June the 21st, 2021 - The Lastovo - Island of Stars/Otok Zvijezda project is being revived once again, with the first activities beginning last week.

As Dorian Bozicevic/Morski writes, back at the beginning of this year, an initiative was launched to revive the "Lastovo - Island of Stars" project, and at the invitation of the Lastovo Tourist Board, cooperation with the Croatian Astronomical Union began.

Astronomical workshops for elementary school students

The Secretary General of the Croatian Astronomical Association held a full-day astronomy programme for elementary school students in Lastovo through two workshops and observations, one on the sun and the other workshop called Stars, Constellations and Light Pollution.

Public observations of the Moon and measurements of the quality of the Lastovo night sky

As part of last week's astronomical programme held on Lastovo, two public observations of the moon were held with telescopes where citizens and tourists alike could view and photograph the moon with their own smartphones, and night sky quality measurements were started with SQM-L and TES TASS devices will be needed so that the Municipality of Lastovo and the Lastovo Islands Nature Park can apply for the status of the International Dark Sky Park with the International Dark Sky Association (IDA).

A meeting on the Dark Sky Park was held within the Municipality of Lastovo

Last week, the Municipality of Lastovo held the first concrete meeting with representatives of local institutions that must be involved in order for the "Lastovo - Island of Stars" project to fully come to life and to continue work on declaring the International Dark Sky Park on Lastovo.

The meeting was chaired by the Secretary General of the Croatian Astronomical Association, Dorian Bozicevic, and the meeting was attended by the Mayor of Lastovo, Anita Jancic Lesic, the director of the Elementary School "Braca Glumac" Vedrana Ortika-Medini, a representative of the Lastovo Islands Nature Park, Gojko Antica, the director of the Tourist Board of Lastovo, Bruno Rina, and Diana Magdic, an employee of the same tourist board.

The meeting presented the conditions that need to be met in order for Lastovo to successfully apply for the status of an International Dark Sky Park and agreed on the first steps that need to be taken to start the same process (minor changes in outdoor lighting, night sky quality measurements, activities for children, adults and tourists, determining and arranging places for astronomical observations etc).

Among other things, the meeting discussed the installation of cameras in Croatia and the Global Meteor Network, as well as the possibility of the Visnjan Observatory on Lastovo to install a robotic telescope for tracking and detecting asteroids and launching extracurricular activities in astronomy at the aforementioned Lastovo school.

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June the 21st, 2021 - Croatian stagnation has once again been forced out into the limelight as the latest competitiveness ranking highlights the country's multitude of shortcomings. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, the second title, and the same action: the global competitiveness scale run by the Institute for Business Development Development (IMD) from Lausanne, Switzerland for 2021, shows the same as a wide range of others - Croatian stagnation in terms of competitiveness. Croatia is ranked an embarrassing 59th in the competition of 64 countries, and all other member states of the European Union (EU) have better results.

The moves made in the last year have pushed Croatia only one place up, but the scale itself today includes another country. The fact that Croatian stagnation has far from gone away is highlighted by the cross-section of the past five years. From 2017 until today, Croatia has been ranked in a very narrow range, between 59th and 61st place.

"Croatia's position on the competitiveness scale has only improved marginally when compared to last year, and is still lagding behind comparable countries, the newer EU member states," said Ivica Mudrinic, the president of the National Competitiveness Council (NVK), IMD's partner institute.

Mudrinic announced at the last session of the NVK that he was retiring from the leading position, but he didn't state the reasons for the choice. Until the election of a new leadership, he will be replaced by Council member Ivan Misetic.

According to 334 criteria, two-thirds of which are statistics and the rest the opinions of enterprise owners and the like, the best country in terms of competitiveness is rather unsurprisingly Switzerland, which dethroned Singapore. The Swiss are followed by Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, last year's winner Singapore, Norway, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the UAE and the USA.

In addition to the fact that Croatia is unfortunately the worst in all of Europe, and that only Mongolia, Botswana, South Africa, Argentina and Venezuela received lower marks, there are other things to speak of, too. Some of the neighbours in the country's immediate region, such as Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, which are Croatia's biggest competitors in attracting investment, ''know-how'' and job creation, have all significantly improved their own respective rankings.

Slovakia jumped seven places (50th), Hungary five places (42nd) and Romania three places (48th). However, deterioration in terms of competitiveness was recorded by Poland, which fell by as many as eight places (47th), Slovenia (40th) and Bulgaria (53rd) fell by five places, and the Czech Republic, which fell by one place (34th). Again, despite the setback, they all achieved better results than Croatia.

Out of 20 competitiveness indices, Croatia received good grades in the areas of international trade (29th), price levels (33rd), healthcare and the environment (38th) and education (44th).

Croatian stagnation has quite convincingly placed the country in the very last in the practice of governance and the labour market (64th), attitudes and values ​​(63rd), business legislation (61st), basic infrastructure (60th), as well as foreign investment and finance (59th).

Enterprise owners rated Croatian skilled labour, a high level of education, reliable infrastructure, access to finance and cost competitiveness as the most benevolent factors of all. On the other hand, those critical observations didn't spare the terms of an effective legal environment, the capacity of the government, the tax system, corporate governance and (in)stability and (un)predictability of policies.

Although within a year IMD has noticed progress in a number of areas (from economy, employment, taxes, productivity…), a decline has been observed in international trade, foreign investment, prices and public finances.

Therefore, it is not unexpected for the IMD to repeat what everyone regularly points out, from the World Bank, the European Commission, foreign investors to domestic experts, it is crucial to reform and digitise the judiciary, public administration and local government units.

Despite the tax spikes, the total tax burden in Croatia is still much too high. Special emphasis is placed on broad digitalisation as a precondition for reforms and an easier jump in the development of individual sectors of the economy.

"Events during the pandemic and expectations in the post-pandemic period, fueled by a new financial envelope from the EU, raise hopes that they could accelerate these much-needed structural changes," Mudrinic said optimistically.

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June 20, 2021 - One of the most common misconceptions in our society is that any kind of success is the result of an exception, rather than a rule, with a bit of luck and divine intervention thrown into the mix. And yet, according to the latest CEPOR report, there are currently 134.365 thriving micro and small business in Croatia. Meet Sara Peranić, whose business took off - in the middle of the pandemic.

Sara Peranić is a social pedagogue, blogger, founder of the project Licence for Imperfection, and the author of SamopouzdaniJA (English: ConfIdent), an online personal development course for women, with over 8 years of volunteer experience in various nonprofit organizations. She is currently studying to become a certified psychotherapist. 

An average person usually comes into contact with social pedagogues at government-run institutions –  schools, social welfare centers, youth centers, prisons. Given that social pedagogues mostly work in the public sector, would you say that you have chosen an unorthodox career path? Is there such a thing at all? How did it all come about?

„Create what you miss in the world“ – that was my guiding thought. I truly respect science, but it seems to me sometimes that there is a huge gap between scientific knowledge and people that need that knowledge to improve their lives. So, I see my work as building a bridge between.

On your blog, you describe yourself as a personal development addict. Where did you get the inspiration for your blog and later, your online course SamopouzdaniJa? Also, how much time does it take to come up and create content?

Back in high school, I started watching Ted Talks instead of series that young people usually watch. When I moved to Zagreb I was delighted by the number of various educations, courses, etc. I started volunteering and realized pretty soon that faculty knowledge is just not enough. So I attended all that was offered. After a few years, there was accumulated a lot of experience and knowledge and I just felt like it should be spread. Once I was online and realized how helpful it was for people that were following me, I started studying and reading more than ever. So, it all started as a hobby and soon it grew into a business. My programme SamopouzdaniJA is a result of all my educations, books that I've read, workshops that I attended and created, courses, especially psychotherapy education, and my own psychotherapy experience. It is a combination of counselling, psychotherapy, coaching, and some alternative methods and techniques. I created that programme in 1 month, but the knowledge I poured into was an accumulation of 8 years in self-development and education.

Sara Peranić/private archive

 You have launched your blog, Sluša-Lica, in 2019, a year preceding the infamous 2020. Despite the unusual circumstances, you have successfully built a commendable online presence, not through one, but six different channels –  your blog, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, and your newsletter. What was it like, being an entrepreneur in that situation?

Interest in topics that I talk about was huge even before the pandemic, but in lockdown, people were enormously looking for some sort of self-help content since the circumstances were very unpredictable. Also, they finally had some time to be with themselves, and various distractions that usually occupy their mind were now removed, so many thoughts and emotions came out. And the reason why I posted on so many platforms is that different people consume different content, some prefer to listen to podcasts, others prefer reading blogs. I always enjoyed writing, while recording podcasts was a huge challenge for me. But, I believe there are only 2 options in life: you challenge yourself the way you choose or life challenges you the way you dislike - your choice. Interestingly, I never thought about developing my business and how was it in the pandemic, all I was thinking about is what do people need and how may I serve them best. Business is the result of that.

I have been following your work for over a year and the idea that you often come back to is, 'It's not about the circumstances, it's about you.' What are your experiences with the Croatian bureaucracy as an independent businesswoman? Is it all truly so bleak? Or is it about the point of view we decide to take?

It's up to us, not the circumstances that we are surrounded by is one of the hardest and most powerful lectures that I learned in psychotherapy school. That does not mean that our bureaucracy in comparison with some other countries is not complicated (and in many ways unlogic), but the point is that some give up on building a business because of that while others build one despite that.

Sara Peranić/private archive

 Your unique business model enables you to tailor your schedule to your specific needs and work from practically anywhere in the world. Would you consider yourself a digital nomad?

Absolutely, that is how I see my future self. To be a solopreneur, I think your must-haves are: consistency, time management skills, quick decision-making skill, creativity, financial management, and an enormous responsibility. Once you master that, you can create the life you adore living. (PS, it doesn't mean you start living a perfect life without problems – problems and unpleasant emotions are a part of human life experience).

You are also training to become a psychotherapist. Until the changes of the national legislation in 2018, psychotherapy could, more or less, only be practiced by doctors of medicine. There is still no standalone psychotherapy study program in Croatia. What is the role of psychotherapy with regard to psychology and psychiatry, the other two disciplines which also revolve around the psyche, the human soul?

Psychotherapists and counsellors help people with psychological problems and mental health issues through therapeutic relationships and conversations. Psychiatrists, on the other side, deal with mental illness (diagnoses) and are the only ones that are allowed to give prescriptions. Psychologists are firstly concerned with the normal functioning of the mind and behaviour. Psychologists and psychiatrists can further specialize in psychotherapy. In Croatia, just like in other countries, different psychotherapy schools are associated with European and then World Institutes. 

During your years at the university, you started a project Licence for Imperfection, aimed at Croatian high school students. Your current project, SamopouzdaniJA - the first of its kind in our region – has, since its launch about a year ago, brought together an international community of more than 250 women from all walks of life. What do women most commonly struggle with? Are these universal challenges or are there some that have to do with our specific Eastern European mindset?

    Sara Peranić/private archive

Even though we are all individuals, we all have some core beliefs that bind us, such as "I am not enough, others are better than me, my body should not look like this, the world is a dangerous place". Also, problems that so many women struggle with are other people's opinions and self-doubting.

A bit more specific for our region is the way we think we „should“ live (school, college, marriage, car, apartment, children, work, work, work, die) and money mindset issues (ex. a lot of money can not be earned fair, money changes people), etc. 

You teach women that self-respect and self-confidence are not one and the same, but both require a genuine wish and effort to be developed. Working on yourself is not selfishness, as you say. What is the greatest myth on the journey of self-development that you work on deconstructing?

Self-confidence is a much popular term than self-respect, so many women think they have a problem with confidence, while most of them primarily struggle with self-respect. In my programme SamopouzdaniJA we work on both concepts because even if you believe that you can achieve goals (you have confidence) if you do not have self-esteem, you will not be satisfied when you achieve them. After all, you will still believe that you are not good enough or worthy. On the other side, if you have high self-respect, but low confidence, you will be unsatisfied because you will not be able to achieve your goals.

One of the greatest myths of self-development is surely the one you just mentioned, that if we love ourselves and work on ourselves it means that we are selfish while just the opposite is true. If we do not learn how to respond to our needs and expect others to do that for us, we become people-pleasers, codependent, etc. The other myth is that we are defined by our past and there is nothing we can do about it. The truth is we can do a lot. We can not change what happened in the past, but we can surely change our opinion of what happened and also choose how it will or will not affect us in the future. And lastly, people often believe that they don't have a choice when it comes to feelings. Feelings are not something that affects us from outside but something that we create within us by the way we think. Since we can manage our thoughts we can also change how we feel.

Sara Peranić/private archive

You are soon launching a comprehensive new course which has to do with female leadership, is that right? I notice that you put a lot of importance on the power of the right kind of community. Essentially, we should surround ourselves with people we consider our equals, as being solely around those we strongly admire and think 'above' us can stunt our growth, do you agree?

Currently, I help women build self-confidence and change their lives by changing the relationship they have with themselves. The more I am in business, the more I realize how important self-development is when it comes to growing your business. I am 100% sure that my fast business growth happened because I worked on myself first. So, I decided to create a programme that will help entrepreneurs set up their mindset to achieve big goals while enjoying the process of who they become and what they create. Being an entrepreneur means dealing with fears, negative thoughts, and lots of decisions on a daily basis. The faster you learn how to manage your mind, the faster your business will grow.

If you want to change your results, you have to change who you are. In any aspect of your life.

Speaking of surroundings, I see it a bit differently. I would say that you should surround yourself with people you want to become. For example, if you want to get yourself in good shape, you have to surround yourself with people who regularly go to the gym. If you want to quit drinking, consider not visiting places you used to drink at. If you don't know where to find those people, find them online – you have to start somewhere.

My advice would be: don't ever blame your surroundings for results you are not satisfied with. Your surroundings, just like your results are your responsibility.

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ZAGREB, 20 June, 2021 - The coronavirus pandemic has continued to adversely affect the Croatian postal services market, with the number of postal services provided in the first quarter of this year dropping to 70 million or by nearly 8% compared with the same period in 2020, the HAKOM regulator said.

HAKOM said that the volume of all postal services, except express parcels relating to online shopping, had declined in the first quarter, noting that, compared with the fourth quarter of 2020, the volume of express parcel delivery services had also fallen, by 3.1%.

The fall was mainly due to the distribution of printed matter, which declined by 20% compared with Q4 2020 and by 28% compared with Q1 2020.

The fall in the number of services provided also affected revenues, which dropped by 5% compared with Q4 and rose by 10% compared with Q1 2020. HAKOM said that the increase was due to a 23% rise in the delivery of express parcels relating to online shopping and an increase in prices of some of the so-called universal services.

The number of postal service providers on the Croatian market has remained the same. At the end of the first quarter of this year, these services were provided by 23 companies, among which Croatian Post (HP) remains the largest, with an 84.1% share in total turnover.

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ZAGREB, 20 June, 2021 - The Croatian part of the project "Dry-stone walls: a mark in landscape or forgotten cultural heritage" will be carried out by artists from Croatia, Ireland and Austria from 23 to 29 June.

The project will explore, review and reinterpret the cultural legacy of building dry-stone walls in the form of contemporary land art installations, the Croatian Society of Fine Artists announced in a statement.

Land art installations will be created in several places along the Croatian Adriatic coast - Kožino near Zadar, Paška Vrata on Pag island, Paklenica National Park and Privlaka.

The project involves artists Mark Cullen from Ireland, Luise Kloos from Austria, Ivan Fijolić, Josip Zanki and Anđela Zanki from Croatia, ethnologists and cultural anthropologists Sara Mikelić and Tomislav Oroz, members of the Dragodid association as well as art, ethnology and anthropology students.

The results of the project will be presented in Pag on 29 June, and the land art installation sites will become part of a land art trail aimed at increasing the visibility of contemporary art practices and raising awareness of the need to safeguard Croatia's traditional cultural heritage.

Dry-stone walling techniques, used in Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland, are included in UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list.

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ZAGREB, 20 June, 2021 - Climate change has left a huge mark on the forests of the Gorski Kotar mountain region in central Croatia, causing its tourism value to drop, experts say.

Over the past decade, ice, wind and the bark beetle have destroyed large parts of Gorski Kotar, whose economy, including tourism, is based on natural resources.

Dragan Turk, a manager at Risnjak National Park, says that due to natural disasters the national park will lose its value as a protected area. "If climate change is too fast, it will take more than 100 years for forests to regenerate."

Last week, an international team of experts presented the findings of a study on the effects of climate change in Gorski Kotar, warning that it could affect local tourism.

The study was conducted by the Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business in cooperation with Leeds Beckett University and Bocconi University in Milan. The Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service cooperated on the project.

In four years, ice, wind and the bark beetle have destroyed more than a million square metres of wood, which has greatly affected the eco-system, experts says.

Beekeeper Damir Zanoškar says the various corridors resulting from deforestation are probably the cause of the increasingly strong winds registered in recent years.

He says the Hrvatske Šume national forest management company should ask itself what the current model forest management is leading to. "Thousands and thousands of logs are being driven somewhere far."

Beekeepers have joined forces and launched a fir-planting drive because fir is well-adapted to Gorski Kotar and is very useful to bees. Zanoškar says big fir-planting campaigns could give Gorski Kotar its former aspect back in 20-30 years.

"Time is running out," he warns. "We need forests and we must take immediate action."

Experts say that although extreme weather occurred in the past as well, today it causes bigger problems and is not related to only one season. That's why climate projections should be taken into account when planning new projects and infrastructure, they add.

Climate change could affect the tourism industry, notably in southern Europe, experts say.

Warmer and drier summers can result in bigger droughts, wildfires and negative changes in plants and animals, which would make summer vacations in Mediterranean countries uncomfortable. At the same time, northern countries with more moderate summers could see a rise in tourist turnover, experts say.

If it adapts, tourism can expect positive results, otherwise the negative effects are inevitable, they add.

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ZAGREB, 20 June, 2021 - The Croatian Danube Region Returnees' Association (ZPHP), established in Vukovar on Saturday, will prioritise the prosecution of war crimes and solving the border and war damage issues.

The ZPHP was established by the returnees' associations of Vukovar-Srijem and Osijek-Baranja counties.

A declaration on Croatian returnees' rights and legitimate expectations was adopted at the founding assembly, the ZPHP said on Sunday.

With the declaration, the ZPHP encourages relevant institutions and the government to consistently apply the international agreements Croatia signed with the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem Agreement which regulate the right to compensation for war damage to all victims.

In doing so, the ZPHP referred to a United Nations Compensation Commission decision of 24 January 1992 on the war damage estimated in the Iraq-Kuwait war.

The ZPHP appealed to the Foreign Ministry to start negotiations with Croatia's neighbours, notably Serbia, on the border issue, starting from the Badinter Commission Conclusion of 1991.

The ZPHP called for intensifying efforts to trace persons gone missing in the Homeland War and launching investigations and the prosecution of those responsible for war crimes.

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June the 20th, 2021 - Have you checked your jacket pockets and old wallets lately? If you've got any of these Croatian banknotes lying around, you've only got a certain amount of time to get them exchanged as the Croatian National Banks begin removing them from circulation.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian National Bank has so far withdrawn seven series of 5, 10, 50, 100 and 200 kuna banknotes, six of which were issued back in 1993 and one two years later. To date, however, 9.5 million such invalid Croatian banknotes, out of a total of more than three hundred million printed, are still in circulation.

The highest number of invalid banknotes (11 percent) in denominations of five kuna each were issued back in 1993. This banknote is primarily green with the image of Petar Zrinski and Fran Frankopan. The nominal value of this most invalid banknote stands at around 17 million kuna, writes Vecernji list.

The CNB pointed out that 750 of these oldest paper Croatian banknotes have been returned to them over the last year, and they have been exchanged for the same value. In the last year alone, the CNB received a total of 17,706 invalid Croatian banknotes, including 3,923 200 kuna banknotes bearing the image of Stjepan Radic.

In the year dominated by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many people seemed entirely unaware that you haven't been able to spend some of these notes for as long as ten years now. The value of the old 200 kuna note in the last year stood at as much as 784,600 kuna. The total value of all returned Croatian banknotes exchanged from May 2020 to the end of May this year was around 1.44 million kuna in total!

A year ago, about 2,800 ten kuna banknotes, 1,707 20 kuna banknotes, a little more than five thousand old 50 kuna banknotes and a little more than three thousand old one hundred kuna banknotes were ''dusted off'' and returned.

The Croatian National Bank will replace all invalid kuna banknotes free of charge and without a time limit to anyone who brings them in person to the CNB box office at 5 Franjo Racki in Zagreb, or sends them in by mail.

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