ZAGREB, 15 Feb 2022 - The Green Action NGO on Tuesday welcomed the decision by Zagreb City authorities regarding waste collection, saying this was a big step in the right direction enabling fairer bills, more recycling and less waste delivered to the city's Jakuševac landfill.

"Finally fairer bills and a better waste collection service in Zagreb," the environmental protection NGO, which was once led by the incumbent Mayor Tomislav Tomašević, said in a press release.

The proposed decision brings a new model of waste collection under which bins will have locks so they cannot be accessed by third persons.

"We consider this to be a good move which we have advocated for years because better supervision will enable fairer waste separation so the percentage of recycling will be greater. This has been proved successful in many cities across the EU such as Ljubljana, which has been dubbed the European capital of cleanliness," the NGO said.

As far as billing is concerned, the proposal introduces partial payment based on the quantity of waste and the more citizens separate waste the lower their bills will be.

That is certainly a much fairer way to charge for waste collection than the current system of charging per square metre and the number of household members.

One of the challenges of the proposed model is supervising the use of official bin bags and identifying and penalising irresponsible citizens.

"That will require stepping up municipal inspections and introducing additional reward models...We also expect our proposal for bags for mixed waste to be replaced with appropriate smaller containers and waste meters, to be adopted soon," the NGO said.

ZAGREB, 15 Feb 2022 - The Telemach Croatia telecommunications company continues investing in mobile and fibre optics network infrastructure in 2022.

Its CEO Adrian Ježina says that investment in product development might reach €100 million, stressing the importance of further construction of 5G mobile and fixed-line fibre optics networks across the country.

The company has covered the whole of Zagreb with a 5G network. By summer, it plans to replace all existing base stations with new ones and cover all major cities along the Adriatic coast with 5G. After that, it will focus on Slavonia and other regions. Over the next five years, it plans to bring the high-speed fixed-line internet to 500,000 households.

Telemach is no longer just a mobile phone operator, but also a provider of fixed telephony and television services and has now become an equal competitor with the two largest telecoms companies in Croatia, Ježina said, adding that the company is investing HRK 1.7 billion (€226.6m) in the upgrade of the mobile network and the construction of the state-of-the-art fibre optics network.

Telemach Croatia currently employs about 600 people, more than twice as many as two years ago when it took over the former company Tele2. Ježina also noted investment in customer support and the opening of its own call centres in Zagreb and Osijek.

For now, the company is not planning to increase its tariffs despite the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, high inflation and increased energy prices.

February 15, 2022 - A Roman mosaic in Stari Grad on Hvar has been uncovered thanks to archeological excavations in the historic core of the town. 

Protective archeological excavations have begun in the historic core of Stari Grad on the island of Hvar, which together with the Stari Grad Field was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008. The research carried out by the Institute of Archeology in cooperation with the Stari Grad Museum is a continuation of the excavations carried out in 2021, which precede the installation of a new infrastructure system and water supply and sewerage network, reports Slobodna Dalmacija.

"The research is taking place at sites that hide significant archaeological remains of the Greek Pharos and the Roman Faria, to get better insight into the degree of their preservation and distribution and new contextual data on the rich past of Stari Grad," said research leader Marina Ugarković, a research associate at the Institute of Archeology and leader of the "AdriaCos" project, which also included excavations at several locations in the ancient city (384 BC) during October and November.

Her deputies at the latest excavations are Andrea Devlahović, curator of the Stari Grad Museum, and Martina Korić, a doctoral student at the Institute of Archeology, under the supervision of Saša Denegri from the Conservation Department of the Ministry of Culture in Split.

Now, archeological works are taking place in the area of Duoljna and Srinja kola, after which the research will be carried out on Vagonj Street, in front of the Sv. Roko Church - the patron saint of the city, and on St. Stephen's Square.

"Already during the first few days of excavations, the continuation of the Roman mosaic in Srinja kola was discovered, whose segments are already known to experts and the general public. Depending on the final results of the archeological works, the competent body of the Conservation Department in Split will determine further measures for the protection of the cultural property and the conditions for the continuation of construction works at the mentioned location," explained Dr. Ugarković.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

February. 15, 2022 - The second set of qualifying matches for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup starts in ten days. Croatia coach Damir Mulaomerović has published the list of players he will use for the next two games. 

On Friday, February 25, starting at 18:30, the Croatia national team will host Sweden in Zagreb, and on Sunday, February 28, starting at 19:00, Croatia will finish the second set of matches in the Swedish town of Norrkoping.

The coach of the national team, Damir Mulaomerović, published a wider national team list with 24 candidates. The coach conducted many interviews and sent an invitation to all representative candidates who, given the competition system, can participate at all. For example, Miro Bilan thanked Mulaomerović for the invitation, saying that he wants to leave the national team jersey to the younger players, while Ivan Buva has a hip injury. Mario Hezonja and Kruno Simon, Croatian Euroleague players who would mean a lot to the national team, are also on the wider list.

List of players

Roko Badžim – Szolnoki
Darko Bajo – KK Split
Josip Batinić – KK Cedevita Junior
Danko Branković – KK Cibona
Filip Bundović – KK Cedevita Junor
Dario Drežnjak – KK Zadar
Mateo Drežnjak – KK Cibona
Goran Filipović – KK Cedevita Junior
Lovro Gnjidić – KK Cibona
Mario Hezonja – UNICS Kazan
Antonio Jordano – KK Zadar
Mate Kalajžić – KK Gorica
Filip Krušlin – Dinamo Sassari
Pavle Marčinković – KK Zadar
Karlo Matković – Mega Mozzart
Dominik Mavra – KK Zadar
Ivan Ramljak – Slask Wroclaw
Roko Rogić – Twarde Pierniki Torun
Matej Rudan – Mega Mozzart
Krunoslav Simon – Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Sven Smajlagić – Nevezis
Željko Šakić – Avtodor
Antonio Vranković – JIP Pardubice
Tomislav Zubčić – Tofaş S.K.
Coach: Damir Mulaomerović
Assistant coach: Aramis Naglić
Assistant coach: Vladimir Krstić

2nd cycle of 2023 Basketball World Cup qualifications
February 25, 2022 at 18:30 Croatia - Sweden (KC Dražen Petrović, Zagreb)
February 28, 2022 at 19:00 Sweden - Croatia (Norrkoping)
*Tickets for the home match against Sweden are on sale at ulaznice.hr, and both matches will be broadcast live by SportKlub.

The 2023 World Cup qualifiers are played in six qualifying cycles of two matches, divided into rounds 1 and 2, as was the case with the qualifiers for the last World Cup. The next cycles are in June 2022, August 2022, November 2022, and February 2023.

The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be held in Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia next year. 

Source: HKS

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

February the 15th, 2022 - Croatian shipyards might have been struggling significantly for the past few years, since long before the global coronavirus pandemic emerged and caused even more issues, but the Viktor Lenac shipyard has its hands full at the moment, mostly with the ''doing up'' of a yacht owned by no less than the Saudi royal family.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, docking capacities at the Viktor Lenac shipyard have been filled until the month of May, there are now more than 10 ships in that shipyard, and employment is extremely high, the Rijeka-based shipyard revealed.

Board member Sandra Uzelac said that all docks and berths were filled and that now, unlike in the previous half of the year, the Viktor Lenac shipyard's employment is high. Last year, he says, the business was affected by high freight rates, so shipowners used that time more for navigation than for overhaul, and the coronavirus pandemic also negatively affected it.

Therefore, it is expected that the Viktor Lenac shipyard's business roundup for the year 2021 will turn out to have been successful and with a profit, but less so than in 2020. On Thursday, a passenger ship - a luxury yacht which is 147 metres long, sailed into the Viktor Lenac shipyard for overhaul and refurbishment.

It is a large yacht owned by a foreign client, with which the Kostrena shipyard signed a contract for the overhaul and refurbishment worth more than 20 million euros. It is a yacht used by the Saudi royal family.

The complexity of the contracted works is also indicated by the fact that it is planned that the ship will remain in the Rijeka shipyard for one entire year, because the deadline for the execution of all of the works is 12 months.

According to Sandra Uzelac, these are very specific works, and several Croatian and foreign subcontractors will be engaged in order to get it all done. Similar, but smaller jobs of that kind have already been done at the Viktor Lenac shipyard, said Uzelac.

For more, check out our business section.

February the 15th, 2022 - Croatia certainly loves to sit back and count the overnight stays during the tourist season, but as sustainable tourism becomes the direction in which more and more countries are heading in, how much can other countries look towards the Croatian eVisitor system for inspiration?

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, in the near future, EU member states will no longer measure their tourism results through arrivals and overnight stays being registered, but with the help of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, unique, standardised tools will be developed to monitor EU-wide social, environmental and economic impacts.

So far, the deadlines for the introduction of these new metrics haven't been defined, which will include changes in legislation and a number of new infrastructure solutions, but national tourist boards will play a key role in this.

The experience of the Croatian eVisitor system could have a significant impact on the process, as has since been learned. The plan for the introduction of new statistical methods for monitoring the results of tourism, with the introduction of sustainable solutions and digitisation is the most important topic of the just published report of the European Commission (EC).

It is a document that confirms the agreement of EU tourist boards to implement new tourism metrics and to give priority to both residents and tourists when it comes to tourism services, instead of harmfully imposing the number of nights as the only criterion for growth and development.

The report was created together with the destinations of the European Union and industrial players. Some analysts of global trends suggest it could be a turning point for the future of EU tourism, while others are skeptical about its future implementation, which has not yet been defined.

"We believe that European national tourism organisations should be the European Commission's main partner and play a major role in implementing these solutions in the coming years. While most have well-established tools to provide a wide range of key performance indicators related to the quantitative economic aspects of tourism, most still struggle with the lack of a broader picture of the impact of tourism,'' said Luis Araujo, President of the European Travel Commission.

He is convinced that expanding metrics and coordination at European Union level will significantly facilitate the sustainable transition of destinations. The Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB) will also actively participate in the process.

"This is a document created in the context of pandemic-induced disorders and which, among other things, emphasises the need for more sustainable tourism and tourism that is more resilient to crises. Green and digital transitions stand out as key, especially in areas such as sustainable competitiveness, legislation and policy, technical solutions and infrastructure. Great emphasis has also been placed on the collection of other types of data, such as tourist traffic, as well as environmental, economic and social indicators.

In this regard, the ETC and national tourism organisations are already working to establish a single set of indicators that could monitor and compare European Union destinations in terms of the impact of tourism and tourism sustainability,'' the CNTB revealed.

They also added that the CNTB can contribute to the collection and processing of this data with existing solutions, such as the world's unique technological solution for monitoring and analysing tourist traffic, the Croatian eVisitor system, but also by developing new smart digital solutions and services and improving knowledge and skills, as well as the further development and management of tourist destinations and products.

They also added that various national documents that are being drafted, the Strategy for the Development of Sustainable Tourism until 2030 and the National Plan for the Development of Sustainable Tourism from 2021 to 2027 should also contribute to the process.

For more, check out our travel section.

February the 15th, 2022 - Bruno Peric, a former basketball player, decided to let his intolerances to certain food lead him down an entrepreneurial path, which saw him create Green Cakes, which are healthy desserts.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, the Zagreb company Green Cakes headed by athlete Bruno Petric is engaged in the development, production and sale of healthy desserts. They have been operating since the spring of last year, they currently have three employees, and their production plant is located in Brezovica.

According to Bruno Peric, the owner and director of Green Cakes, they have chosen the sign "healthy & sweet" for the slogan, and currently they have 12 cakes, cookies, brownies, but also a catering offer that includes desserts.

"Our goal is to promote a healthy diet, but at the same time prove that healthy can be sweet and delicious without needing to feel guilty. Our desserts are also adapted to people with diabetes, gluten or lactose intolerance and everyone who likes to enjoy healthy and fine flavours, and some of our desserts are also suitable for vegans. My intention is to develop this kind of business in Croatia, to prove that this is possible with our business model and, ultimately, to ensure the availability of healthy sweets to the general population.

As a professional athlete, I have a need for a healthy diet, and thus for healthy desserts. From personal experience of lactose and gluten intolerance, the idea was born that something should be done in terms of the wider availability of healthy desserts. The idea was born and matured during the period of my playing basketball in Germany,'' explained Bruno Peric.

Although they have been in business since the spring, the design and development of these recipes, research into the market for the supply of raw materials, but also the potential for the sale of healthy desserts began, as Bruno explained, much earlier.

Today, Green Cakes products are available through web shops and social media, as well as with HoReCa partners with whom they cooperate, and Peric points out that they also plan to open their own retail outlets. They recently published the book "Health has a new taste", and they're currently working on new products and innovating their existing ones.

“The past period was spent in a detailed acquaintance with the specifics of the market of healthy sweets and our in-depth acquaintance with this type of business. We worked on the development of new products, invested in production equipment and accessories, but also in product testing and analysis and in the education of key users,'' says Bruno Peric.

New partners

As he claims, they procure the raw materials for their sweets exclusively from proven and reliable suppliers, and they also cooperate with several domestic family farms. ''Negotiations are underway with a significant number of new HoReCa partners, so we expect an increase in the number of cafes and restaurants with our products soon,'' said Bruno Peric.

According to him, they plan to establish themselves as the leading producer of healthy sweets in the wider area and to complete the range in accordance with the needs and requirements of the market.

“The market reactions to our products have been positive and they give us incentives to work even harder on new products and innovations. We often receive messages from customers that our healthy desserts confirm our slogan that "health has a new taste". We plan to organise a Green Cakes centre where all development, promotional and educational activities would take place where experts would be involved, such as nutritionists, formulators, diabetologists, gastroenterologists, microbiologists and others,'' concluded Bruno Peric.

For more, check out Made in Croatia.

February the 15th, 2022 - While retiring for Croats on a Croatian pension might not be a song and dance, Croatian retirement for foreign nationals with foreign pensions is quite the dream for many. The magazine International Living has ranked the country very highly indeed.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, faced with a sharp drop in living standards after retirement, many retirees spend time thinking of environments that offer a better life for the same amount of money. Croatia is one of the most desirable destinations for foreign retirees, and this year it was on the list of the best destinations for retirement.

Every year, the International Living magazine produces an international retirement index that promotes the best countries for living in retirement, and Croatian retirement for foreigners looks tempting. The survey involves a large number of correspondents and associates from around the world, and the calculation of the index looks not only at the cost of living, but also at many other factors that affect the quality of life.

The choice is intended primarily for Americans and other Westerners, who can often afford a better quality of life in the offered destinations than in their homeland.

In addition to the cost of living, climate, political stability, the level of healthcare offered and its cost, the development of infrastructure and the degree of environmental protection are the most important factors when it comes to scoring. Less tangible factors that have an important impact on the quality of life are also measured, such as the availability and quality of entertainment and cultural content, the attitude of local residents towards foreigners, as well as the level of general personal safety.

This year, Croatia and Croatian retirement for foreigners was included among the pensioners' paradises, and it ranked 23rd on the list of the 25 most attractive destinations. We received the most points for "ease of integration", which includes the general goodwill of the local population towards foreigners, the ability to adapt to local customs, the level of cultural content, the offer of outdoor activities and the adaptation of various content to foreign users.

Croatia is also attractive due to its low cost of living, and it also ranks well in terms of healthcare. The level of infrastructure is also highly valued, which means the availability of telecommunications services, a quality road network and efficient public transport. Croatia received the fewest points in the categories "possibility of obtaining citizenship" and "benefits for the elderly", and it is still relatively weak in terms of the quality of civil services.

Other countries with a high index also offer a combination of low costs, different benefits and nice weather. Along with Panama and Portugal, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, France, Malta, Spain and Uruguay are among the top 10, writes tportal.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.