Vrdoljak

"Goodbye, #GeneralHRT. Monday will never be the same again," one Twitter user wrote on Monday evening after the last episode of the TV series 'The General' was aired on Croatian public television station HRT.

Gotovina became a national icon when he was indicted in July 2001 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY for large-scale crimes against Serb civilians during and after Operation Storm. A broad section of the Croatian public supported his cause, seeing him as a victim of unfair treatment of the young Croatian state by the international community.

While the Croatian media reported that about a million people watched Croatia's national football team beat Nigeria 2-0 in Russia last Saturday, football fans on the streets, in pubs and in Russia are not nearly so united - with many of them boycotting the games out of continued anger with the country's football federation, the HNS.

After visiting Croatia in June 2016, a European delegation is back in the country for a two-day visit.

The delegation comprises the South East Europe Media Organisation, the European Broadcasting Union, the European Federation of Journalists, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, Reporters Without Borders and the Association of European Journalists.

Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Maric could become the subject of an investigation by the Commission for Conflict of Interest Prevention after being reported for his ties with Croatia's biggest private company Agrokor, which is currently going through a financial crisis.

The likely result of an upcoming non-confidence vote on Croatia's Science and Education Minister Pavo Barisic is still unclear as both governing and opposition parties voice conflicting views.

Two state projects to explore and exploit gas and oil in Croatia are on hold until the new government prepares everything for the signing of contracts with foreign companies.

Croatian economy minister Ivan Vrdoljak confirmed on Tuesday that Austrian energy company OMV and US firm Marathon Oil Corporation have decided not to sign contracts for to search for and extract gas and oil from Croatia's Adriatic Sea, one of the country's major energy projects.

Sustainable Growth of Croatia, ORaH launched its campaign on Sunday under the banner "Say NO to Oil in the Adriatic, Say YES to sustainable growth", hoping to prevent the start of oil and gas exploration and exploitation in the Adriatic Sea, which it considers environmentally risky.

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Monday vowed to keep the troubled state-owned fertilizer company Petrokemije Kutina - which ran up tens of millions of euro in losses last year - alive.

"This is a political task for me and for the Minister of Economy [Ivan Vrdoljak], to maintain production and ensure that the company survives," he said.