed by PM Jadranka Kosor.

15 - The new party -- the Labour Party -- set up with MP Dragutin Lesar on its helm.

16 - The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights finds Croatia is discriminating against and violating the right to education of 15 Roma pupils in the Medjimurje region, ordering the country to pay damages in the amount of EUR 4,500 per pupil as well as EUR 10,000 in legal costs.

16 - The director of the company Niskogradnja Sesvete, Luka Sabljic, a former head of procurement in the Zagrebacke Ceste company, Nada Hecimovic, and the owner of the Inter Ing company, Boris Videc, are given suspended sentences at the Zagreb County Court for bribery and abuse of powers in the so-called "cottage cheese and cream" scandal. The scandal is given that name because of the allegations by the anti-corruption investigative agency USKOK that Zagrebacke Ceste sub-contractors financed the election campaign of the Independence and Progress party of former Zagreb Holding spokesman Nenad Ivankovic who handed out cottage cheese and cream at Zagreb fresh produce markets during the campaign. The road maintenance company Zagrebacke Ceste is a part of Zagreb Holding, which comprises a number of utility and other companies owned by the City of Zagreb. The irregularities in Zagrebacke Ceste were discovered by former Zagrebacke Ceste director Igor Radjenovic who was appointed to that post in September 2007.

17 - The Holy See establishes a special international commission to examine the Medjugorje phenomenon. The commission will be chaired by Italian cardinal Camillo Ruini and will be made up of cardinals, bishops, and experts.

18 - The government amends an action plan it had previously adopted with the national counter-corruption strategy, and the amended plan reduces the number of anti-corruption measures but increases the number of state bodies in charge of carrying them out.

18 - The Supreme Court upholds the 11-year prison term imposed on former Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP) vice-president Josip Matanovic and quashes the sentences handed to former HFP vice-president Robert Pesa and three other defendants, ordering a retrial for them. Matanovic is found guilty of taking bribes in connection with investment in the grounds of a former brickworks in Nin and the sale of shares of the Zivogosce and Podgora hotels, and of abusing office in the appraisal of land that was not registered as the capital stock of the Badel 1862 company. He is ordered to pay back the 250,000 euros and 125,500 kuna he gained illegally.

23 - Slovenia's Constitutional Court approves an agreement on arbitration on the Slovenia-Croatia border, finding it is in accordance with the Slovenian constitution.

24 - Croatian and Serbian Presidents Ivo Josipovic and Boris Tadic hold their first working meeting in Opatija. Relations between the two countries start improving.

24 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor relieves of duty Bianca Matkovic, a minister without a portfolio, and appoints her the economy ministry state secretary for economic diplomacy.

24 - The government gives a EUR 50 million state guarantee to the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development or other commercial banks at home and abroad for a long-term loan to be taken by the Pula-based Uljanik shipyard. The state guarantee is issued for a five to seven-year period, depending on the conditions on the financial market when the loan is taken,

24 - The Zagreb County Court sentences to one year in prison pending appeal a former Croatian People's Party (HNS) member of Parliament and president of the Croatian Nanbudo Institute, Srecko Ferencak, and his business partner Petar Turkovic, who are charged for illegally obtaining more than HRK 9.5 million by selling land owned by the city of Zagreb. If the verdict becomes final, Ferencak and Turkovic will be ordered to return HRK 4.8 million each, which is how much money they allegedly earned by selling the land to the Konzum retail chain.

24 - The national anti-corruption investigative office USKOK asks the Police Directorate to launch an investigation to establish all circumstances regarding bribes worth millions of US dollars which the German car manufacturer Daimler AG paid in two dozen countries, among which foreign news agencies have also cited Croatia. The Wall Street Journal and foreign news agencies have reported that Daimler AG agreed in an out-of-court settlement to pay US$ 185 million in damages to put an end to a long-lasting investigation by US authorities which revealed that the company had paid bribes worth millions of dollars in some 20 countries, including Croatia, in order to land new contracts.

25 - At a meeting with trade unions of civil servants and employees in the public sector, the government has proposed that no Christmas bonuses, children's grants for Christmas and cash grants would be paid in the public sector this year, as this move will make additional economies in the budget. This move should save HRK 1.7 billion in the 2010 state budget.

26 - Parliament sets up a commission of inquiry to establish facts regarding the privatisation of the oil company INA and all agreements and annexes to agreements between the Croatian government and its strategic partner in INA's privatisation, the Hungarian oil company MOL.

30 - The Australian Supreme Court rules that Dragan Vasiljkovic aka Captain Dragan should be extradited to Croatia. Vasiljkovic disappears after the ruling is made public.

30 - Damir Polancec, a former Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister, arrested for abuse of office related to wrongdoing in the Koprivnica-based food company Podravka, where he started his career in 1992.

30 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) presidency unanimously decides to suspend Damir Polancec from all party duties and to launch disciplinary proceedings against him.

31 - One-month detention set for Damir Polancec, after he was suspected of abuse of office related to wrongdoing in the Koprivnica-based food company Podravka, The other suspect in this case, laywer Zoran Markovic, is released pending further proceedings.

APRIL

1 - A federal court in Washington fines German auto giant Daimler AG US$ 185 million for bribing government officials in 22 countries, including Croatia, in order to land contracts.

1 - The government decides to borrow EUR 500 million from domestic banks to repay the credit taken in previous years.

1 - The government defines priorities in the construction of electrical energy facilities in the coming period. With regard to thermoelectric power plants, the priorities are the construction of Sisak C and Plomin 3. With regard to hydroelectric plants, four such plants will be built on the Sava river near Zagreb and on the Ombla and Kosinj rivers and two plants in Molve in the Drava river basin. The aim of the projects is to encourage new investments and create new jobs as well as to kickstart the entire economy and improve electricity production.

1 - The government adopts a decision on the exemption from sale of shares deposited in the Croatian Privatisation Fund in order to transfer them, free of charge, to the Croatian Homeland War Veterans' Fund. The market value of the shares is HRK 45.6 million. The shares are those of the Viktor Lenac shipyard, Erste&Steiermarkische bank, Jadranska Banka, Karlovacka Banka, Podravska Banka, Privredne Banka, Zagrebacka Banka, and the companies Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Tisak, and Varteks. The government also decided to transfer a portion of the shares held by the government to the Veterans' Fund. This decision concerns the transfer of shares of Erste&Steiermarkische Bank, Jadranska Banka, Karlovacka Banka, Privredna Banka, Slatinska Banka and Zagrebacka Banka, and of the companies Kutjevo and Vjesnik.

2 - Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP) vice-president Velimir Kracun sentenced to a year and a half in prison for fixing a HRK 300,000 business deal for the company of his friend Ivan Odorcic, who in turn is sentenced to one year in prison.

6 - An anonymous website www.registarbranitelja.com is set up containing a search engine at which war veterans could be found by their first and last names, an identification number and details about their units. The website also includes a text explaining why the register has been made public. The anonymous creators of the website said the register is incomplete, adding that the website was set up, taking account of the public interest. They also said that by publishing the register they "relieved the burden from the government" which is expected to make the register public anyway. The ministry of war veterans' affairs condemned this act as being unlawful and against the Constitution.

7 - The ministries of defence and war veterans press charges against unidentified people who have made public data from the Croatian Homeland Defence war veterans' registry.

7 - Blogger Marko Rakar released from police custody after being arrested on suspicion of revealing classified information. Rakar was arrested in connection with the publication of the Homeland War Veterans Register on the Internet.

8 - The Zagreb County Court freezes the assets of former deputy prime minister Damir Polancec, suspected of abuse of office and embezzlement of at least HRK 75 million belonging to the Podravka food company. Polancec's assets, worth several million kuna, are frozen at the proposal of the crime suppression agency USKOK. The assets include an apartment in Zagreb, a house in Koprivnica, several land plots near Djelekovec, and shares in the Podravka company worth over HRK 3 million.

9 - Croatia will be able to receive a EUR 18 million loan from the German government, through the KfW bank, for the third phase of the Water Supply and Water Waste Management project, at a lower interest rate. The government sends to parliament a bill which would ratify a financial cooperation agreement between the two governments from 2003. The bill refers to the loan for the financing of the Water Supply and Water Waste Management project in Croatia, phase 3.

9 - The government gives permission to the Croatian Power Company (HEP) to take loans from Splitska Banka and Erste&Steiermärkische Bank in the aggregate amount of EUR 14.4 million. The government greenlights HEP's loan from Splitska Banka in the amount of EUR 10 million for financing the company's "investment and general needs" in 2010. This loan will be used for the construction of HEP's facilities in Dubrovnik. The EUR 4.4 million loan to be taken from Erste&Steiermaerkische Bank is intended for HEP's working capital and improvement of its liquidity.

9 - The trade union of public sector workers informs the government that it has turned down its proposal on no Christmas bonuses and holiday cash grants.

9 - A smoking ban in indoor public places, including restaurants and bars goes into force at midnight 9 April.

9 - Prosecutors ask Zagreb Municipal Civil Court to approve the sale of four apartments and two business premises owned by retired army general Vladimir Zagorec because he has failed to obey a court order to pay HRK 39 million. Zagorec was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment last November for stealing gems worth USD 5 million, or HRK 39 million, from a Defence Ministry safe in 2000. Since Zagorec has not paid that money nor has he paid the court costs of HRK 17,000, the Zagreb County Prosecutor's Office has moved that the money be collected from the sale of his property in Zagreb.

10 - Croatia decides to invest EUR30 million in the promotion of its tourist sector this year, which is two million euros more than in 2009, and advertising and other measures are yielding good initial results.

14 - Croatian President Ivo Josipovic apologises in Sarajevo for Croatia's involvement in the policy which tried to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s.

15 - Croatian President Ivo Josipovic visits Ahmici and Krizancevo Selo, paying his respects, together with Sarajevo Archbishop Cardinal Vinko Puljic and the head of the Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Reis Mustafa Ceric, to the Bosniaks and Croats killed during conflicts between the Bosnian army and the Croat Defence Council.

15 - Interior Minister Tomislav Karamarko files a private defamation lawsuit against Social Democratic Party parliamentarian Slavko Linic for calling him an arch-spy on several occasions and for accusing him of "police dictatorship". The private lawsuit, containing a claim for damages, is lodged with the Zagreb Municipal Court.

15 - The government decides to extend by 19 May a deadline for submitting bids for the privatisation of the six Croatian shipyards. The deadline for the submission of bids for the privatisation of the six state-run shipyards was extended from 60 to 90 days, and expires on 19 May.

15 - The government adopts draft amendments to the legislation on golf courses which remove the provision that golf courses are of particular interest to Croatia.

15 - The government asks parliament to approve the deployment of 20 more Croatian troops to the International Assistance Security Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan, which would bring the total number of Croatian personnel in 2010 and 2011 to 320.

15 - The government prepares a set of measures, known as Model C, to salvage ailing companies whose problems and debts to the state last longer than the ongoing crisis, and the model envisages a complete or partial write-off of their debt provided that they submit good restructuring plans. Model C envisages two aid instruments: transforming the government claims into a government stake in the companies, or writing off the debts provided that the troubled companies draw up sustainable plans for their restructuring.

15 - Aleksa Bjelis re-elected for another four years as head of Zagreb University.

16 - Presidents Laszlo Solyom of Hungary, Ivo Josipovic of Croatia and Boris Tadic of Serbia meets in Pecs, Hungary, after which Josipovic and Tadic meet in Backa Monostor, a village in northern Serbia in which Croats account for the majority of the population.

19 - The Slovenian parliament ratifies the Croatian-Slovenian border arbitration agreement.

19 - Croatia closes negotiations on Free Movement of Goods, a huge and technically very demanding policy chapter, at an accession conference with the EU, whereby the number of closed chapters has risen to 18.

19 - The former majority owner of the gas turbine factory TPT, Slavko Canjuga, is sentenced to three years in prison for defrauding the Karlovac-based factory in 1997 and afterwards. Former managers Ivan Rast and Ivan Protulipac receive prison terms of two and a half years and of one year respectively. The Karlovac County Court has seized illegally gained funds from the accused -- HRK 130,000 from Rast, HRK 64,000 from Canjuga, and HRK 1.55 million from the German franchise Global Sourcing.

20 - The trial of Sreten Jocic aka Joca Amsterdam and members of his group accused of the murder of Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanic and his associate Niko Franjic begins in Belgrade.

22 - The government begins the implementation of its Economic Recovery Programme and suggests that parliament rescind the four-percent crisis tax on incomes over HRK 6,000 as of November 1. The government forwards to parliament amendments to the law on the special tax on salaries, pensions and other earnings, and adopts two other decisions related to the Economic Recovery Programme

22 - Former Croatian ambassador in Washington and permanent representative to the UN Neven Jurica is sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment pending appeal for spending a minimum HRK 677,000 in diplomatic mission money to pay private bills. Jurica is banned from working in diplomacy for five years.

23 - The lower 2-percent rate of the so-called crisis tax on incomes, which was introduced on monthly salaries ranging between HRK 3,000-6,000 last summer, will be abolished as of 1 July, while the higher rate of 4 percent levied on monthly incomes exceeding HRK 6,000 will be annulled as of 1 November this year, parliament decides.

23 - Parliament sets up a nine-member commission entrusted with establishing facts about the privatisation of the INA oil company and all contracts and annexes to contracts between the Croatian government and the strategic partner MOL. The commission of inquiry will be chaired by Dragica Zgrebec of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The commission is comprised of five members from the ruling coalition and four from the Opposition.

24 - Zelimir Puljic installed as the Archbishop of Zadar at a ceremony in that Adriatic city.

28 - The Social Justice Council, set up by President Ivo Josipovic, holds its inaugural session.

29 - As part of an Austrian investigation into the operations of Hypo Group Alpe Adria, the bank's lawyers press new charges against former executives Guenter Striedinger and Wolfgang Kulterer for giving uncovered credits in Croatia.

29 - In its report on press freedoms, Freedom House ranks Croatia 85th among 196 countries over layoffs and trials against journalists who write about war crimes, organised crime and corruption.

29 - The government sets up a commission that will identify obstacles to direct investment and draw up a plan for eliminating them, and sets up an office to coordinate, supervise and expedite the issue of investment permits by amending a regulation on the internal organisation of the environmental protection ministry.

30 - Parliament decides to okay the enlargement of the 300-strong Croatian contingent in the NATO-led ISAF mission in Afghanistan by another 20 instructors.

30 - The Zagreb County Court upholds a guilty verdict against a former Croatian ambassador to France, Marko Zaja, whom the Zagreb Municipal Court last December found guilty in two cases of fraud, giving him a suspended sentence of 20 months with two years' probation. The County Court extended the probation period to four years and ordered the former diplomat's property be seized if he failed to pay HRK 760,000 to the state. Zaja was indicted for presenting the embassy with bills showing that he paid HRK 316,000 for three paintings by Ivica Zupkovic, while the painter said that a mere HRK 15,000 was paid into his bank account for one painting and that he donated the other two. Zaja was also charged with another case of embezzlement in the amount of HRK 444,500 for furniture repairs in the embassy in 1999 and 2000.

MAY

3 - Croatian Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic is appointed assistant UN secretary-general for human rights.

4 - The "Save the Children" world organisation ranks Croatia 25th according to quality of life for women, 27th according to quality of life for mothers, and 32nd according to quality of life for children.

4 - The national anti-corruption office USKOK launches an investigation of former Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Damir Polancec for authorising the payment of HRK 500,000 from the state budget for an unnecessary study. The study was drawn up by Petar Miletic, a lawyer from Vukovar, who is suspected of inciting Polancec to abuse his powers. It turned out that the study was unnecessary because all the documents concerning the subject-matter of the study had been adopted earlier.

4 - The parliamentary inquiry commission investigating the privatisation of the INA oil and gas company holds its first meeting, requesting from INA, the government, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency and the Veterans' Fund documents concerning the company's privatisation in 2002 and all contracts through which INA had possibly sold its shares or acquired stakes in other companies.

4 - Member of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) Presidency and former member of Parliament Ivan Kolar arrested on suspicion of embezzling several million kuna from the budget of the northern municipality of Molve.

5 - Customs Administration chief and former treasurer of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Mladen Barisic is under investigation for illegal mediation. He allegedly saw to it that the Fimi Media marketing firm, owned by his close friend Nevenka Jurak, won lucrative deals from state-owned companies, namely the oil and gas company INA and the insurance company Croatia Osiguranje.

5 - The member of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) Presidency and former member of Parliament, Ivan Kolar, and the owner and chief executive officer of the Jata construction firm, Andjelko Tos and Zeljko Radic respectively, are suspected of defrauding the municipal budget of Molve of over HRK 5.6 million.

6 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor announces introduction of three income tax rates as of July 1. A 12 per cent tax rate will be applied to monthly salaries of up to HRK 3,600, salaries ranging from HRK 3,601 to 10,800 will be subject to 25 per cent tax, while those above HRK 10,800 will be subject to 40 per cent tax.

6 - The government adopts a road map for the implementation of its Economic Recovery Programme, and introduces into Parliament a bill on the financing of political activities and election campaigning, proposing a 10 per cent cut in total budget funds granted to political parties for that purpose.

7 - Former Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Damir Polancec is one of the three suspects in the case of financial wrongdoing in the state-owned power company HEP. The other suspects are former HEP CEO Ivan Mravak and the former CEO of the Sibenik-based light metal factory TLM, Ivan Kostan, who have been arrested. They are suspected of defrauding HEP of HRK 600 million because they purchased electricity abroad and sold it through TLM to the Mostar-based aluminium factory Aluminij at four times lower prices.

8 - Former HEP and TLM executives Ivan Mravak and Ivan Kostan respectively are placed in 30-day custody on suspicion of defrauding the state-owned electricity provider HEP of HRK 600 million.

9 - Croatian incumbent and former Presidents Ivo Josipovic and Stjepan Mesic are among more than 30 heads of state attending a military parade in Moscow's Red Square, for the first time with the participation of NATO troops, marking the 65th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

10 - USKOK brings charges against former Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Damir Polancec for his role in the illegal installation of lighting in the football field of Osvit Football Club in his hometown of Djelekovec near Koprivnica. The lighting equipment cost over 230,000 kuna.

12 - After 43 days of hiding on a yacht, war crimes suspect Dragan Vasiljkovic aka Captain Dragan is arrested in Australia. He went into hiding after a court rules that he could be extradited to Croatia.

12 - The Croatian Ministry of Justice acknowledges receipt of a notification of the arrest by the Australian federal police of war crimes suspect Dragan Vasiljkovic.

12 - The Constitutional Court warns that Parliament has not passed a law to regulate the organisation and remit of the Office of the President of the Republic, adding that the problem should be resolved as part of forthcoming constitutional changes.

13 - The government decides to cut by 10 per cent privileged pensions exceeding HRK 3,500.

13 - The government decides to merge several hospitals in Zagreb, with Health Minister Darko Milinovic saying that the purpose of the move is not just cost-effectiveness but also the desire to improve health services and reduce the patient waiting lists by 20 per cent.

13 - Croatia's former ambassador to Libya, Jovan Vejnovic, is given a seven-month suspended sentence by the Zagreb County Court for abusing his ambassadorial privileges to procure alcohol for Croatian workers despite the Prohibition Act in that north African nation. Vejnovic will not go to prison unless he commits another crime in the next two years.

13 - The Osijek County Prosecutor's Office issues an indictment against Enes Taso, a 64-year-old citizen of Serbia, for committing war crimes against prisoners of war and civilians during the Serb insurgency in Croatia in the early 1990s.

14 - A court in Podgorica sentences four members of the former Yugoslav army (JNA) for war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war from the Dubrovnik area committed at the Morinj detention camp near Kotor, Montenegro, in the early 1990s. They are given prison sentences ranging from 18 months to four years.

14 - Croatian PM Jadranka Kosor gives Serbian PM Mirko Cvetkovic the Croatian translation of the EU acquis communautaire as a pledge of good cooperation and friendship between the two countries and in support of Serbia on the road to the EU.

18 - Several thousand people protest in central Zagreb against the construction of a garage entrance in Varsavska Street as part of a private project by Tomislav Horvatincic's HOTO Group.

18 - The federal court in New York trying the Reebok case quashes a fine against Sonja Anticevic, a retired seamstress from Omis, Croatia, who was to have paid US$ 5.72 million for alleged involvement in the case.

20 - The government sets up special commissions to oversee the sale of majority stakes in three state-owned shipyards -- Rijeka's 3. Maj, Brodogradjevna Industrija Split and Brodotrogir of Trogir. The government proposes amendments to reduce monument annuity by about 50 per cent, and decides that starting from July 1 farmers and fishermen will be allowed to buy blue diesel fuel with special cards only.

21 - Croatian citizens without permanent residence in Croatia will be allowed to vote only in Croatian diplomatic and consular missions abroad, and the diaspora will be entitled to three seats in the Croatian Parliament, leaders of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the strongest opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) agreed.

25 - Croatian PM Jadranka Kosor visits the US and meets Vice President Joe Biden in the White House.

25 - The Zagreb County Court issues a 30-day detention order for former Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Damir Polancec on the suspicion that together with Ivan Mravak, former manager of the state-owned power company Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP), and Ivan Kostan, CEO of the Sibenik-based light metal factory TLM, he has defrauded HEP of some 600,000 kuna.

28 - Parliament passes a law reducing by 10 percent privileged pensions exceeding HRK 3,500. It also amends three health laws.

28 - The government introduces into Parliament amendments to the Labour Act for consideration under the fast-track procedure. The amendments provide that collective agreements may be extended up to six months after their expiry. The government proposes reducing by 25 per cent forest fees and water rates paid by businesses. It also proposes that membership fees which businesses pay to local tourist boards be cut by 25 per cent and instructs the public companies to downsize their work force by five per cent.

30 - Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, Republika Srpska PM Milorad Dodik and the president of Bosnia's SDA party, Sulejman Tihic, visit Brisevo, Sijekovac and Kozarac, where crimes against Croats, Serbs and Bosniaks were committed during the Bosnian war.

30 - Davor Bernardic elected president of the Zagreb branch of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

JUNE

1 - The Brod-Posavina County Protection and Rescue Centre declares a flood emergency for Slavonski Brod and the nearby municipalities of Sibinj, Podcrkavlje and Gornja Vrba. The most critical situation is reported in the villages of Slobodnica and Bartolovci in Sibinj municipality where people have been evacuated from houses directly threatened by the flood waters.

1 - The Supreme Court hears an appeal by member of Parliament Branimir Glavas and his attorneys against a trial court judgement sentencing Glavas to 10 years' imprisonment for war crimes committed against Serb civilians in Osijek in 1991.

2 - Pozega-Slavonia County declares a flood emergency following heavy rains. Ten houses in Babina Greda have been evacuated after being flooded by the swollen Berava river.

2 - Police launch a criminal investigation into the Pevec retail chain on that suspicion that the company's management have committed serious economic crimes.

3 - The founder of Pevec Group, Zdravko Pevec, his wife Visnja, and the group's accountant, Dragica Barisic, arrested on suspicion of abuse of office.

4 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor presents a report on the implementation of the government's Economic Recovery Programme in May, saying that the number of unemployed people in Croatia at the end of May was 296,438.

4 - The government introduces into Parliament amendments to the Firefighting Act, which will make it possible for firefighters to work 12-hour shifts. It also sends to Parliament for ratification two agreements that will secure funding for projects under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) programme for transition assistance and consolidation of institutions, and a loan agreement with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a project supporting the judiciary. The government adopts a programme for the prevention of addiction among children and adolescents in the school and social welfare systems.

4 - Vukovar-Srijem County declares a flood emergency for Orahovica, Slatina and Zdenci after heavy rains and hail have damaged the crops and residential and farm buildings there.

6 - The Slovenia-Croatia border arbitration agreement is supported by 51.46 per cent of Slovenians at a referendum.

7 - The founders of the Pevec retail group, Zdravko and Visnja Pevec, are placed in 30-day investigative custody on suspicion of abuse of office.

8 - Croatian and Serbian Defence Ministers Branko Vukelic and Dragan Sutanovac sign a military cooperation agreement, saying it is a step ahead in the normalisation of Croatia-Serbia relations and the stabilisation of the entire region.

8 - Croatian prosecutors and police detain 22 people for questioning in connection with First Football Division match fixing and betting fraud. Sources close to the investigation say that among those detained are First Division players and officials. The suspects Vinko Sako, Dino Lalic and Admir Suljic allegedly earned between 150,000 and 300,000 euros at bookies for each fixed game. Eight First Division matches are believed to have been fixed from late March to early May, while the rigging of four matches apparently failed.

8 - Sretko Kalinic, a member of a Serbian organised crime ring known as the Zemun Clan and one of the people accused of assassinating Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, has been wounded by a lake in Zagreb's western suburb of Rakitje. He was shot by Milos Simovic, who has been found guilty of assassinating Djindjic and sentenced in his absence to 40 years in prison. Kalinic has been transferred to a Zagreb hospital in serious condition.

9 - Trade unions begin collecting signatures in Zagreb's main square for a referendum against government-sponsored amendments to labour legislation.

9 - Osijek-Baranja County declares the county a disaster area because of the extensive damage to the crops, residential and farm buildings and infrastructure caused by floods in mid-May.

9 - The government and trade unions begin negotiations on amendments to labour legislation. The trade unions are strongly opposed to the amendments proposed by the government, claiming that their purpose is to break the existing system of collective agreements.

10 - Croatia's bathing water quality is among the best in Europe, above the European average, according to a European Commission report for 2009 which includes Croatia for the first time.

10 - Parliament formulates draft amendments to the Constitution in line with a proposal from the Committee on the Constitution and proposals agreed on by leaders of the ruling majority and the opposition. Under the draft amendments, Constitutional Court judges would be elected by a two-thirds majority. Under an amendment put forward by the ruling HDZ and adopted by Parliament, upon the expiry of their term, Constitutional Court judges would not remain in their position until the election of a new judge, but rather their term would be extended by up to six months. Croatian citizens without permanent residence in Croatia would be able to vote in Croatian elections only in Croatian embassies and consulates, and a fixed quota would be introduced for the diaspora, which would have three seats in Parliament in the future.

10 - The government introduces into Parliament draft amendments to the Income Tax Act and the Profit Tax Act, announcing that it will propose a property tax in the autumn. The proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act aim to reduce the number of income tax rates from four to three as of July 1 and to abolish tax benefits. Three income tax rates are proposed -- 12 per cent for a tax base of up to 3,600 kuna, 25 per cent for a tax base of between 3,601 and 10,800 kuna, and 40 per cent for a tax base exceeding 10,801 kuna. The government predicts that the proposed changes will result in income increases for about 1.5 million people.

10 - The government introduces into Parliament amendments to the Prevention of Violence at Sporting Events Act, under which fighting, violence and destruction of property at sporting events would be prosecuted as crimes punishable by imprisonment. The government also proposes amendments to the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) Act, under which the monthly subscription fee to the national broadcaster would be reduced from HRK 80 to 60 as of August 1.

10 - Milos Simovic, a member of the Zemun Clan, is arrested while attempting to illegally cross the border from Croatia into Serbia at Morovici. The Croatian police have charged him with attempted murder of Sretko Kalinic, a member of the same clan, in Zagreb's western suburb of Rakitje. Simovic has been found guilty of assassinating Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and sentenced in his absence to 40 years in prison.

14 - The Hague war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, tells EU foreign ministers that there is no reason to suspect that Croatia will not continue and expand cooperation in a search for missing wartime documents. This statement removes reservations among some countries to the opening of the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights policy chapter in Croatia's EU entry talks.

14 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor calls on the trade union federations to resume negotiations on planned amendments to labour legislation, saying that the amendments will incorporate the unions' proposals.

14 - Investigating fraud in the state-owned power supplier HEP, the police and the anti-corruption office USKOK widen the circle of suspects by arresting HEP production manager Petar Cubelic and the chairmen of the supervisory and management boards of the Monting PiM company, Ljubo Busic and Anto Matic, on suspicion of attempted abuse of office and giving bribes for lucrative deals relating to work on the thermal power plant in Sisak and the heating plant in Zagreb.

15 - The government formulates six new amendments to be added to proposed changes to the Constitution, and introduces into Parliament an amendment to the Constitutional Law on the Rights of the National Minorities, which will ensure additional voting rights for members of small minority groups, along with the existing general voting rights. The new constitutional amendments regulate, among other things, the entry into force of regulations on the basis of which Croatia will be able to extradite its citizens to other countries.

16 - Parliament amends the Constitution for the fourth time, paving the way for the completion of Croatia's EU accession talks and its entry into the EU. Constitutional requirements for the adoption of a referendum decision on Croatia's accession to the EU have been relaxed to facilitate EU accession and the adoption of such a decision in a referendum will require the votes of a majority of voters taking part in the referendum, instead of a majority of all registered voters as has been the case so far.

16 - Parliament amends the Constitutional Law on the Rights of the National Minorities, giving additional voting rights to ethnic minorities that account for less than 1.5 per cent of the total population. The Serb minority is guaranteed at least three seats in Parliament based on universal suffrage.

16 - Croatian President Ivo Josipovic opens in Zagreb a regular annual conference of NATO land forces commanders, which is hosted by the Croatian army for the first time.

17 - The government sets up a task force consisting of officials from several ministries, pension insurance agencies and the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) to analyse the existing legislation on pension schemes and entitlements and to propose legislative changes in a bid to establish sustainable pension and social welfare systems.

18 - The Hague war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, informs the UN Security Council that, over the past six months, Croatia generally responded to his office's requests for assistance, but that the issue of important missing documents from the 1995 Operation Storm remains unsolved.

18 - The government and most of the government-sector unions sign an agreement whereby the unions waive their right to this year's Christmas bonuses, but reserve their right to holiday cash grants and child bonuses. Under the agreement, government employees this year will not receive Christmas bonuses, and funds for that purpose will be used to pay unemployment benefits instead. However, they will receive a HRK 1,250 holiday cash grant and a HRK 400 child bonus.

18 - Parliament amends the Golf Courses Act as well as the Value Added Tax Act, abolishing the tax facilities and reducing the number of tax rates. Also amended is the Profit Tax Act.

18 - Activists of civil society associations remove the make-shift tents they set up a month ago in Varsavska Street in central Zagreb as part of their campaign to prevent the HOTO Group from building an underground car park and the entrance to it.

20 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor opens a 28-kilometre-long dual carriageway section of the Istrian Y motorway running from Pula to Kanfanar. The construction of that stretch cost EUR 86 million.

24 - The Croatian government initiates procedure for concluding a bilateral agreement with Serbia that will make it possible for the two countries to extradite their nationals to each other for criminal proceedings or enforcement of prison sentences in cases of organised crime and corruption. The Cabinet of Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor also adopts several decisions on the implementation of the Economic Recovery Programme, such as the adoption of a catalogue of public investment projects and facilitation od conditions for operations of small enterprises.

24 - The Zagreb County Court issues a 30-day detention order for Sretko Kalinic, a member of a Serbian criminal organisation known as the Zemun Clan, who has been shot and wounded in Zagreb's western suburb of Rakitje. Kalinic has Croatian citizenship, and the police have found two fake passports in the Zagreb apartment he uses.

25 - The Belgrade High Court's panel for war crimes sentences Milan Spanovic, a member of the territorial defence of SAO Krajina, a Serb statelet in Croatia during the 1991-95 war, to five years' imprisonment for war crimes against civilians and the torture of Croatian civilians at a prison in Stara Gradiska, Croatia, from October 1991 through January 1992.

28 - The anti-corruption office USKOK indicts former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec for paying Vukovar lawyer Petar Miletic HRK 500,000 for an unnecessary study.

28 - USKOK indicts the former CEO of the state-owned rail company Hrvatske Zeljeznice (HZ), Davorin Kobak, two senior executives of HZ's sister company Agit, Biserka Robic and Andrija Saric, and a Serbian national for conspiring to syphon off money from Agit. They have allegedly defrauded the company of more than EUR 3.7 million and unlawfully gained more than EUR 3.2 million for themselves.

29 - Croatian and Serbian Justice Ministers Ivan Simonovic and Snezana Malovic sign in Belgrade an agreement on the extradition of the two countries' citizens accused and convicted in connection with organised crime and corruption.

30 - Croatia opens the last three negotiation chapters at an EU accession conference in Brussels - Judiciary and Fundamental Rights, Competition Policy, and Foreign, Security and Defence Policy - and closes two - Public Procurement and Taxation. All negotiation chapters have now been opened and 20 of the 33 being negotiated have been closed.

JULY

1 - The government proposes a new law on Croatian Radio Television (HRT) and adopts a decision on co-financing the publication of the Vjesnik daily. It also proposes amendments to the Companies Register Act and law on the register of companies, and puts forward a new Distraint Bill and a Public Distraint Officers Bill.

1 - The government decides to issue state guarantees to Credit Suisse International/Credit Suisse, London Branch, for the realisation of a loan agreement for the financing of the construction of four ships, for the use of the third tranche of the loan.

1 - Trade unions have gathered 813,016 signatures for a referendum against government-sponsored amendments to labour legislation, demanding that the government accept the collected signatures as a successfully conducted referendum and withdraw the proposed amendments from Parliament.

2 - Parliament adopts the Asylum Act, which is now entirely aligned with EU directives. With the adoption of the law, Croatia has met the benchmarks from Chapter 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security) in its EU entry talks.

3 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor inaugurates the extended wharf of Saint Domnius (Sveti Duje) in Split. A total of HRK 28 million has been invested in the 150-metre-long extension. The wharf is now 16 metres wide and can receive international cruise liners.

5 - European Council President Herman van Rompuy visits Zagreb and talks with Croatia's state leadership.

7 - Drazen Bosnjakovic is sworn in as new Minister of Justice after his appointment is approved by a majority of members of Parliament. He succeeds Ivan Simonovic, who is to take up the post of an assistant to the UN Secretary-General.

7 - The Agricultural Land Act, under which the government may temporarily seize uncultivated land from its owner and put it out to lease, will not be enforced until the Constitutional Court rules whether it is constitutional or not, the court has decided. The decision temporarily "blocked" the work of the Agricultural Land Agency, which was to have started operating on July 1.

7 - The Programmes Council of the national broadcaster HRT appoints Hloverka Srzic Novak as acting programmes director of Croatian Television (HTV) after Domagoj Buric has been relieved at his own request. Two Council members resign over the election of Novak-Srzic.

8 - The list of state-owned companies up for possible privatisation includes 394 companies in which the government owns up to 25 per cent of equity, 31 companies in which the government stake ranges between 25 and 50 per cent, and 59 companies in which the government portfolio exceeds 50 per cent, the government says at its meeting. The Croatian Privatisation Fund is instructed to work, in cooperation with the Economy Ministry, on regulations determining initial prices for the sale of government stakes that are below 25 per cent.

8 - The Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) issues an indictment against three former senior executives of the Croatian postal bank Hrvatska Postanska Banka (HPB) -- Josip Protega, Ivan Sladonja and Mario Kirinic -- and against eight clients of the bank for conspiracy to commit crime, abuse of office, incitement to abuse office and money laundering.

9 - Croatian PM Jadranka Kosor and her French counterpart Francois Fillon sign in Zagreb an agreement on strategic cooperation, making Croatia the first country outside of the EU with which France has signed this document.

9 - Some 130 members of the cabin crews' union begin a four-day strike forcing the national carrier Croatia Airlines to cancel one third of its scheduled flights. Union leaders say they have been forced to go on strike because of unsuccessful negotiations with the airline's management since late last year on conditions for signing a collective agreement.

9 - Parliament amends the law on the rights and obligations of MPs, revoking their right to free public transport. They are entitled to travel allowance, but only if travelling on business. Also amended is the Companies Register Act, which provides for the obligatory publication of the names of all founders of limited liability companies.

10 - The fifth Croatia Summit ends in Dubrovnik, affirming its reputation both by the level at which it was held and by the number of participants, says Croatian PM Jadranka Kosor. The summit brought together several premiers from the region and senior officials of the EU, NATO and other international institutions.

10 - The Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) quits the ruling coalition, with HSLS leader Darinko Kosor saying they are unhappy with the coalition's work and citing accusations that the HSLS is not a loyal partner.

10 - Croatia Airlines flight attendants end their strike after the management of the national carrier and the cabin crew union have reached an agreement on all disputed issues relating to the collective agreement.

13 - Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and his Italian and Slovenian counterparts, Giorgio Napolitano and Danilo Tuerk, attend in Trieste the Concert of Friendship, performed by young musicians from the three countries, with maestro Riccardo Muti conducting. Before the concert, the three heads of state issued a joint statement underlining the need to preserve the memory of painful events from the past, but also to focus on a future in a united Europe.

13 - The government decides to issue three bonds totalling HRK 13.4 billion to finance current budget liabilities and refinance liabilities falling due in the coming period.

14 - Three independent members of the Croatian Parliament - Ivan Cehok, Zlatko Horvat and Anton Korusec - sign a cooperation agreement with Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, pledging their support for all major government projects. Cehok resigned from his HSLS party earlier in the day.

14 - Trade union leaders deliver to the Parliament building 35 boxes containing lists with 813,016 signatures collected in a two-week drive to get a referendum against government-sponsored amendments to labour legislation.

14 - USKOK indicts a senior official of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) and former member of Parliament, Ivan Kolar, and the owner and the CEO of the Jata company, Andjelko Tos and Zarko Radic respectively, for defrauding the budget of the northern municipality of Molve of more than HRK 5.6 million.

14 - Zagreb County Court freezes EUR 3.4 million in a bank account owned by Ante Sapina, a Croatian-born bookie from Berlin who is again under investigation by German authorities on suspicion of football match fixing. His account with Zagrebacka Banka is frozen at the request of a court in the German city of Bochum.

15 - Parliament passes a new law on the population census under which the next census will be held on April 1-28, 2011. The census will cost HRK 175 million and funds for it will be set aside in the state budget. The first results will be released by 30 June 2011.

15 - The government introduces into Parliament amendments to the Bankruptcy Act, under which the Finance Ministry and the Tax Administration would be able to initiate summary bankruptcy proceedings against firms that have no employees, but whose accounts have been blocked for an uninterrupted period of 60 days. The government also moves a bill on the seizure of illegally acquired property, saying that no one should be allowed to acquire property through crime.

15 - 151 civil society activists and citizens are detained by police for putting up passive resistance to the continuation of construction of a ramp to a private underground car park in Varsavska Street in central Zagreb.

16 - Some 500 protesters - citizens and activists of the nongovernmental organisations Green Action and Right to the City - gather outside the Social Democratic Party (SDP) headquarters in Zagreb, after which they are expected to rally outside the headquarters of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), holding both parties equally responsible for the "Varsavska Street case".

17 - Activists of the NGOs Green Action and Right to the City gather in central Zagreb to protest against the continuation of construction work in Varsavska Street, saying that citizens are being "robbed of public space". The protesters later march to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction demanding the resignation of Minister Marina Matulovic-Dropulic.

18 - Croatian and Serbian Presidents Ivo Josipovic and Boris Tadic stress in Belgrade that peace and stability in the region are the two countries' common goals, adding that there is an atmosphere of reconciliation in bilateral relations. As part of an official visit to Serbia, Josipovic attends in Subotica a conference on the 20th anniversary of the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina.

19 - Former Croatian Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic takes over the office of assistant UN secretary-general for human rights.

21 - Representatives of the government, trade unions and employers agree at a meeting on the resumption of the work of the Economic and Social Council (GSV), saying there will be no outvoting any more.

22 - The Supreme Court overturns the acquittal of former Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP) vice-president Ivan Gotovac and entrepreneur Svjetlan Stanic in the Maestro anti-graft trial and orders a retrial before a new panel of judges.

22 - Former Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Damir Polancec is released from investigative prison at the proposal of the anti-corruption agency USKOK, which says it has heard all the witnesses in the case of the state-owned power company HEP and there is no longer a risk of Polancec tampering with witnesses and obstructing the investigation.

23 - The government decides to dissolve or merge 14 agencies, institutes and centres, reducing their number to three legal entities. It sends to Parliament a bill on the management of state property which envisages the merging of the three institutions currently managing state property - the Croatian Privatisation Fund, the Central State Office for the Management of State Property and the Real Estate Agency - into a single institution: the Agency for the Management of State Property. The government also introduces into Parliament amendments to the law on compulsory and voluntary pension funds, proposing that the rate of government incentives to members of voluntary pension funds be reduced from 25 to 15 per cent.

25 - Israeli President Shimon Peres ends a three-day stay in Croatia by visiting the Jasenovac memorial area and, together with his host, Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, pays homage to the victims of the WW2 concentration camp which was located there.

27 - The Hague war crimes tribunal rejects a motion by the Prosecutor's Office in the "Gotovina, Cermak and Markac" case to subpoena Croatia over allegedly hiding wartime documents from the 1995 Operation Storm.

27 - At an EU accession conference in Brussels, Croatia closes two more negotiation chapters - 'Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Policy' and 'Financial Control'. Croatia has now closed 22 of the 33 chapters under negotiation.

29 - The government sends to Parliament for consideration a Pension Insurance Bill, under which the age for old-age pension for men and women would be equalised over the next ten years. Those opting for early retirement would see a 4.08 percent decrease in their pension for every year of early retirement, or a maximum 20.4 percent decrease for five years of early retirement. The bill provides for benefits for postponed retirement.

29 - Negotiations between the government and the public-sector unions on a collective agreement fail because the government insists that, in addition to significantly changed economic circumstances, fiscal circumstances should also be cited as a possible reason for the termination of the agreement, which the unions reject.

30 - Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia sign a declaration in Belgrade supporting the establishment of a joint rail company in view of expediting the transport of goods on the pan-European Corridor X.

30 - The Supreme Court confirms that Branimir Glavas is responsible for war crimes committed against civilians in Osijek in 1991, but reduces his sentence from ten to eight years' imprisonment. The prison term of the second defendant Ivica Krnjak is reduced from eight to seven years and that of Gordana Getos Magdic from seven to five years. Dino Kontic and Zravko Dragic have their sentences reduced from five to three and a half years each, while the prison sentence of Tihomir Valentic is reduced from five to four and a half years.

30 - The Supreme Court upholds the Zagreb County Court verdict acquitting Nikica Jelavic of the charges of murder of an innocent bystander in central Zagreb in 1999 and of attempted murder of the "slot machine king" Vjeko Slisko and three other persons.

AUGUST

1 - About 700 residents of the eastern town of Djakovo gather to protest against the government's plan to merge the local stud-farm of Lipizzaner horses with a similar farm in Lipik.

3 - The Hague tribunal publishes the final submission by the prosecution in the Gotovina, Cermak and Markac case, which recommends that the Trial Chamber find the three Croatian generals guilty of war crimes committed during and in the aftermath of a 1995 Croatian military offensive known as Operation Storm and sentence them to prison terms ranging from 17 to 27 years.

3 - Serbian President Boris Tadic says that 1995's Croatian military and police operation Storm is a crime that must not be forgotten, but adds that one must turn to the future in relations with Croatia.

4 - The government sends to Parliament a set of bills regarding the enforcement of a government decision on the merging of government agencies, institutes and centres. The bills, aimed at streamlining the public institutions, cover 14 legal entities with 962 employees.

10 - Nevenka Jurak, Anita Papes Loncar and Bojan Dimic are taken to the Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) for questioning in connection with business transactions between several state owned-companies and the Fimi Media marketing firm owned by Jurak. They are suspected of conspiring to charge fictitious bills for non-performed services, whereby they unlawfully gained for themselves at least HRK 16.5 million.

11 - The owner of the Fimi Media marketing firm, Nevenka Jurak, and her business associate, Anita Loncar Papes, who are suspected of fraud, are placed in 30-day investigative prison to prevent them from tampering with witnesses and documents and repeating the same crime. A third suspect, Bojan Dimic, is released.

11 - The Zagreb County Court approves the extradition of Serbian underworld figure Sretko Kalinic to Serbia. Kalinic, who holds dual Serbian and Croatian citizenship, has been sentenced in his absence by a Serbian court to 30 years in prison for his role in the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003. Kalinic is a member of a Serbian organised crime ring called the Zemun Clan.

13 - Sretko Kalinic waives his right to appeal against the Zagreb County Court decision to extradite him to Serbia, becoming the first Croatian citizen to be extradited to another country. Kalinic holds both Croatian and Serbian citizenship.

16 - The parliamentary Credentials and Privileges Commission unanimously confirms the termination of the term of HDSSB deputy Branimir Glavas, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for war crimes committed against civilians in Osijek in 1991.

17 - Croatia ranked 28th among the world's 100 best countries to live in, according to a study published by US magazine Newsweek.

18 - The Zagreb Municipal Prosecutor's Office indicts Sretko Kalinic, who is awaiting extradition to Serbia, for obtaining two Croatian passports under an assumed name.

18 - The anti-corruption office USKOK launches another investigation into Ivan Mravak, former management board chairman of the power supplier HEP, on the suspicion that, together with Ivan Mrljak, the director of Opskrba, a company within HEP, he embezzled HRK 6.3 million from HEP. Mravak and Mrljak are suspected of abuse of office and of conspiracy between October 2008 and September 2009 with a number of persons from two joint stock companies.

19 - President Ivo Josipovic signs a decision to strip Branimir Glavas, who has been given a final guilty verdict for war crimes, of his military decorations and medals. Josipovic announces at a news conference that he will also take away Glavas's rank of Major General.

24 - The government forwards to Parliament a draft budget revision cutting revenues by HRK 4.5 billion to 108.3 billion and raising expenditures by HRK 898 million to 122.3 billion. The budget deficit would go up from the initially planned HRK 8.6 billion to 14 billion, an increase from 2.6 to 4.2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.

24 - Sretko Kalinic, a member of a Serbian organised crime group known as the Zemun Clan, is sentenced by the Zagreb Municipal Court to one and a half years in prison for possession of two fake Croatian passports, obtained in 2006 and 2009.

25 - Sretko Kalinic is extradited to Serbia. The extradition is carried out in cooperation between the Croatian and Serbian police forces aboard a Serbian government plane.

25 - The Minister of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, Djuro Popijac, becomes a member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party.

26 - Former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on an advisory mission to Kyrgyzstan at the invitation of the United Nations Development Programme.

28 - Branimir Glavas, the first Croatian politician to have been convicted for war crimes, addresses via video link a meeting of the main committee of his HDSSB party held in Zagreb, claiming that he is innocent and that he will rather serve his eight-year sentence in Zenica prison in Bosnia and Herzegovina than spend a single day as a political convict in a Croatian prison. Glavas reiterates that he does not recognise the verdict delivered against him by the Zagreb County Court, which has been recently upheld by the Supreme Court, insisting that his trial was politically motivated.

28 - A floating pavilion that was to be used for the presentation of Croatian architecture at the 12th Venice Biennale falls apart en route to Italy and is towed back to Rijeka for repairs.

30 - Parliament revises the 2010 budget, cutting revenues by HRK 4.5 billion and increasing expenditures by HRK 898.2 million. The revised budget projects revenues at HRK 108.3 billion and expenditures at HRK 122.3 billion. The highest revenue decline is expected from tax revenues and contributions. The budget deficit would increase by HRK 5.4 billion to HRK 14 billion, or 4.2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product. The budget is revised with a real GDP decline projection of 1.6 per cent for this year.

30 - Parliament amends the law on the execution of the state budget, under which the government, instead of a previously planned 28 billion kuna, would now be able to borrow HRK 34.6 billion for the payment of debts due and for the financing of the budget deficit. The government has so far taken out 25.1 billion in loans.

31 - The Bjelovar County Prosecutor's Office indicts local businessman Zdravko Pevec and his wife Visnja Pevec for abuse of office, business malfeasance and book-keeping irregularities. It drops charges against the third suspect, Dragica Barisic, the former book-keeper of Pevec Group.

SEPTEMBER

1 - The trial of Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague ends, with presiding judge Alphons Orie saying a judgement can be expected in the foreseeable time.

2 - The government decides to continue the privatisation of three shipyards - Brodogradjevna Industrija Split, Brodotrogir, and 3. Maj. Economy Minister Djuro Popijac suggests proceeding with the privatisation of Brodogradjevna Industrija Split, for which the DIV company from Samobor has submitted a bid, of the Brodotrogir shipyard from Trogir, for which a bid submitted by Jadranska Ulaganja from Zagreb has been selected, and of the Rijeka-based 3. Maj, for which a bid has been submitted by Crown Investment on behalf of the Austrian concern A-Tec. With regard to the Uljanik shipyard from Pula, the government asks the EC to exempt it from the process of restructuring because that process refers to ailing shipyards, and Uljanik is not one of them, says the minister.

2 - The government says numerous irregularities have been found in checking voters who signed a petition for a referendum against government-sponsored amendments to labour legislation. Of the 815,826 signatures, it has been found that 92,229 did not have voter status, and 356,358 signed the petition outside their place of residence, Administration Minister Davorin Mlakar says, adding no irregularities have been found with some 300,000 signatures.

2 - The government decides to sell state-owned apartments, including those managed by the Defence Ministry. There are around 3,000 flats that are state-owned and 1,900 flats that are owned by the state and managed by the Defence Ministry.

7 - Public sector workers' unions and the government agree on a new basic collective agreement whereby the unions give up a Christmas bonus for this year of HRK 1,250 per employee (170 euros). Public sector workers will have to make do with a cash grant and a children's gift given that the money envisaged for Christmas bonuses will go to the unemployed. The unions accept that travel expenses will no longer be paid to workers who live less than one kilometre from the workplace.

7 - Darko Beuk, a member of the managing board of the state-owned Hrvatske Sume forest management company and its former director, arrested on the suspicion that he abused his powers at the instigation of Nevenka Jurak, owner of the Fimi Media market communications agency.

8 - Four men -- Zeljko Maglov, Tvrtko Pasalic, Damir Borsic and Milorad Paic -- suspected of having tortured Serb prisoners of war and a civilian in the Kuline military prison in Sibenik in 1992, are arrested by the police and interrogated by investigating judge Ljiljana Stipisic in Split. Maglov is a former commander of the 73rd Military Police Battalion, and Pasalic used to be the head of the now defunct Security and Intelligence Service in Sibenik. The other two arrestees are a former commander of the Kuline military prison, Damir Borsic, and Milorad Paic, a former military policeman.

9 - The Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) indicts former Economy Minister Damir Polancec and seven former executives and business partners of the Podravka food company from Koprivnica for embezzling a minimum HRK 400 million (55 million euros) of company funds between 2005 and October 2009. USKOK files the indictment at the Zagreb County Court, accusing the eight men of conspiracy, abuse of office, aiding and abetting in and inciting the commission of said abuse, and unlawful brokering. Apart from Polancec, former Podravka executives Darko Marinac, Zdravko Sestak, Josip Pavlovic and Sasa Romac, the owner and director of the Split-based company SMS, Srdjan Mladinic, the co-owner of the Varazdin-based company Fima Grupa, Milan Horvat, and attorney Zoran Markovic are indicted in this case publicly dubbed Spice. At the time relevant to the indictment, Polancec was deputy prime minister in charge of the economy; minister of the economy, labour and entrepreneurship; and chairman of the Croatian Privatisation Fund steering board which decides on the sale of the state's 26 per cent stake in Podravka.

9 - Submitting a report on the execution of the government budget in the first half of 2010, Finance Minister Ivan Suker says there is no need for Croatia to call in the International Monetary Fund.

13 - Two sailors, including Croatian Klaudio Stilin, are kidnapped in a pirate attack on the Belgian ship Amerigo Vespucci in Cameroon. Stilin is released on September 30.

14 - Former Prime Minister Damir Polancec tells the parliamentary commission investigating the privatisation of the national oil company INA that he conducted the entire process of negotiation to amend the shareholders' agreement with Hungary's MOL in consultation with members of the government and the presidency of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

16 - The Presidency of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party unanimously decides to expunge former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec from its membership records for damaging the party's reputation.

16 - Hina's Steering Board unanimously re-elects Smiljanka Skugor Hrncevic director of the national news agency. The other candidate for the post was Hina editor Nenad Bach. Skugor Hrncevic has worked at Hina since its establishment in 1990.

17 - Former deputy premier and economy minister Damir Polancec ends up in the dock of the Zagreb County Court for the first time, accused of paying attorney Petar Miletic HRK 500,000 for an unnecessary expert study. Polancec is accused of abuse of office for having commissioned from co-defendant Miletic a study that the economy ministry never used and on which the attorney from Vukovar made considerable gain.

19 - Workers of the Kamensko clothes manufacturer begin a hunger strike in Zagreb demanding the payment of overdue salaries which they have not received for five months. The company has also failed to pay taxes and contributions to the government.

20 - The War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade Appeals Court reduces the prison sentence for Damir Sireta from 20 to 15 years for war crimes committed on the Ovcara farm near the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in November 1991.

20 - Zagreb's municipal prosecutor charges Social Democrat (SDP) MP and Djakovo Mayor Zoran Vinkovic with unlawfully charging HRK 12,500 (1,720 euros) in travel expenses on parliament's account.

21 - Major-Generals Branimir Glavas, Mirko Norac and Vladimir Zagorec, Colonel Tihomir Oreskovic and Major Sinisa Rimac are stripped of their ranks by the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, Ivo Josipovic. Glavas, Norac and Oreskovic are stripped of their ranks because they have been found guilty of war crimes against civilians. Glavas has been sentenced to eight years in prison, Norac to 12 years, and Oreskovic to 15 years. Zagorec has received a 7-year prison term for abuse of office, and Rimac has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.

22 - Several thousand workers of the Split shipyard stage a protest rally in that Adriatic city demanding that the government not close the yard.

22 - A state of emergency declared in the towns surrounding Zagreb -- Velika Gorica, Zapresic, Sveta Nedelja, Samobor and Brdovec -- due to floods.

23 - Two Croatian Air Force MiG-21 aircraft crash during a military exercise at the Eugen Kvaternik training ground outside Slunj, about 80 kilometres south of Zagreb. Both pilots eject and are well. A villager in Supice, two kilometres of the crash, is seriously injured by debris of the military planes that have fallen down.

23 - The government okays a proposal for the implementation of 30 public sector investment projects, in the amount of EUR 13.85 billion. The projects should be carried out by public companies and local authorities in the areas of energy, tourism, water management and transport infrastructure.

24 - Parliament endorses the proposal that the Constitutional Court establish whether prerequisites have been met for calling a referendum on government-sponsored amendments to the Labour Act given that the government has withdrawn them from parliamentary procedure.

25 - Miljenko Bajic, a former Croatian military police commander, who has been found guilty of war crimes, is arrested in Zezevica near Omis, 30 kilometres south of Split, after being on the run since 2004. Three years ago the Supreme Court upheld a 2004 Split County Court verdict sentencing him to six years in prison for war crimes against civilians in the Lora military prison.

27 - Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu resigns after the Constitutional Court has found that he breached the Constitution by remaining in office as president of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo party.

28 - The Trial Chamber of the Bosnian State Court has entirely upheld the eight-year prison sentence imposed on Branimir Glavas by the Croatian Supreme Court for war crimes against Serb civilians in Osijek in the early 1990s. Glavas has been arrested in Drinovci, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

28 - The Supreme Court quashes a guilty verdict against former Serb paramilitary Milan Spanovic, who was sentenced by the Sisak County Court in 2009 to three and a half years in prison for war crimes against Croats in the villages of Maja and Svracica near Glina in 1991, and orders a retrial. One of Spanovic's lawyers, Silvije Degen, says the Supreme Court has turned down the guilty verdict against his client due to breaches of the criminal procedure by the Sisak court.

29 - The head of the Customs Administration and former treasurer of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Mladen Barisic, is arrested in Zagreb and the police search his apartment in downtown Zagreb. For several months now the media have been linking Barisic with an alleged slush fund in the HDZ that was filled with money the Fimi Media company, owned by Barisic's friend Nevenka Jurak, obtained from deals with public companies. It is believed that Barisic, following orders from former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, acted as a link between Jurak and executives of public companies, some of whom entered business deals with that advertising agency. Upon his arrest Barisic is relieved of all duties in the government.

29 - Darko Beuk, a member of the managing board of the state-owned Hrvatske Sume forest management company and its former director, who was arrested earlier in September on the suspicion that he abused his powers at the instigation of Nevenka Jurak, owner of the Fimi Media market communications agency, is released from prison.

30 - Month-long detention set for Mladen Barisic.

30 - Police in Zagreb arrest 13 people on suspicion of involvement in a pyramid scheme in which a large number of people have lost the money they invested in foreign currency markets abroad following advice from go-betweens. According to media speculations, as many as 10,000 people have been deceived and have lost more than HRK 400 million in this pyramid scheme.

OCTOBER

1 - Croatia and Montenegro sign an agreement on the mutual extradition of their citizens who are suspected or accused of organised crime and corruption.

1 - Parliament amends the law on bankruptcy proceedings with an aim to summarise and expedite the proceedings for companies without employees and with blocked accounts. Parliament adopts new legislation on the Judicial Appointment Council (DSV), which appoints judges, and on the Prosecutor Appointment Council (DOV), which appoints state prosecutors. It also ratifies the Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, National Representatives and International Staff.

1 - Five persons arrested after an investigation shows that they conspired to influence members of the Supreme Court, namely their verdict in the case of Branimir Glavas, a former member of the Croatian Parliament convicted of war crimes.

2 - The presidents of Croatia and Slovenia, Ivo Josipovic and Danilo Tuerk, formally open a new bridge over the river Sutla between Hum na Sutli in Croatia and Rogatec in Slovenia, which directly connects the Vetropack Straza glass factory in Croatia and the factory's warehouse located across the border in Slovenia.

3 - A general election is held in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Zeljko Kosmic is re-elected as Croat member of the country's collective presidency; Nebojsa Radmanovic is elected as Serb member and Bakir Izetbegovic as Bosniak member. Most seats go to the Social Democratic Party, the predominantly Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, the Serb-majority League of Independent Social Democrats, and the Croatian Democratic Union.

4 - The government and the public-sector unions sign a basic collective agreement regulating labour rights and entitlements for about 180,000 workers over the next three years. This year, public-sector employees will receive holiday grants and presents for their children, but will forgo a Christmas bonus of 1,250 kuna per employee. Funds intended for the Christmas bonuses will be redirected into the Unemployed Fund.

5 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor symbolically presses a button switching off the analogue TV signal in Croatia after 54 years of broadcasting and switching to the digital signal.

5 - President Ivo Josipovic, Serb National Council president and MP Milorad Pupovac, and Kistanje mayor Slobodan Roncevic unveil a memorial plaque in Varivode, 40 km north of the coastal city of Sibenik, to commemorate nine Serb villagers killed there in late September 1995.

5 - The Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights (HHO) protests against the cover of the latest issue of Novosti weekly, which is published by the Serb National Council, which shows a photo of two MIG jets with Croatian insignia and the caption "Both of them, both are down!", and against the fact that the paper is financed from the state budget.

In a protest letter to the government and the parliament, the HHO recalls that the shout "Both of them, both are down!" was uttered by a Croatian soldier near Sibenik on 21 September 1991 when two Yugoslav People's Army jets were shot down during the Homeland War.

The national coordinating body of Homeland War associations joins in the protest saying that the cover of the latest issue of Novosti weekly insults all Croatian veterans, their families and veterans killed in the war, as well as all Croatian citizens.

6 - The government adopts draft guidelines for economic and fiscal policies in the 2011-2013 period envisaging for 2011 a 1.5 per cent real GDP growth as well as HRK 108 billion in budget revenues and HRK 122 billion in expenditures. The government adopts a decision under which the state will borrow EUR 750 million from a domestic banking syndicate. The foreign exchange loan will be entirely used for servicing due credits.

6 - The transitional period for equating the retirement age for men and women will be 20 years, and women will retire at 65 as of 2030, according to a bill on pension insurance forwarded by the government to parliament.

6 - USKOK interrogates former interior minister Ivica Kirin over allegations about wrongdoing in deals between the Interior Ministry and the private Fimi Media company.

9 - Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, while on a visit to Rome, invites Pope Benedict XVI to visit Croatia. The pontiff is scheduled to visit Zagreb on June 4-5, 2011.

12 - Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader tells a parliamentary commission investigating the privatisation of the national oil company INA that former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec personally briefed him, the government and the presidency of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) about all stages of negotiations with Hungary's oil company MOL. Sanader denies having personally negotiated with MOL.

Sanader confirms that his successor Jadranka Kosor participated in the final stage of preparations to modify INA's shareholders agreement, in her capacity as Deputy Prime Minister, together with ministers Damir Polancec, Ivan Suker and Marina Matulovic-Dropulic.

12 - The government decides at a telephone meeting to declassify its Gas Master Agreement (GMA) with the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL and the first annex to the GMA, but not the gas import price formula.

12 - Djurdja Adlesic relieved of duty as Deputy Prime Minister.

12 - The Zagreb Commercial Court okays launching bankruptcy proceedings for the Kamensko clothes factory.

13 - Croatia's state inspectorate establishes that since the start of this year, a total of 61 foreigners have worked in the INA oil company, with 23 employed contrary to the law on aliens, which has resulted in INA having to pay a fine of HRK 1.8 million. Of the 23 foreigners whose employment was in contravention with Croatian legislation, three sat on INA's management board and five on its supervisory board, the inspectorate says.

14 - The government states its readiness to continue negotiations on the issue of foreign currency savings of Croatian depositors in Ljubljanska Banka before the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, in line with Annex C of the Agreement on Succession to the former Yugoslavia.

14 - Four businessmen arrested in Split on suspicion of malfeasance. The arrestees are Goran Vukasovic, a consultant at the Brodosplit shipbuilding company, Domagoj Klaric, a member of the Brodosplit management board, Slaven Zuzul, the owner of the Skladgradnja company, and Josip Poljak, the financial director of Skladgradnja. They are suspected of defrauding Brodosplit and of failure to pay taxes in 2005 and 2006. Skladgradnja has been Brodosplit's sub-contractor for years.

15 - Former Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Damir Polancec sentenced pending appeal to 15 months in prison for paying Vukovar attorney Petar Miletic half a million kuna for an unnecessary expert study. Miletic is sentenced to a year in prison and ordered, together with Polancec, to pay back the amount of which the state budget was defrauded. Miletic is also banned from practicing law for a period of two years from the day the sentence becomes final.

15 - Mirko Norac files a lawsuit with the Administrative Court against the President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Ivo Josipovic, requesting the annulment of Josipovic's decision to strip him of his major general's rank.

17 - Former member of Parliament Branimir Glavas files a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court and the Administrative Court against President Ivo Josipovic's decision to strip him of his major general's rank.

18 - The anti-corruption agency USKOK launches an investigation against five people for trying to influence the Supreme Court's decision in the war crimes case against Branimir Glavas.

18 - Croatia is one of Russia's most important partners in Southeast Europe and Moscow considers it important that the Croatian government has decided to join the South Stream natural gas pipeline project, Russian Parliament Speaker Boris Gryzlov says at a meeting with his Croatian counterpart Luka Bebic in Moscow.

19 - Damir Polancec pleads guilty at a preparatory hearing in the "Floodlights" case and enters a plea-bargain agreement with USKOK, after which he is given a suspended prison sentence of one year. He will not go to prison if in the next four years he does not commit a new offence. The other two accused in the case, Zeljko Drazic and Tomislav Andabak, previously plea-bargained and were each given a suspended prison sentence of a year and a half.

20 - European countries, especially Scandinavian ones, have retained the status of countries with the highest standards of press freedom, an annual report by Reporters Without Borders shows. Croatia has moved up 16 places to rank 62nd among 178 countries.

20 - Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor says, after meeting with the Hague tribunal's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, that the search for missing military documents wanted by the tribunal continues even though they are no longer an issue in the Gotovina, Cermak and Markac case.

20 - The Social Democratic Party (SDP) submits to parliament, on the basis of 58 collected signatures of members of Parliament from the SDP, the Croatian People's Party (HNS), the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS), the Croatian Pensioners' Party (HSU), the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) and the Croatian Labour Party, a proposal to give Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor a vote of no confidence. The Opposition parties believe Kosor is responsible for the increasingly bad economic situation, absence of reforms, and the loss of public credibility due to numerous scandals and conflicts within the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

20 - The Constitutional Court decides unanimously that conditions for calling a referendum on provisions of the Labour Act pertaining to collective bargaining ceased to exist when the government withdrew from the parliamentary procedure its amendments to the Labour Act. The Court also decides that in the next 12 months no bill that would be contrary to the affirmative answer to the proposed referendum question can be sent to parliament for consideration unless a referendum is previously held on the bill.

21 - As a European Union member, Croatia will be entitled to 12 seats in the European Parliament, seven votes in the decision-making system in the Council of the European Union, and one commissioner in the European Commission, Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor says.

21 - The government adopts criteria for downsizing the state administration. Reducing the number of civil servants, introducing the "2 for 1" clause, and retirement are some of the ways to downsize the state administration as envisaged by the criteria. According to the document adopted by the government, in late April 2010, 52,656 civil servants worked in state administration units and government offices.

21 - Djurdja Adlesic sworn in as an independent member of Parliament, after she was relieved of duty as Deputy Prime Minister. This is Adlesic's fourth term in parliament.

21 - Ivan Mravak, former director of the power supply company HEP, released from custody after the Zagreb County Court investigating judge in charge of the case grants a request from USKOK to that effect and rules that he be released from the investigative prison where he was put in July 2010.

22 - Former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader sworn in as a member of Parliament, thus beginning to perform his duties as an MP.

22 - Parliament amends the Pension Insurance Act which now mandates that as of 2030, women shall go into old age retirement at 65 years of age, just as men. The parliament also amends legislation on mandatory and voluntary pension funds, and votes the Constitutional Law on the Implementation of the Constitution envisaging a six-month period for the adjustment of a number of laws pertaining to defence, judiciary and human rights and election laws on parliamentary and presidential elections to the constitutional changes that were adopted in June. A period of one year is envisaged for the adjustment of the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court to the constitutional changes.

22 - The Serb National Council (SNV) decides that the incumbent editor-in-chief of the Novosti weekly, Rade Dragojevic, will be appointed Novosti editor-in-charge, while Ivica Djikic, a former editor and now a journalist at the Novi List daily, will be appointed Novosti editor-in-chief.

25 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor visits Brussels. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso welcomes Croatia's progress towards EU membership, saying it is possible for Zagreb to complete accession negotiations next year.

26 - The Zagreb City Assembly supports with a majority vote (34 in favour, 7 against) a revised draft city budget envisaging a reduction of HRK 720 million to HRK 6.6 billion. After a heated debate, the City Assembly adopts a decision on taxi services liberalising taxi services and increasing the number of taxis in the city to make the ratio of taxis per population 1:600. As members of the City Assembly were voting on the liberalisation of taxi services, taxi drivers blocked with their cars the road leading to the City Assembly building.

26 - Taxi drivers in Zagreb end their protest after a decision to that effect is adopted by the leadership of the Radio Taxi Zagreb association.

26 - A man shot and killed during a stand-off with police at the Meteriza petrol station half way between the coastal city of Split and Solin. The man is killed after throwing two hand grenades at police and trying to throw a third one. A policeman is wounded in a bomb explosion. A number of explosive devices are found near the man's body.

The man, apparently a war veteran unhappy with his current status, spent the whole night at the petrol station ignoring appeals from the police, a doctor and a parish priest to give himself up. The Split-Dalmatia County Police Department says the police acted in self-defence and in line with the law.

26 - The Zagreb Municipal Court sets detention for businessman Miroslav Kutle for his failure to appear in court in one of the cases pertaining to the Gradski Podrum company. Kutle has tried to justify his failure to attend with medical documentation from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but a Zagreb expert concludes upon examining the documentation that Kutle is fit to stand trial, prompting the judge presiding in the case to set detention.

26 - The County Prosecutor's Office in Split indicts eight people for abuse of office and money laundering in Brodosplit, which defrauded the shipyard of US$ 4.7 million. The first accused is Drago Macek, who at the time relevant to the indictment represented Wessels, a German company which had commissioned four tankers. The second is Goran Vukasovic, the shipyard's then director, and the third is Ante Luetic, Brodosplit's then sales officer.

27 - A retrial begins for former Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP) vice-president Ivan Gotovac and businessman Svjetlan Stanic, charged with bribery and abuse of office. At the beginning of the retrial, ordered by the Supreme Court that quashed a previous acquittal in the case, Gotovac and Stanic plead not guilty to charges of bribery, abuse of office and incitement to commit those offences in the period from early 2007 to June that year.

USKOK charges Gotovac with having given Stanic information and instructions to enable him to acquire, under favourable conditions, the shares and property of the companies from the HFP portfolio.

28 - Parliament rejects with a majority vote the SDP's motion to give Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor a vote of no confidence. Seventy-nine MPs of the ruling majority vote against the proposal, 62 opposition MPs vote for it, and one MP abstains.

28 - The government sends to Parliament a proposal to amend the Declaration on the Basic Principles of Croatia's EU Accession Talks to make it possible to hold the referendum on EU accession after the signing of the accession treaty and not before it, as is now the case. Parliament adopted the Declaration on the Basic Principles of Croatia's EU Accession Talks on 19 January 2005.

28 - The government sends to Parliament a bill on environmentally friendly food production and the marking of such products. The government sends to Parliament bills on distraint and public distrainors to be discussed in third reading. Under the two bills, as of 2012 distraint proceedings will not be conducted by courts but by public distrainors. The government also sends to Parliament draft amendments to the law on the areas of responsibility and seats of courts, to be discussed in second reading. The amendments are a continuation of the process of reduction of the court network. By merging some courts, the number of county courts would be reduced from 21 to 15 and the number of commercial courts from 13 to 7.

28 - The government adopts a decision to issue a state guarantee to Zagrebacka Banka, Hrvatska Postanska Banka, the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development and/or other commercial banks at home and/or abroad to finance the construction of new ships in the Rijeka-based 3. Maj shipyard.

28 - The Rijeka City Council adopts Mayor Vojko Obersnel's motion to give 3. Maj US$ 24.5 million in city guarantees for building two tankers for Sweden's Wisby Tankers AB unless the shipyard's majority owner, the government, does so in fast track procedure.

29 - EU leaders agree to make minor changes to the Lisbon Treaty and establish a permanent mechanism for dealing with crises in the eurozone. The changes may be incorporated into the accession treaty with Croatia, which anyway must be ratified by all member states.

29 - Parliament amends the Energy Act, according to which heating energy prices will from now on be determined by local government units instead of the central government.

29 - President Ivo Josipovic says Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the invitation from the Croatian state leadership and the Church in Croatia and will visit Croatia in the first half of 2011 on the occasion of National Family Day.

NOVEMBER

1 - The amended Pension Insurance Act goes into force, introducing a 20-year transitional period during which the retirement age for women will be made the same as that for men. Depending on years of service, the law increases penalties for early retirement. Under the law, as of 2030, women will go into old age retirement at 65 years of age, just as men.

3 - Six men accused of killing journalist Ivo Pukanic and his associate Niko Franjic found guilty and sentenced to a total of 150 years' imprisonment. Robert Matanic, charged with putting together a criminal group, is sentenced to 33 years in jail. His cousin Luka Matanic and their friend Amir Mafalani are each given 16 years for aiding and abetting in the murder. Zeljko Milovanovic, who committed the murder by activating a device that blew up Pukanic, is sentenced in absence to 40 years in jail, while Bojan Guduric, who was to have shot Pukanic if the explosive misfired, is given 30 years. Slobodan Djurovic is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for being the killers' connection with Sreten Jocic, who allegedly paid EUR 1.5 million to have Pukanic killed. Jocic is on trial in this case in Belgrade, together with Milovanovic and Zoran Kuzmanovic.

3 - The Zagreb County Court prosecution panel refuses to confirm the indictment in a case in which the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) accused former Hrvatska Postanska Banka (HPB) executives of approving risky loans, and returns it to USKOK for elaboration. USKOK suspects former HPB executives Josip Protega, Ivan Sladonja and Mario Kirinic of approving millions in risky loans at the urging of privileged clients.

4 - Serbian President Boris Tadic apologises for the atrocity committed at Ovcara upon his arrival in eastern Croatia for a day-long visit, during which he visits two places of suffering of Croats and Serbs in the Homeland War - Ovcara and Paulin Dvor.

4 - The Supreme Court of Bosnia's Croat-Muslim entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, quashes a verdict sentencing heart surgeon Ognjen Simic of Croatia to two and a half years in prison for bribe-taking, returning the case to the Sarajevo Cantonal Court for a retrial.

5 - Croatia closes three more policy areas in its EU membership talks at an intergovernmental accession conference in Brussels. The policy areas in question are Chapter 4 - Free Movement of Capital, Chapter 14 - Transport Policy, and Chapter 34 - Institutions. This has brought the number of provisionally closed chapters to 25.

5 - Parliament amends the construction law in order to stimulate investment, extending until the end of 2012 the application of the law which went into force on 25 June 2009. Parliament also amends the Tax Administration Act, creating prerequisites for the electronic exchange of data related to the taxpayer's personal identification number (OIB). At the proposal of its Media Committee, Parliament relieves of duty four members of the national broadcaster HRT's Programmes Council who have resigned - Sanja Modric, Marina Skrabalo, Damir Grubisa and Sinisa Grgic.

5 - The government entrusts the Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP) with building an access road to the Rockwool factory in Pican, Istria County.

5 - Interpol issues a red notice for the arrest of Croatian businessman Miroslav Kutle, 53, for his failure to attend a hearing in the Gradski Podrum fraud case, after which the Croatian police issued a warrant for his arrest.

7 - The head of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, Vojislav Stanimirovic, says in an interview with the Belgrade newspaper Politika that "the Serbs did not start the war in Vukovar."

7 - The staff of the Glas Istre daily goes on strike which is a consequence of months of failed negotiations between the union and the employer, who wants to introduce a six-day working week, further reduce the already halved salaries and lay off about 30 employes, nearly one-fourth of the entire staff.

8 - A part of employees of the Zagreb radio station Radio 101, including those working part time, stage a strike of warning over the management's failure to pay by October 30, after a completed conciliation procedure, their salaries for May and June. The strike ends the same day.

9 - The European Commission publishes a Progress Report on Croatia, which is described by Zagreb as "the best yet". Croatia needs to make additional effort in the final stage of the accession process, especially in the area of judiciary and fundamental rights.

9 - The Zagreb County Court says the owner of the Fimi Media advertising firm, Nevenka Jurak, will remain in custody for another three months, while her associate Anita Loncar Papes, who was deposed by the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK), will be released.

9 - The Sisak County Prosecutor's Office issues indictments against nine Serb paramilitaries for a war crime in Bacin, and against six Serbian nationals for a war crime in Josevica. Members of the rebel Serb police forces on 21 October 1991 killed in Bacin near Hrvatska Dubica 56 Croat civilians from Cerovljani and Hrvatska Dubica. In Josevica near Glina, Serb paramilitaries on 16 December 1991 killed 21 Croat civilians and seriously wounded one.

11 - The government forwards to Parliament a final bill on Croatian Radio and Television (HRT), which envisages that the HRT can air commercials nine minutes per hour and four minutes per hour during primetime -- between 6pm and 10pm. The bill envisages a transitional period of one year during which the HRT would be able to air commercials six minutes per hour during primetime. The government sets up a committee to organise Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Croatia in 2011. The committee will have 20 members and will be chaired by Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic.

11 - The government issues a state guarantee for the Hrvatske Vode water management company to borrow HRK 1.03 billion from Erste & Steiermaerkische Bank for the financing of 305 water supply projects.

11 - Five persons arrested by Vukovar County police on suspicion of committing war crimes in the eastern town of Borovo on 2 May 1991. The five are suspected of involvement in the murder of 12 members of the Vinkovci-based special police unit, who were killed by Serb paramilitary forces in an ambush in Borovo, which was then called Borovo Selo, on the night between 1 and 2 May 1991.

13 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor puts on trial run two newly-built storage tanks at the terminal of the oil pipeline operator JANAF at Sisak. The two 80,000 cubic metre storage tanks are worth HRK 172.34 million.

13 - Several hundred people gather in the main open-air market of the northern Adriatic city of Pula to demonstrate for freedom of the press in Croatia and express their support for journalists of the regional newspaper Glas Istre who are on strike. The protest rally is organised by a regional trade union.

15 - The government sends to Parliament for discussion a draft budget for 2011 envisaging revenues in the amount of HRK 107.4 billion and expenses in the amount of HRK 122.3 billion. The budget deficit will thus amount to HRK 14.8 billion and the central government deficit would account for 4.3 percent of GDP.

15 - The Basel-based Bank for International Settlements refuses to mediate in the dispute between Croatia and Slovenia over the now defunct Slovenian bank Ljubljanska Banka, media say.

16 - The Sinjska Alka knights' tournament, the gingerbread craft from northern Croatia and the "ojkanje" singing are inscribed on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

17 - Josip Sapunar, finance manager in the state-owned motorways operator HAC, two former CEOs, Mario Crnjak and Jurica Prskalo, and the former director of the Autocesta Rijeka-Zagreb motorway operator, Zlatko Korpar, are arrested on suspicion of HRK 26 million fraud and abuse of office in the scandal involving the private Fimi Media marketing agency. 30-day detention is set for them.

17 - The news agency Hina holds the central ceremony marking its 20th anniversary.

19 - The government sends to Parliament a draft bill on fiscal responsibility which envisages that office-holders from the state to the local level in Croatia will have to offer their resignation if it is established that they have breached the fiscal accountability legislation.

19 - The government decides to take new loans on the domestic market by issuing bonds in the amount of four billion kuna. The annual interest rate on the bonds is fixed at 6.25 percent, and the maturity date is 25 November 2017. Most of the four billion kuna, or HRK 2.65 billion, will be used to repay treasury bills due for payment on 25 November, and the rest will be used for short-term liabilities, due for payment in December.

19 - NATO heads of state or government, including Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, adopt the new Strategic Concept, the fundamental document that will guide the alliance over the next decade, at a summit in Lisbon.

19 - Bianca Matkovic relieved of duty as Economy Ministry State Secretary.

20 - Croatian President Ivo Josipovic announces at a NATO summit in Lisbon that Croatia will expand its role in training Afghan security forces and will increase its troop contingent in Afghanistan from the present 320 to 350.

20 - Huge quantities of garbage are washed ashore on the beaches of the island of Mljet and on the central part of the coast of the southern Peljesac peninsula.

22 - Director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, Vinko Mladineo, arrested on suspicion of signing contracts with the private Fimi Media marketing agency through which money was siphoned from public companies and government ministries.

22 - Fimi Media owner Nevenka Jurak and former Croatian Democratic Union treasurer and customs administration chief Mladen Barisic released from custody. They are suspected of syphoning money from public companies and agencies.

22 - The city of Dubrovnik and its surroundings are hit by torrential rainfall lasting several hours. Many houses and business facilities are flooded.

23 - Parliament adopts the 2011 budget, which envisages revenues in the amount of HRK 107.4 billion and expenditures totalling HRK 122.3 billion, with a deficit of HRK 14.9 billion, or 4.3 per cent of GDP.

23 - The fiscal responsibility legislation is passed.

23 - Parliament adopts a law postponing the adjustment of pensions to the growth of salaries and consumer prices in 2011. Parliament also passes a new distraint law and a law on public distraint officers, amends the law on courts, and adopts a law on ecological production and the marking of ecological products, which provides Croatian manufacturers with the same production conditions as exist in the European Union as well as conditions for the marketing of Croatian eco products on the EU market. Also amended are laws on health care, mandatory health insurance and the compensation of workers exposed to asbestos.

23 - The government and trade union federations agree that a referendum on which the trade unions have been insisting for some time will be held on the same day as a referendum on Croatia's accession to the European Union. The referendum question, however, will not be about amendments to labour legislation, but will read: "Do you agree that a referendum must be called if so requested by 200,000 registered voters and that the time for the collection of the required number of voters' signatures should be 30 days?"

23 - The trial of a former commander of the Sibenik-Knin County Fire Service, Drazen Slavica, indicted for omissions in the organisation of putting out a wildfire on the island of Kornat on 30 August 2007, when 12 firemen were killed, begins at the Zadar County Court. Slavica says that with all due respect to his colleagues who died in the fire, he is not guilty.

23 - Four major Croatian opposition parties sign a declaration forming a coalition for the next parliamentary election. The declaration to form the Alliance for Change is signed in Kastav, near Rijeka, by presidents Zoran Milanovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Radimir Cacic of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Ivan Jakovcic of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) and Silvano Hrelja of the Croatian Pensioners' Party (HSU).

23 - One-month detention is set for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund director, Vinko Mladineo, suspected of signing contracts with the private Fimi Media advertising firm through which money was siphoned from public companies and government ministries.

24 - Croatian and Serbian Presidents Ivo Josipovic and Boris Tadic say in Zagreb that shedding light on the fate of missing persons is a priority in the two countries' relations without which full reconciliation and bilateral cooperation is impossible.

25 - Presidents Ivo Josipovic of Croatia and Boris Tadic of Serbia visit Krnjak, Gracac and the Serb Orthodox monastery Krupa.

25 - European Union Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele commends Croatia's good progress over the past year, but stresses that Croatia should now focus on several challenges, including the reform of the judiciary and public administration, and the fight against corruption and organised crime.

25 - Croatia and Slovenia exchange diplomatic notes informing each other that they have completed the necessary procedures for the entry into force of the border arbitration agreement.

25 - The government moves lowering upper limits of donation amounts for election campaigns. The highest amount an individual may donate is reduced from HRK 90,000 to 30,000, while the amount a company may donate to a political party or a presidential candidate is reduced from HRK 1 million to HRK 200,000, according to a bill sent to parliament.

26 - Parliament decides that the referendum on EU accession should be held after the signing of the accession treaty. The referendum will be held within 30 days from the day the accession treaty is signed.

26 - The Commercial Court appoints Branko Petanjek as a temporary receiver for the Zagreb radio station Radio 101 until a decision is reached on whether bankruptcy proceedings will be launched or not. Petanjek is to establish whether the city's popular radio station is able to continue operating or there are conditions for launching bankruptcy proceedings.

27 - Charges are pressed against four men for wrongdoing in the privatisation of the Split-based Konstruktor company and embezzlement of over HRK 2 million from the Croatian Privatisation Fund. Two high-profile suspects in this case are Konstruktor director Zeljko Zderic and the current head of the tax administration, Ivica Mladineo.

29 - The European Commission says for the first time that Croatia can wrap up accession negotiations towards the end of the first half of 2011 and announces a date when it will release a report on compliance with the benchmarks in the policy area dealing with the judiciary and fundamental rights.

29 - Former Lepoglava prison warden Stjepan Loparic and his assistant Neven Putar are sentenced to 20 and 14 months' imprisonment respectively for granting prisoners, including high profile ones like Hrvoje Petrac and Tihomir Oreskovic, favours to which they were not entitled. Another former official at the maximum security correctional facility, Ivan Bencek, is given a seven-month suspended sentence with two years' probation. The three men are sentenced by the Zagreb County Court pending appeal for favouring five prisoners, notably Zagreb entrepreneur Petrac, who is serving a six-year sentence for the kidnapping of former general Vladimir Zagorec's son.

DECEMBER

1 - Metkovic and nearby residential areas hit by floods.

2 - Bosnian businessman Fikret Abdic is acquitted of charges that in 2004, using a false identity, he entered changes in a register of companies concerning a member of the management board of the Karlovac-based Agrokomerc company, although he was not authorised to do so. Abdic is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for war crimes committed in the so-called Autonomous Region of Western Bosnia in the 1990s. He is doing his time in the prison in the northern Adriatic town of Pula.

3 - The government decides to send a Canadair firefighting plane and soldiers to Israel as humanitarian aid, after obtaining consent from President Ivo Josipovic. The CL415 866 aircraft and Croatian soldiers will be sent to Israel to put out wildfires.

3 - The government relieves Vinko Mladineo of duty as Director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund and appoints Zlatko Ivanis the acting director of that fund.

3 - Parliament adopts the new law on the national broadcaster HRT, including an amendment under which at least one of the members of the HRT Supervisory Board will be proposed by the Opposition.

3 - Former Economy Ministry state secretary Bianca Matkovic is sworn in as a member of parliament and will replace Kresimir Cosic in Parliament. Both are members of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

3 - In 2004 Croatia was more prepared for European Union membership than Romania and Bulgaria, former European Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten said according to one of the confidential documents released by the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.

4 - PM Jadranka Kosor visits areas struck by floods in the Neretva river valley, telling local residents that works on an embankment dike will begin in 2011 and that HRK 100 million has been earmarked for initial works.

6 - The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Serge Brammertz, gives a generally positive assessment of Croatia's cooperation with his office before the UN Security Council.

6 - Former Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic is sentenced to four years' imprisonment pending appeal for defrauding the state of HRK 10.2 million with a purchase, through direct agreement, of more expensive and poor-quality trucks for the Croatian army. His former aide and co-defendant Ivo Bacic is given a two-year sentence, also pending appeal. He and Roncevic have to return the amount in question. USKOK accused him and Bacic of buying 39 Iveco military trucks from the Eurokamion company for HRK 34.4 million, HRK 10.2 million more than what the MAN Importer company offered at an annulled tender.

6 - USKOK wraps up an investigation into the fixing of Croatian Football Premier League matches, indicting 21 persons in a case code-named Offside. The games were allegedly fixed by Vinko Saka, a former Dinamo coach, and two Slovenians, Dino Lalic and Admir Suljic. Some footballers are among the suspects as well.

6 - Croatian President Ivo Josipovic receives in Banja Luka the Person of the Year award of the local Nezavisne Novine newspaper.

7 - President Ivo Josipovic decorates Ruza Tomasic, Dusan Miljus and Igor Radjenovic with the Stjepan Radic Order for outstanding contribution to the fight against corruption and organised crime.

7 - The trial of six members of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), charged with the torture of prisoners of war and civilians from Croatia who were detained at the Morinj camp in Montenegro in 1991/92, will be repeated at the High Court in Podgorica.

8 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague alters the final judgement against Yugoslav army officer Veselin Sljivancanin for war crimes committed on the Ovcara farm outside the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991, reducing his prison sentence from 17 to 10 years.

8 - The Constitutional Court finds that in the 2007 parliamentary election, there were excessive departures in the number of voters in some constituencies, pointing in a report to parliament about the need to change the election law by the next election so that its result cannot be brought into question.

8 - MP Ivica Pancic elected president of the Croatian Social Democrats party.

9 - Parliament's Credentials and Privileges Commission unanimously grants the request by the State Attorney's Office to strip independent MP Ivo Sanader of immunity from prosecution, to place him in custody and investigate him on suspicion of conspiracy to commit crime and abuse of office. After the request is delivered to Parliament, Sanader crosses the border at Bregana into Slovenia shortly after 11 am, as the police have no order to arrest or detain him.

9 - Parliament unanimously ratifies the Credentials and Privileges Commission's decision to grant the State Attorney's Office's request to strip independent MP Ivo Sanader of immunity from prosecution and place him in custody on suspicion of conspiracy to commit crime and abuse of office in the case of Fimi Media, an agency used to siphon money from ministries and public companies.

9 - Month-long detention is set for Ivo sanader, who left Croatia shortly before being stripped of immunity from prosecution.

9 - Robert Jezic, owner of the Dioki company and the Novi List daily, is arrested in Zagreb. He is suspected, together with former PM Ivo Sanader, a former CEO of the HEP power company, Ivan Mravak, and HEP executive Ivan Mrljak, in a case involving the sale of electricity to Dioki below the market prices.

9 - The government sends to Parliament a bill of amendments to the law on the election of MPs which, in line with amendments to the constitution and the constitutional law on the rights of ethnic minorities, regulates the election of ethnic minority deputies and the election of deputies chosen by Croatian citizens without permanent residence in Croatia. Also, the government decides to pay HRK 320 million to deal with the consequences of natural disasters which struck by 1 December 2010.

10 - Former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader arrested on a warrant issued by Croatian authorities at the St. Michael tollbooths on the A10 motorway, about 100 kilometres from Salzburg. He is remanded in custody for 14 days.

10 - The owner of Dioki Grupa and the Rijeka-based Novi List daily, Robert Jezic, is remanded in investigative prison for a month due to risk of witness and evidence tampering.

10 - Police arrest Tomislav Mercep, a wartime assistant interior minister, on suspicion of involvement in the murder or disappearance of 43 people from the Zagreb, Kutina and Pakrac areas, between October and mid-December 1991. After being interviewed by the police and an investigating judge, denying all the accusations, Mercep is placed in two-days' custody. Owing to his poor condition, he is taken to a prison hospital.

10 - Parliament decides that over the next two years, Croatia will send up to 350 troops to the ISAF peace mission in Afghanistan, 30 more than until now. The Croatian soldiers will be engaged as mentors and instructors to local security and military forces, and will take on the lead role in a Kabul military police academy. Parliament also amends the law on the right to access information and the law on the jurisdiction and seats of county attorney's offices.

10 - The government adopts positions on the status of oil company INA and an offer by its majority owner MOL, underlining that it does not waive the right and possibility to adopt different legal and institutional solutions regarding the status of the contractual parties, as well as regarding the protection of strategic interests in the energy sector. The government says it will comply with and implement all formal agreements and contracts, as well as informal agreements with all investors whose goals and plans coincide with the government's goals in terms of protection of ownership, investment and management in the energy sector.

10 - Ivan Klesic is appointed new Chief State Auditor to replace Sima Krasic, whose term in office expired in April this year. Klesic, a lawyer by profession, has headed the Karlovac County Audit Office since 1996.

10 - WikiLeaks releases four confidential dispatches from the US Embassy Zagreb from November 2009 and January and February 2010 which reveal strong US support for the Croatian government's efforts in the fight against corruption and cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, crucial for the successful completion of Croatia's accession negotiations with the European Union.

13 - The Justice Ministry sends a request to the Austrian Justice Ministry for the extradition of former PM Ivo Sanader.

13 - The Zagreb County Court blocks all bank accounts of Ivo Sanader and his immediate family as well as stakes in several companies in which the former PM is a co-owner.

13 - Former wartime assistant interior minister Tomislav Mercep is remanded in month-long custody. An investigation is launched against him on the suspicion that he is responsible for the murder or disappearance of 43 people from the Zagreb, Kutina and Pakrac areas.

14 - European Union foreign ministers say in their conclusions, without direct reference to specific cases, that Croatia has achieved encouraging progress in combating high-level corruption.

14 - The Appeals Chamber of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina upholds the judgement handed down by the Zagreb County Court against former member of the Croatian Parliament Branimir Glavas, sentencing him to eight years in prison for war crimes against Serb civilians committed in the eastern Croatian city of Osijek in the early 1990s.

14 - The Zagreb County Court appoints Ana-Marija Gospocic as legal representative for former PM Ivo Sanader. After his escape to Slovenia and Austria last week, Sanader has contacted several Croatian lawyers by telephone, but none of them has come to court with a signed power of attorney, so the court appoints an attorney to represent him.

14 - About 30 hooligans in Zagreb attack a bus carrying some 40 VIP guests of the Greek football club PAOK from Thessaloniki. Four Greek fans are injured and a number of hooligans are arrested.

15 - Parliament passes the State Property Management Act, under which the State Property Management Agency will take over the work of the Croatian Privatisation Fund and the Central State Office for Property Management, which have been dissolved. Parliament also passes the Midwifery Act, aligning it with EU standards, and amends, in accordance with EU directives, the Transport Biofuels Act, and the Foreign Currency Transactions Act. Also amended is the State Attorneys Act, which lays down new conditions for the appointment of municipal prosecutors.

15 - Parliament amends the law on the election of MPs, which stipulates that people without permanent residence in Croatia are entitled to have three MPs and may vote at diplomatic missions in the country in which they live. Ethnic minorities accounting for more than 1.5 per cent of the population are guaranteed at least three seats in parliament based on the general voting right. Parliament also passes a law on the seizure of property acquired through the commission of crime or offence, as well as a judicial reform strategy for the 2011-15 period.

15 - The government decides to purchase a stake in Hrvatska Postanska Banka (HPB) and to invest in the postal bank's equity.

15 - Interpol finds two secret bank accounts in two foreign countries in which former PM Ivo Sanader has deposited about HRK 10 million in euros.

15 - The highest GDP per capita in the European Union, expressed by purchasing power parity in 2009, was recorded by Luxembourg and the lowest by Bulgaria, while Croatia reached 65 per cent of the European average, Eurostat says

16 - The European People's Party (EPP) supports Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor in her efforts to complete Croatia's negotiations on European Union accession.

16 - The European Commission approves 160 million euros in aid requested by six countries that had been hit by massive floods this summer, including Croatia, the commission says in a statement.

16 - Slovenian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee approves the closing of Chapter 31 (Foreign, Security and Defence Policy) in Croatia's EU membership negotiations at an intergovernmental accession conference to be held later in December.

16 - Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor confirms in Meise, outside Brussels, that she is preparing a cabinet reshuffle, declining to speak about concrete names.

16 - MP Milorad Pupovac confirms that a government reshuffle is being prepared and that PM Jadranka Kosor is supported in this by his Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS).

16 - A board member of the state-owned motorways company Hrvatske Autoceste (HAC), Josip Sapunar, is released from investigative custody, while the three other suspects in the Fimi Media corruption case remain in Zagreb's Remetinec prison until investigators have questioned the remaining witnesses. The three suspects are the former manager of the Rijeka-Zagreb motorway operator, Zlatko Korpar, and the former chairmen of the HAC management board, Mario Crnjak and Jurica Prskalo.

16 - Former PM Ivo Sanader authorises Zagreb lawyer Goran Suic to represent him in investigations being conducted into him in Croatia. Suic says he visited Sanader in a Salzburg prison, where Sanader gave him power of attorney in investigations into the siphoning of money via the Fimi Media marketing firm and unlawful operations involving the power company HEP and the petrochemical company Dioki.

16 - The Zagreb County Attorney's Office issues an indictment against three members of an anti-terrorist police unit - Frane Drlje, Bozidar Krajina and Igor Beneti - on the suspicion that they committed war crimes against Serbs in the village of Grubori near Knin, following Operation Storm in August 1995. The prosecution decides to stop the investigation against Berislav Garic due to a lack of evidence. The prosecution also requests the separation of further criminal proceedings against wartime special police commander Zeljko Sacic, who is accused of failing to do anything to prevent the crimes in Grubori or to punish the perpetrators.

17 - Talks on the privatisation of the Kraljevica shipyard will continue with the Jadranska Ulaganja company, the government decides.

17 - The government appoints Martina Banic head of the Office of the Prime Minister and Mladen Pavic head of the Public Relations Office and government spokesman.

17 - Former tourism minister Ivan Herak and the co-owner of the Croatia Golf company, Matej Majic, are cleared of abuse of office charges at a retrial before the county court in the northern Adriatic town of Pula.

20 - The Austrian State Attorney's Office investigating corruption confirms receipt of a case launched against former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader by prosecutors in Innsbruck following a report accusing Sanader of money laundering,

20 - The Slovenian parliamentary committee for European Union affairs greenlights the closing of two policy chapters within Croatia's EU accession negotiations, which will enable Croatia to provisional close the negotiating areas -- "Environment" and "Justice, Freedom and Security" -- at an accession conference set for 22 December.

20 - Former Croatian MP Branimir Glavas is transferred from a Sarajevo detention centre to a prison in Zenica, central Bosnia and Herzegovina, to serve an eight-year sentence for war crimes against civilians committed in Osijek, eastern Croatia.

20 - The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo has sentenced heart surgeon Ognjen Simic of Croatia to two and a half years in prison in a re-trial, in line with the Croatian Justice Ministry's request to enforce a Croatian verdict sentencing Simic to five years in prison for bribe-taking.

21 - The Bosnian State Court sentences four former Bosnian Serb policemen to a total of 86 years in prison for their role in the killing of over 150 Croats and Bosniaks in the Prijedor area of northern Bosnia during the war in 1992.

22 - Croatia closes three more policy areas in its EU accession talks, making one more step towards the accomplishment of its goal - to complete the negotiations by the end of Hungary's EU presidency in June 2011. At an intergovernmental accession conference held in Brussels at the ministerial level, Croatia closes negotiations in chapters No. 24 - Justice, Freedom and Security, No. 27 - Environment, and No. 31 - Foreign, Security and Defence Policy.

22 - Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader says his conscience is clear, while questioned by the Carinthian parliamentary commission of inquiry for the Hypo Bank. Sanader, held in extradition custody in Salzburg, is questioned via video link by commission members in Klagenfurt. The questioning is organised by the district court in Klagenfurt.

22 - No information about any legal proceedings being launched in Austria against former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader is available to the Croatian Justice Ministry, and the Ministry has no information about any investigation or indictment (issued there against Sanader), Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic says at a news conference in Zagreb. "We are in touch with the Austrian Justice Ministry, but we have no information about any indictment having been issued. Neither we nor the Austrian ministry possess information that any legal proceedings have been initiated," Bosnjakovic says.

22 - The opening of a new, EUR 750,000 production line and a new shop and show room of the Spin Valis furniture factory in the eastern town of Pozega with President Ivo Josipovic in attendance.

22 - The second pension insurance pillar will not collapse or be abolished, the Croatian Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship Ministry says in a statement on Wednesday, dismissing media reports about the collapse of the second pension insurance pillar, which is based on private insurance funds.

22 - Croatian Serb wartime rebel leader Milan Martic, who is in prison in Estonia serving a 35-year sentence handed down by the Hague war crimes tribunal, has been served with an indictment issued by the Zagreb County Court for missile attacks on Zagreb, Karlovac and Jastrebarsko, launched by Serb forces in 1995 following a Croatian military offensive known as Operation Flash.

22 - The Constitutional Court has quashed two Supreme Court judgements that found Mihajlo Hrastov, a former member of a special police force, guilty of war crimes for killing 13 Yugoslav People's Army reservists on a bridge over the Korana river in Karlovac in 1991.

23 - Austrian federal anti-corruption prosecutors, based in Vienna, question former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who dismisses suspicions about his involvement in money laundering. Sanader, who is held in extradition custody in Salzburg, has been questioned for about an hour via video conference. A decision on possible extension of Sanader's detention will be made on 27 December.

23 - A four-member group suspected of attempting to kill journalist Dusan Miljus and entrepreneur Josip Galinec in 2008 was arrested yesterday as part of an operation codenamed Shock 3, the Interior Ministry says.

23 - The Croatian National Bank predicts that this year's Gross Domestic Product will decline by 1.5 per cent, while next year it will increase by 1.4 per cent.

THIS BULLETIN INCLUDES ITEMS RELEASED BY 0830 HRS ON MONDAY