ZAGREB, 15 Sept, 2021 - The main Zagreb Stock Exchange indices fell mildly on Wednesday amid a modest turnover.

The Crobex weakened by 0.12% to 1,969 points while the Crobex10 dropped by 0.10% to 1,203 points.

The transport sector index fell the most among sector indices (-1.86%) while the construction index registered the highest increase (+0.18%).

Regular turnover amounted to a mere HRK 4.9 million or about 3.7 million less than the day before.

The only stock to cross the million kuna mark was the HT telecommunications company generating a turnover of HRK 1.45 million. The prices of HT shares dropped by 0.26% and closed at HRK 189.50.

Thirty-seven stocks traded today, with 12 gaining in price, 15 losing, and 10 staying the same.

(€1 = HRK 7.474887)

For more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 Sept, 2021 - Abolishing the second pension pillar could, in the long run, result in higher public expenditure for pensions and a lower standard for pensioners, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency's board chairman, Ante Žigman, said on Wednesday. 

Addressing a conference, organised by the Hanza Media company on pensions, Žigman said that the pension reform was the biggest economic reform in Croatia's recent history and that it had been lasting for 20 years and had shown huge resilience, while being supported by both left and right governments.

He underscored that at the end of August the net assets of the mandatory pension funds (OMF) amounted to HRK 128 billion, an increase of almost HRK 9 billion compared to 2020. One-third of that is from payments while two-thirds of that amount is from yields.

He recalled that a lot of European countries had launched pension reforms twenty years ago but only Croatia and Bulgaria have managed to maintain the established system whereas in other countries significant amendments to reforms have been made due to the negative consequences of the global financial crisis.

A European Commission analysis on the future of pension systems to 2070 indicated that the gap between pension costs and contribution paid in will widen in those countries that abolished the second pillar.

In Croatia, the share of public costs for pensions in GDP should increase until 2030 and after that, it should begin to decrease, he said.

"The results without a doubt indicate that keeping the second pillar and combined pension allowances from the first and second pillar certainly contribute to a better status for pension recipients and lower public expenditure for pensions," Žigman underscored.

Aladrović: Demographic challenge is a pressing issue

Labour and  Pension System Minister Josip Aladrović said that the system needs to be upgraded so as to make it easier for management companies to  make investments which would result in greater prosperity for (pension) fund members.

Aladrović illustrated the complexity of the pension system saying that 40 years ago there were four people employed to one pensioner whereas now that ratio is 1 to 1.3.

"This illustrates the challenges of the demographic trend Croatia is faced with," said Aladrović, underscoring that the demographic challenge is the most pressing one in the entire European Union.

He underscored that compulsory pension funds have savings of €17-18 billion and those savings represent an opportunity to improve Croatia's economic prosperity as well as an opportunity to meet the objectives of adequate pension allowances and the pension system's sustainability.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 Sept, 2021 - Europe's industrial production recovered in July 2021 but Croatia was among the EU countries with the largest monthly decreases, an Eurostat report showed on Wednesday.

In July 2021, the seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 1.5% in the euro area and by 1.4% in the EU, compared with June 2021, when industrial production fell by 0.1% in the euro area and remained stable in the EU.

In the euro area in July 2021, compared with June 2021, production of non-durable consumer goods rose by 3.5%, while in the EU it rose by 2.8%.

Capital goods went up by 2.7% in the euro area and by 2.4% in the EU, and intermediate goods by 0.4% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU, while energy production was stable in the EU and fell by 0.6% in the euro area.

Among member states for which data are available, the highest monthly increases were registered in Ireland (+7.8%), Belgium (+5%) and Portugal (+3.5%). The largest decreases were observed in Lithuania (-2.0%), Slovenia (-1.8%) and Croatia (-1.6%).

In July 2021 compared with July 2020, industrial production increased by 7.7% in the euro area and by 8.3% in the EU.

In the euro area in July 2021, compared with July 2020, production of intermediate goods rose by 11.2%, nondurable consumer goods by 10.1%, durable consumer goods by 9.8%, capital goods by 5.9% and energy by 1%.

In the EU, production of intermediate goods rose by 11.8%, non-durable consumer goods by 9.4%, durable consumer goods by 8.9%, capital goods by 6.3% and energy by 2.7%. 

For more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 Sept, 2021 - Police in the northwestern Krapina-Zagorje County have filed misdemeanor charges against eight persons protesting outside a primary school in Krapinske Toplice against the obligation for children to wear face masks in school. 

The police have filed 26 reports and they refer to an attempt to disturb the public peace, unreported public assembly in a place where public assemblies are not allowed, refusal to wear a protective mask indoors, and refusal to show police one's ID card.

Police also reported that a child's parents were reported for offences against the Identification Card Act and the Act on the Protection of the Population against Infectious Diseases, and that the competent social welfare service had been informed accordingly.

Police said that over the past few days, several people had continued rallying outside the school in Krapinske Toplice in violation of the Public Assembly Act, which was why police presence there was required.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 Sept, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday during the national parliament's Question Time that it was reasonable for Croatia that entered the EU in 2013 to switch to the euro nine and a half years after its admission to the Union.

"It seems a reasonable time frame to me for a country that joined the Union on 1 July 2013 to adopt the euro on 1 January 2023, that is nine and a half years," Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in response to the question from Marko Milanović Litre (Croatian Sovereignists) whether the citizens should be asked about the adoption of the euro and renunciation of monetary sovereignty.

"You are a new MP. Your predecessors in this same parliament ratified the EU Accession Treaty by 150 votes in favour. Your colleague, Ruža Tomašić, thanks to whom you are sitting here, was a member of the European Parliament in 2013. Your colleague Ilčić has rushed to the EP where he is paid in euro," Plenković said.

The PM said that the strategic goal of his government was to get Croatia into two deeper integrations - the Schengen passport-free travel zone and the euro area.

"We have made sure to fulfil the Maastricht criteria in the present circumstances of a pandemic, earthquakes and crises and have come close to adopting the euro, and now we listen to this initiative of yours. I don't know if we have all slept through this entire period," the prime minister said.

"Is there anyone who still thinks that EU membership is bad for us, after we have absorbed 44 billion more than we have contributed?" he concluded.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

September 15, 2021 - Mayor Mato Franković sent a letter to famous American actress Gabrielle Union, responding to a story in her new memoir that details racism in Dubrovnik when she visited in 2019.

Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Franković sent an open letter to famous American actress Gabrielle Union, who in her new memoirs recalled an unpleasant racially conditioned incident she experienced during a summer vacation in Croatia, reports Slobodna Dalmacija. 

"Dear Ms. Union, I was quite surprised by your statement that during your stay in Dubrovnik you had an unpleasant experience where you, I quote 'experienced a large amount of hatred and threats of violence,' as you say, in a club full of racist symbols and neo-Nazis who were present.

On behalf of the City of Dubrovnik, the people of Dubrovnik, and myself, I express my strongest condemnation of such a statement and outrage at any messages of hatred and violence. Dubrovnik has always been an open city where racist segregation clubs have never existed. Dubrovnik is a city that actually has a single nightclub that is one of the best clubs in Europe.

Dubrovnik is a city of highly tolerant people, culture, and history that has been developed on the Dubrovnik cliff for more than a millennium. That is why we are surprised by such a primitive and individual act.

Moreover, we are proud that our rich history is adorned by the fact that the Republic of Dubrovnik banned the slave trade in 1416, long before the United States did so, even though the republic's main economic branches were maritime trade. As in many ways, the people of Dubrovnik were already ahead of their time in respecting human life and human rights. The notion of ‘freedom’ (libertas, libertà) is one of the key motives in the political tradition of old Dubrovnik that has survived to this day.

I believe that you are aware that your statement on the isolated case has caused great damage to Dubrovnik and all its citizens, who will get the impression that they belong to a system of values that Dubrovnik and its citizens have never inherited. Dubrovnik, on the contrary, is a city that has always accepted all people, and our fellow citizens treat everyone like good hosts. Therefore, your recollection about the event that you stated happened two years ago took us by surprise, especially because there is no such club as you describe in Dubrovnik.

Therefore, dear Mrs. Union, I again express my regret for the isolated incident that happened to you in our city. I apologize to you and at the same time emphasize that Dubrovnik has always been and will be in the future a city of freedom, equality, and respect for all," said Dubrovnik mayor Mato Franković.

Namely, Union was in Dubrovnik two years ago with actress Jessica Alba at NEM. In her memoirs, “We're Going to Need More Wine,” she recalled a ‘terrifying’ racist incident she experienced in Dubrovnik. The actress reportedly got into what she thought was a gay bar with a group of friends, but after looking around, they realized they were surrounded by people they perceived as ‘neo-Nazis’ who immediately threatened them.

"I have never experienced such a level of hatred and the threat of physical violence," Union recalled, adding that the group followed them down the street as they left.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

September 15, 2021 -Croatian Roma history still lacks a systematic approach and more immense scientific interest, as was warned about by Dr. Daniel Vojak from the Ivo Pilar Social Research Institute when he presented his research at a conference held at Karlova University in Prague.

The Romani population has lived in the lands that are today part of the Republic of Croatia for over six centuries, which makes them one of the oldest minority groups – says the research by Dr. Danijel Vojak, a historian who, after getting his Ph.D. in history from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb, now works as a researcher for the Ivo Pilar Social Research Institute.

Being a member of The Gypsy Lore Society (USA), the European Academic Network on Romani Studies (EU), and the Croatian National Board for Historical Sciences (HNOPZ), with 45 domestic and 53 international participations in scientific discussions, he has become very well respected in the field of researching the history of Roma people and Croatian Roma history.

The Croatian public may remember an article about his work in the Nacional publication where he explained his research on how the fascist affiliate Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska/NDH) killed around 15,000 Roma people, leaving a very dark stain on the pages of Croatian Roma history.

''The document shows how Roma people weren't poor even though they lived on an economic margin. They legally acquired properties until their belongings were taken by the state,'' stated Vojak for Nacional in 2019.

As the Ivo Pilar Social Research Institute recently informed people, last week, from September 8-10, Vojak participated in an annual conference by the Gypsy Lore Society that took place in Karlova University in Prague.

The topic of Vojak's latest scientific lecture was titled ''Marginals on the Sidelines of the Education System or on Education About the Roma Genocide in Croatia, 1945-2020,'' which explores how the genocide over the Roma people in Croatia during World War Two has sadly escaped the memory of the past.

''Even today, very little is known about the extent of this genocide committed against the Roma during the reign of the Independent State of Croatia (ISC/NDH). The marginalisation of scholarly interest in researching the genocide committed against the Roma people was one of the characteristics of the communist ideological model of the authorities in socialist Croatia (Yugoslavia), which prohibited the highlighting of ethnic identities among victim groups, and instead incorporated them into the common discourse of ''victims of fascist terror''.

With such ideological control, the memories of the Romani war victims were joined by those of other victims of the Ustasha authorities and its fascist and Nazi allies, which made it impossible to hold separate commemorations or to erect monuments for the Romani victims,'' said Vojak during his presentation, as explained by the Ivo Pilar Social Research website.

As Vojak warns, the effect of Yugoslavian policies still has consequences today as scholars take on Roma suffering during WW2, and what is uncovered remains insufficient and unsystematic.

Founded in the UK in 1888, moving its headquarters across the Atlantic to the USA in 1989, the Gypsy Lore Society takes an interest in Roma people but also in other communities and cultures that are commonly known as gypsies in the English language.

''The research field of the Gypsy Lore Society has traditionally included many different communities which, regardless of their origins and self-appellations in various languages, have been referred to in English as gypsies. These communities include the descendants of migrants from the Indian subcontinent, which have been considered as falling into three large subdivisions, Dom, Lom, and Rom. The field has also included communities of other origins that practice, or in the past have practiced, a specific type of service nomadism. The breadth of society's interests is reflected in the articles published in its journal and papers presented at its conferences,'' explains the Gypsy Lore Society.

The promotion of studies on said communities (their history and culture in a worldwide sense), the dissemination of accurate information in the hope of increasing the general understanding of their diversity, as well as establishing closer contacts with the researchers of the same interest; are all goals the society aims to promote.   

''The society sponsors programmes and conferences and publishes the twice-yearly Romani Studies (continuing Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society), a quarterly newsletter and other occasional publications,'' the Gypsy Lore Society summarised when stating its activities.

Along with Croatian Roma history throughout WW2, as TCN previously wrote, there is also a lack of historical memory on Roma people in the Homeland War in the 90's.

Things moved in a positive direction in 2019 when Borna Marinić presented his book, “We defended Croatia Too: Roma People in the Homeland War“.

But, as Vojak warns when talking about the unsystematic and insufficient take on the history of Roma people, Croatian scientists have a lot more digging to do in order to properly tell the story about the oldest minority in Croatia.

Learn more about Croatian politics and history from the 1990s on our TC page.

For more about science in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 Sept, 2021 - Croatia reported a surge in the daily number of coronavirus cases on Wednesday as 1,835 new cases had been registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases to 7,037.

Among those infected are 603 people who are hospitalised and 64 of them are on ventilators. Seven people have died in the past 24 hours.

Health Minister Vili Beroš told Parliament that Croatia was at the beginning of the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Today's 1,835 new infections are indeed a warning. Seven of the infected persons have died and only one of them was vaccinated. The healthcare system will be ready, but the question is whether society will be ready because not enough people have been vaccinated," Beroš said.

A similar number of cases were registered on 30 November 2020, when as many as 73 people died, and on 26 March 2021, when 16 people died.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was reported in Croatia, 386, 891 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 8,463 have died and 371,391 have recovered, including 609 in the past 24 hours. A total of 14,799 people are currently in self-isolation.

To date, 2,684,626 people have been tested for COVID-19, including 11,550 in the past 24 hours. A total of 3,341,864 doses of vaccines have been administered, with 43.53 percent of the total population or 52.26 percent of the adult population having been vaccinated. 1,766,447 people have received at least one dose and 1,655,970 of them have been fully vaccinated.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.