ZAGREB, 27 March 2022 - A peaceful rally of support for Ukraine was held on Sunday in the eastern city of Osijek, and addressing it, Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Kyrylych said that genocide was underway against Ukrainians, but that in spite of that, Ukraine would defend itself.

Speaking at the rally in Osijek's central square, Kyrylych said that the rally was organised to "once again support Ukraine in the brutal war launched by the Russian Federation."

"What is happening in Ukraine is not only war, genocide is being committed against its people", he said, noting that city neighbourhoods, schools, hospitals and kindergartens were being destroyed and that so far 138 children had been killed in Ukraine.

"In this brutal war, there is on one side a cult of brute force, a cult of the dictator and tyrant and on the other truth and defence of one's country. We are on our own land and we are defending it", the ambassador said, thanking the Croatian government, Osijek-Baranja County and the City of Osijek for their strong support to Ukraine and for having taken in Ukrainian refugees. 

The president of the Association of Ukrainians in Croatia, Vlado Karešin, too, thanked Croatia for its support to Ukraine.

The rally was also attended by Osijek city officials and MPs Romana Nikolić and Domagoj Hajduković.

For more, check out our dedicated politics and lifestyle sections.

March 27, 2022 - Five magical days which lit up Zagreb in March - a photo and video appreciation of this year's Festival of Lights Zagreb, including the inaugural Glow Run. 

One thing I am realising about tourism in Croatia is that Zagreb knows how to grow a concept. The Croatian capital is not blessed with the sun-kissed beaches of the Adriatic or an endless coastline, but it has plenty of other resources in its arsenal to develop its own unique tourism story. 

I have watched Croatian tourism very closely over the last decade, and it has been instructive to see how Zagreb has progressed from a relatively disregarded destination to one which now not only has international recognition and branded events, but is also now very much on the cool capital city tour of Central Europe, proudly sitting alongside Vienna,  Prague and Budapest. 

The best example of this, of course, is Advent in Zagreb, an event which went from total obscurity to being the champion of Europe three years in a row. Not only did Advent in Zagreb make major inroads into developing the Croatian capital as a 12-month destination, but it has inspired the rest of the country as well, and seemingly every town in the country now has its own Advent event each year. Zagreb worked hard to keep the brand of Advent alive during the last two difficult years, and I have no doubt it will be back in style this December, assuming the world and its pandemics have calmed down. 

I see a lot of similarities between the growth of Advent and the gradual rise of another Zagreb festival which only began in 2017. Back then, the Festival of Lights had just 7 locations in the city, all located in Upper Town. But, just like Advent, it has spread its wings magnificently, and this year's 5-day  event from March 16-20 was to be found in an impressive 31 locations, 16 in Upper Town and - for the first time - 15 in Lower Town.  

During these trying times, it is hard to explain what a joy it was to walk around the city during the Festival of Lights. Never having been before, I was not sure what to expect, but from walking through Gric Tunnel on the way to an evening meeting on the opening night, the mood of all around was lightened. Simply stunning. 

The Croatian National Theatre, which hosted the festival opening, looked particularly resplendent.

Magnificent in its own right, for me it symbolised the architectural magic of the event - combining Zagreb's historic buildings with a modern and very colourful interpretation. 

But the highlight for me walking around was not seeing foreign tourists on the streets of the city, but local families. Seeing the faces of young kids in awe at the various light attractions was a wonderful thing. After two years of earthquake, pandemic and conflict in Ukraine, it felt like a return to an era of innocence, if only for a few days. I found it intoxicating, and taking in the faces, smiles, laughs and squeals of the little ones was as rewarding as appreciating the impressive light installations and displays.

The city was alive, and I am sure when COVID restrictions subside and budgets are once more increased that the Festival of Lights will add a gastro component, which will help it grow even more. 

I reached out to Zagreb Tourist Board CEO Martina Bienenfeld for her impressions of this year's event: 

"We are very pleased with the interest and wonderful comments on the organization of this year's edition of the Festival of Lights Zagreb, as well as with the results achieved. According to the Zagreb Tourist Board, during the Festival of Lights, arrivals increased by 176 percent, while the number of overnight stays increased by 114 percent, compared to the same period last year. Thus, during the 4th edition of the Festival of Lights, in the period from 16 to 20 March, 10,742 arrivals and 22,759 overnight stays were registered.

"We also received preliminary results from our online promotional campaigns in the markets of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia and Serbia, according to which the Festival's ads had more than 43 million views. Our advertorials have been read more than 76,000 times, and the leading markets were Slovenia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

"Festival of Lights came into being in 2017 with 7 locations in the Upper Town and this year’s edition spread on 31 locations of, both, Upper and Lower town which was a huge milestone for us and the Festival itself. In these uncertain and difficult times, it was a real challenge to organize the Festival of Lights Zagreb, so I thank once again to all the partners and institutions that helped us in its realization.”

The other thing I have noticed over the years about the development of tourism in Zagreb is that good ideas tend to attract good ideas. The concept of Advent in Zagreb started small, but the bigger it became, the bigger the sense of ownership among private tourism businesses, who came up with their own suggestions and concepts to add yet more content to the event. 

A good example of this from Advent was the Zagreb Digital Nomad Jolly Wrap Up event in December, which connected the city's fantastic digital nomad year with Advent.

And the architects of that idea, Swanky Travel, lost no time in adding a warm glow to the concept of this year's Festival of Lights. 

Just three weeks before the start of the festival, the Glow Run organisers (Swanky Travel, Urban Entertainment, and Run Croatia - who have organised an impressive 64 races in Croatia in the last 8 years) approached the Zagreb Tourist Board with a concept to add another dimension to the festival - the Zagreb Glow Run, a 5 km race through the streets of Zagreb, with participants invited to wear glowing objects on themselves and their pets, as they raced through the streets of Zagreb past all the illuminated buildings.  

Three weeks is not a long time when it comes to organise a race in a capital city. There are a lot of permissions to be obtained, plenty of planning required. 

But, as I have learned in my time in Zagreb, if Iva Perokovic from Swanky Travel wants it to happen, it will happen. It helps to be a little crazy, I guess, and she can be very persuasive in her glowing goggles. 

And what an evening it was! Check out the video of the run, and see just how magnificent Zagreb was as a backdrop to the race. 

Despite the relatively late announcement of the Glow Run, an impressive 380 runners signed up for the 22:00 start, adding a little more glow and colour to the Croatian capital, which was already shining. 

A few more photos from the Glow Run below, but watch out for Festival of Lights Zagreb 2023 and its Glow Run - it is the festival which will keep on growing. And glowing. 

Learn more about the city in the Total Croatia Zagreb in a Page guide. 

ZAGREB, 27 March 2022 - The Croatian men's shooting team - Petar Gorša, Miran Maričić and Borna Petanjek - have won a bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event at the European Championships in Hamar, Norway.

Fighting for the bronze medal, the Croatian team beat the Finnish team 16-4.

The gold went to the Czech team which defeated the Austrian team in the finals 16-8.

This is the second medal for Croatia at the European Shooting Championships, with Miran Maričić having won a bronze in the 10m air rifle men event earlier this week.

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

ZAGREB, 27 March 2022 - More than 275,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been destroyed in Croatia due to expiration or failed donation, and close to two million doses, made by different producers, have been kept in storage, officials of the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) have said.

A total of 275,799 doses have been destroyed, of which 154,644 were produced by AstraZeneca.

A total of 5.2 million doses have been administered.

Interest in vaccination has been very low in recent weeks, with only about 150 people getting vaccinated with their first dose on a daily basis lately. The new, protein-based vaccine, made with traditional technology and available for the past three weeks, has not altered the situation.

Some anti-vaxxers had claimed they were waiting for that specific vaccine, however, HZJZ data show that so far only 286 people have been vaccinated with the new protein-based vaccine, while 153,445 doses are kept in storage.

HZJZ officials say the poor interest is as expected as those who had wanted to get vaccinated were able to choose over the past year and a half, between four vaccines, made by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson&Johnson.

The largest amount of unused vaccines, 117,274 doses, was reported by Split-Dalmatia County, which is also the county with the lowest vaccination rate, with only 38.39% of the population having received the second shot.

For more, check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 27 March 2022 - This year's Walk for Life will be held in ten cities across Croatia on Sundays in May and June, a news conference heard in Osijek on Sunday.

Representatives of the civic group "Walk for Life, Family and Croatia" told reporters that marches would be held in Vinkovci, Varaždin and Slavonski Brod on 7 May, in Zagreb on 14 May, in Split and Imotski on 21 May, in Zadar and Ploče on 28 May, and in Osijek and Sisak on 11 June.

Lidija Blagojević of the civic group said that the Walk for Life was a peaceful walk for every human life from conception to natural death, for the protection of unborn children and their mothers, and for the protection of every family.

The national coordinator of the Walk for Life, Željka Markić, said this year's campaign was taking place in the context of a horrible war in Ukraine, noting that many volunteers of the Walk for Life initiative were involved in collecting aid and providing accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.

"The killing of people we have been witnessing every day makes us particularly sensitive to the need to build the culture of life and fight for every human life, from its beginning to its end", Markić said.

For more, check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 27 March 2022 - The president of the association "Social Democrats", MP Davorko Vidović, said on Sunday that the association's mission was to bring together people sharing the values of social democracy, which, he said, were threatened more than one believed could be possible in the 21st century.

Presenting the association in Osijek, Vidović said that social democracy and its values of freedom, solidarity, equality and social equity were nowadays possibly more threatened than they had been 150 years ago.

"Not as brutally and as openly as before but they are threatened in a new, specific way, which is one of the reasons why the Social Democrats association was established", Vidović said.

He believes that Croatia needs a strong social democratic initiative, noting that the Social Democratic Party (SDP), of which he was a member, had lost contact with citizens and voters while the new platform was one of the ways to restore contact with voters.

The Social Democrats parliamentary group was formed in 2021 after a rift in the SDP group, which now has 14 members, while the Social Democrats group has 18 MPs.

Vidović said Osijek-Baranja County was the second county where a branch of the Social Democrats association would be established, that new branches would be established across the country, to be followed by the formation of a new party.

Asked by reporters if the government should be reshuffled and how, Vidović said that the extent to which some government ministers had been compromised made it difficult for the government to function and be credible, and the government should return the mandate to citizens so they can elect a government which they believe can lead the country best.

"The Prime Minister evidently has a big problem and whether he can solve it with a mass reshuffle or go to elections is up to him and his party to decide", he said.

MP Romana Nikolić, who is also the coordinator of the Social Democrats association in Osijek-Baranja County, said that Slavonia needed a major change because in the past 20 years it had barely survived disastrous demographic trends.

She said that so far around 300 former SDP members had joined the new association, of whom more than 100 in Osijek.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 27 March 2022 - Dario Hrebak, leader of the HSLS, a junior partner in the ruling coalition, said after intraparty consultations on Sunday that the HSLS proposed a government reshuffle so that the government could focus on key problems to secure economic and overall stability as well as euro and Schengen area entry.

"With regards to the current political situation, the HSLS believes that at the moment Croatia needs stability in light of the global trends, lack of security, war, pandemic, refugee crisis and the related consequences such as inflation pressures, problems in supply chains and changes in energy policies and relations," the party said in a statement.

The HSLS leadership said the government had its support to keep the country stable, as well as make the necessary adjustments to overcome the current situation that was affecting everyone.

"As a constructive member of the ruling majority, the HSLS considers it necessary to refresh the government so that it could focus on dealing with key problems and secure economic and overall stability as well as accession to the euro zone and the Schengen areas," the statement said.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 27 March 2022 - Three years ago, shoppers at the fish market at Zagreb's Dolac open-air farmers market noticed a baby Angelshark, which made conservations both excited and worried.

The Angelshark is one of the calmest and most endangered shark species, considered to be nearly extinct in the Adriatic.

The juvenile Angelshark at Zagreb's Dolac market "indicated that there exists a breeding population", however, it was worrying that "an endangered and strictly protected species was offered for sale," said Pero Ugarković, an associate on a research project on Angelsharks in the Adriatic.

After that discovery, a research was launched to establish how many Angelsharks currently live in the Adriatic.

The project was headed by the WWF Adria non-profit organisation, in cooperation with the Split-based Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries.

Its results show that the Angelshark population, once inhabiting the whole of the Adriatic, has shrunk dramatically and now mostly inhabits the area around the island of Molat in the Zadar archipelago.

Minding its own business

The Angelshark resembles the skate and is a master of camouflage. It buries itself in sediment and ambushes its prey, and can grow to be more than a metre and a half long. It lives in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic but is critically endangered in all of its habitats.

More than 30 shark species have so far been recorded in the Adriatic, and almost all are innocuous to humans. The size of the Angelshark population in the Adriatic was once significant, with fishermen even using nets designed specifically for Angelsharks.

This has not been the case for decades now, and footage of Angelsharks being caught accidentally and returned to the sea, occasionally posted on social networks, gives rise to hope that the Angelshark will survive.

The species grows slowly, reaches reproductive age late in life and has a small litter, therefore making it very vulnerable to fishing pressures. On top of that, it inhabits shallow coastal waters where fishing is very intense. After it was declared a protected species, the Angelshark went from being a target species, to a bycatch.

Patrik Krstinić, an associate for sea and marine biodiversity protection at WWF Adria, warns that fishing with trawl nets and gillnets poses the biggest threat to the Angelshark. He believes that the Angelshark is unlikely to survive with the existing pressure of fishing in Croatia's coastal area.

Krstinić says that maritime spatial planning is necessary and that currently 30% of the sea should be put under protection until 2030, of which 10% should be strictly protected, with no fishing activity allowed, citing that the Jabuka Pit as a good example.

Deficient legal regulations are the problem, he says, noting that they make it possible for an area to be put under protection, yet some are allowed to fish in it.

Krstinić notes that the silver lining in this situation is that without human influences in an area, its biodiversity can be restored very quickly.

For more, check out our dedicated lifestyle section.