President Zoran Milanović: "We're Nearing 'Red' Zone With Regard to Zagreb's Reconstruction"
ZAGREB, 29 Sept, 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Wednesday that as far as Zagreb's post-quake reconstruction was concerned, the processes "are already entering the red zone", warning that the financial situation in Zagreb is not good because the previous city administration brought it to the edge of the abyss.
"If we are talking about Zagreb's reconstruction we are already entering the red. The financial situation in the City of Zagreb, as far as I have heard, is not good and not because of its current authorities but its previous administration. They invoiced or tried to invoice and give away anything possible over the past years. And in the end, we all know how that ended - the other option won and it is barely making ends meet," said Milanović.
Asked about Zagreb's reconstruction following the 2020 earthquake, Milanović said that it was important for Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to dedicate attention to the issue of Zagreb's finances.
"There is no room for bartering and agreements. The City of Zagreb cannot incur debts above certain levels and the previous authorities have brought it to the edge of the abyss," said Milanović.
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Finance Minister Zdravko Marić: Only Those That Meet All Criteria Will Get Money From NPOO
ZAGREB, 29 Sept, 2021 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić told a press conference on Wednesday that the money from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO) would be granted only to those that met all the criteria.
The European Commission on Tuesday disbursed €818 million to Croatia in a pre-financing payment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RFF), which is equivalent to 13% of the country's total financial allocation under the RRF.
Marić said that the government had agreed the pace of expenditure and implementation of reform and investment measures. He said he expected at least 50 projects to be prepared by the end of the year, adding that they concerned digital transformation and the transition to green transformation in the industrial sector.
"Who will get these funds will depend on tenders and fulfilment of the criteria," the finance minister said.
He announced tenders for the construction of kindergartens and schools, and said that individual projects, such as development of autonomous vehicles by the Rimac company, were also important.
Before the end of this year or early next year, there will be additional tenders for the award of grants for energy efficiency and further green transformation, and some of the funds will also go towards post-earthquake reconstruction, he said.
Asked about the possibility of Croatia losing some of the money because of problems with public procurement, Marić said that public procurement must be efficient because "projects are subject to deadlines, and speed and efficiency are the key."
He noted that the Croatian public procurement law is the most complicated in the EU and needs amending.
Asked who can apply for NPOO funding, Marić said that in the context of the manufacturing industry those would be small and medium-sized businesses, notably those that would contribute to green and digital transformation.
"Funds will be disbursed to all those that fulfil the criteria and requirements," he said, adding that funds would also go towards development of the telecommunications network.
"This 13 percent of the allocation has now been paid, the next €700 million will be paid by the middle of next year and a further 700 million by the end of next year. We need to carry out 34 measures until the end of this year. Some have already been implemented, while some have certain risks," Marić said.
"The next tranche will depend on how many measures have been fulfilled. If we fulfil all 34 measures, €700 million will come in, and if we don't, there will be a certain correction to this amount," Marić concluded.
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Zagreb Holding Group Reduces Losses to HRK 60.8m in H1
ZAGREB, 29 Sept, 2021 - The Zagreb Holding Group had a loss of HRK 60.8 million in the first six months of 2021, which is significantly less in comparison to the H1 2020, when the loss amounted to HRK 139.6 million, the group's financial statement released on the Zagreb Stock Exchange on Wednesday indicate.
The Zagreb Holding Group comprises the Zagreb Holding d.o.o., which is completely owned by the City of Zagreb and its 14 branches and 8 companies and institutions.
The Group's total revenue in the first six months of 2021 amounted to HRK 2.02 billion, which is 7% more year on year, whereas expenditure amounted to HRK 20.8 billion or 3% more.
Revenue from business operations amounted to HRK 1.96 billion, or 7.4% more y-o-y, as a result of economic recovery.
The most significant growth in the Group's revenue was generated in the energy sector and the supply and distribution of gas, primarily through expanding new distribution areas and an increase of 11% in the delivery of gas supplies.
At the same time, material costs and the cost of services increased by HRK 28.2 million or 3%.
The Group's results are still largely impacted by losses in the Čistoća - city waste collection service which registered a loss of HRK 85.7 million in H1.
At the end of June, the Group had 7,765 employees. Personnel costs in H1 amounted to HRK 611 million or HRK 12 million more than last year.
The Group's investments reached HRK 146.5 million, with an additional HRK 26.2 million invested in the construction of public premises.
There were 7,765 employees on the group+s payroll at the end of June.
(€1 = HRK 7.489688)
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CRO Race 2nd Stage: Olav Kooij Winner from from Slunj to Otočac
September 29, 2021 - Dutchman Olav Kooij, a member of the Jumbo-Visma team, won the CRO Race 2nd stage from Slunj to Otočac (187 kilometers) and took the lead in the overall standings.
Kooij, who was second in the first stage on Tuesday in Varaždin, positioned himself much better before the final sprint, broke out at the head of the main group about 100 meters before the finish line and won over Israeli Itamar Einhorn (Israel Start-Up Nation) in 2nd and Australian Caden Groves (Team Bikeexchange) in 3rd, reports HRT.
"Today's stage was much more demanding than yesterday's, but it suited me. In the continuation of the race, even more demanding exams await us, but I am ready," said only 19-year-old Kooij, who likes racing in Croatia.
The young Dutchman has already achieved two victories in Croatia, in GP Umag and GP Poreč in the early spring of 2020.
Kooij also took the lead in the blue T-shirt standings for the best sprinter in the CRO Race.
In the 2nd stage, the fight to escape lasted a bit longer than in the first, but shortly after the start in Slunj, six cyclists stood out from the leading group - Poles Marcin Budzinski (HRE Mazowsze Serce Polski) and Mateusz Grabis (Voster ATS Team), Belgian Laurens Huys (Bingoal Pauwels Saucers WB), Slovenian Boštjan Murn (Adria Mobil), German Dominik Roeber (P & S Metalltechnik) and Austrian Manuel Bosch (Felbermayr Simplon Wels).
At the first passing goal in Plitvice Lakes, Budzinski was first in front of Grabis and Roeber. In the first ascent of the day towards Varičaci, two Kern Pharma drivers, Spaniard Jaime Castrillo and Russian Sava Novikov, stood out from the peloton. The duo quickly reached the top six, but Budzinski was ahead of Castrillo and Roeber.
The maximum advantage the eight cyclists had over the leading group was a little more than four minutes, but already during the descent towards Otočac and the first passage through the finish line, it dropped to three and a half minutes. During the first passage through the finish line in Otočac, Grabis was first in front of Castrillo and Roeber. On the most challenging climb of the day, Castrillo stood out from the leading group, who won the mountain finish in Kuterevo and thus took the lead in the overall standings for best climber. He will wear a green shirt in the third stage on Thursday.
Castrillo remained alone in the lead until about 20 kilometers before the finish and won the passing goal in Perušić.
The third stage from Primošten to Makarska (167 kilometers long) is scheduled for Thursday.
Schedule:
September 30, 3rd stage: Primošten - Makarska (167km)
October 1, 4th stage: Zadar - Crikvenica (197km)
October 2, 5th stage: Rabac / Labin - Opatija (137.5km)
October 3, 6th stage: Samobor - Zagreb (156.5km)
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Hotel Dalmacija in Makarska Becomes 2nd Hotel Under Valamar Places Brand
September 29, 2021 - Hotel Dalmacija in Makarska will undergo complete reconstruction and refurbishment following the Valamar [PLACES] brand standards.
HRTurizam reports that the Supervisory Board of Imperial Riviera d.d. approved an HRK 67 million investment in repositioning Hotel Dalmacija in Makarska as [PLACESHOTEL] by Valamar.
The investment continues the announced five-year cycle of investments in Croatian tourism worth HRK 1.5 billion, which AZ pension funds and Valamar Riviera jointly launched.
The Covid crisis has temporarily halted and slowed down the investment plan, which is why investments started in 2019 were finalized only in 2021. Still, the approval of investments in the Hotel Dalmacija represents a partial restart of the investment cycle. Namely, the tourist season showed the potential for a rapid launch of Croatian tourism and the opportunity for further growth and development of high value-added tourism, so Imperial Riviera decided to accelerate the investment cycle.
After the successful privatization of Imperial and the Makarska hotel, and the subsequent merger and increase of capital in Imperial Riviera, investments in the total amount of HRK 580 million were made in the past period, and the following hotels were repositioned: Parentino, Meteor, Padova, Imperial, and Padova.
With an investment of HRK 67 million, Hotel Dalmacija will undergo complete reconstruction and refurbishment following the standards of the Valamar [PLACES] brand.
From next season, Hotel Dalmacija in Makarska will become the second hotel to operate under the Valamar [PLACES] brand. The new concept is designed for modern travelers seeking freedom of choice, modern design, and an authentic destination experience with full respect for nature and the environment.
Imperial Riviera has in its portfolio seven hotels, three tourist resorts, and two camps in the leading Croatian destinations island of Rab, Poreč, and Makarska, which makes a total of 3,498 accommodation units and a capacity to accommodate almost 10,000 guests. Valamar Riviera d.d. has been in charge of managing the tourism business of the entire portfolio since 2016.
The new hotel concept is based on getting to know the true local Mediterranean lifestyle of the destination or a focus on authenticity. The brand is intended for guests seeking freedom of choice, modern design, and an authentic destination experience with full respect for nature and the environment.
For more on lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Festival Showcases Female Animation Authors
September 29, 2021 - The Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Festival online event presents Croatia with thirteen female animation authors who talk about gender inequality and other issues of the modern world.
Online event hosting obviously gained momentum during the coronavirus pandemic, as going out became risky for public health. The advent of the vaccine has seen Croatia slowly but steadily returning back to public event hosting, but there are some exceptions. Maybe it's the extra precauiton due to Croatian vaccine scepticism, or maybe just the possibility of less expensive organisation and more potential for attending regardless of your location on the map, but some events have remained online.
One such event is the Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Festival, a Vienna Film festival described by Culturenet as the only animated film festival focused on female authors. Organised by the Vox Feminae feminist news portal and the Austrian Culture Forum (AKF), the festival is being streamed on the websites of the organisers until October 10, making this an official (but only online) visit of the festival to Croatia. 13 short animated movies are selected for the online screening.
''From gender equality to digitalisation, from human and workers rights do social, economic and ecological issues, the Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Festival questions social and political reality from the feminist art perspective, pointing out social inequality in a new and innovative way,'' describes the Culturenet website.
The festival usually occurs on March 8 to commemorate International Women's Day. TCN is also no stranger to writing about noted women from Croatia's history or about current issues with gender equality, on March 8 and of course on many other days too.
The authors whose short animated work the festival presents are: Maya Yonesho, Susi Jirkuff, Ani Antonova, Rebecca Akoun, Veronika Schubert, Sabine Groschup, Beate Hecher i Markus Keim, Billy Roisz, Kathrin Steinbacher and Anna Vasof.
The films showcased are subtitled in English, making the event approachable to non-Croatian speakers too. As the 2021 edition is in progress, the plans for the 2022 edition are already ongoing. Interested female authors can apply for their work to be shown by October 4 this year, and the 2022 festival screening is scheduled from March 9-13 in 2022.
''We're proud to be able to announce a new award: The Maria Lassnig Golden Film Reel for outstanding animation will be awarded for the very first time in 2022. Sponsored by the Maria Lassnig Foundation, it is worth 10,000 euros and will be awarded annually. An international expert jury will select the winner from the films shown in the International Competition of our festival,'' announced the festival's official website.
The award, named after Maria Lasnig (1919-2014), who was a pioneer of experimental animation and one of the first women in the German-speaking world to be appointed to a professorship in art, shows this valuable festival is here to stay.
Learn more about Filming in Croatia in our TC guide.
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Croatia Reports 1,911 New coronavirus Cases, 14 Deaths
ZAGREB, 29 Sept, 2021 - Croatia has registered 1,911 new coronavirus cases and 14 COVID-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Wednesday.
The number of active cases now stands at 8,101, and 745 infected persons are receiving hospital treatment, including 99 who are on ventilators.
Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 403,080 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 8,628 have died and 386,351 have recovered, including 896 in the last 24 hours. 21,164 people are currently self-isolating.
To date, 2,813,356 people have been tested for the virus, including 10,148 in the last 24 hours.
A total of 3,419,381 doses of vaccines have been administered, with 44.66 percent of the total population, or 53.59 percent of adults, having been vaccinated. 1,812,532 people have received at least one dose and 1,700,089 have been fully vaccinated (1,606,849 people have received two vaccine doses and 93,240 have received the single-dose Jannsen vaccine), which makes up 50.34 percent of the adult population.
For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
A 'Croatian Digital Nomad Village!': Meet Digital Nomad Valley Zadar
September 29, 2021 - The first so-called Croatian digital nomad village will open next month - meet Digital Nomad Valley Zadar.
A new milestone in the emerging Croatian digital nomad story, as the first Croatian digital nomad village has been announced by the Digital Nomads Croatia Facebook community this morning. Digital Nomad Valley Zadar is located in Borik, Zadar, a short walk from the historic old town.
Co-founder Mario Mrksa will be explaining a lot more about the concept of this Croatian digital nomad village in an in-depth interview with TCN later today (a link will appear here), but for now, here is the announcement in full:
DIGITAL NOMAD VALLEY ZADAR OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
I believe that everyone in this group knows that Croatia has a lot to offer to digital nomads. From natural beauty to culture, architecture, gastronomy, and quite importantly, the Mediterranean lifestyle.
However, we also recognize that the attractiveness of the country is not enough on its own, it’s the feeling of community that matters to digital nomads and remote workers. As moderators of this group, are working hard to empower the DN community in Croatia.
That is why I am very happy to announce a project which would, hopefully, attract even more digital nomads to visit this beautiful land and create strong and lasting communities around the country.
As CEO of grabAhome, in partnership with Falkensteiner H&R, I proudly present Digital Nomad Valley Zadar!
At one of the most beautiful resorts, in one of the most prominent cities in Croatia, we are organizing the first curated digital nomad community in Croatia.
Starting October 10th, by joining the program you will get:
- Premium mobile homes with solo or coliving options
- Exclusive coworking office
- Community manager
- Exclusive events (organized by us and the community)
- #discordcommunity channel
- Partner discounts
- Most importantly, a great community of like-minded people
JOIN US AT www.workremotelycroatia.com
Minimum 2-week stay. Starting at €130 per week, we believe that everyone will be able to find an accommodation option that suits them.
We are also able to offer the First 15 digital nomads a 15% discount for the first two weeks of stay!
This project is a part of a new initiative from grabAhome called Work Remotely Croatia, where we hope to build and support several communities around Croatia in order to promote and advocate sustainable tourism in Croatia. This project starts on October 10th until 31st March, with the possibility of an extension!
Special thanks to Falkensteiner H&R for offering long-term rentals just for the purpose of this project, and to Digital Nomad Association Croatia and Zadar Tourist Board for supporting this project.
A great addition to the Croatian digital nomad scene, and the pricing certainly looks attractive. Much more on the details and background to this story coming later in the TCN interview, which is now published.
For the latest news and features on digital nomads in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.
Foreign Minister Grlić Radman: Cancellation of Visa Regime For US is "New Recognition" of Croatia
ZAGREB, 29 Sept, 2021 - The cancellation of visa requirements for Croatian nationals travelling to the United States is "a new recognition" 30 years after the recognition of Croatia, and a law on avoiding double taxation is expected to be signed now, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Tuesday.
Thirty years after the recognition of the Republic of Croatia this is "a new recognition", the minister said commenting on the announcement by the US Department of Homeland Security about Croatia joining the Visa Waiver Program.
Exactly a year has passed since the end of the fiscal year in the United States and that was the deadline for Croatia to submit a sufficient number of qualified applications, which means the visa refusal rate had to be below three percent, he recalled.
That qualified Croatia for the cancellation of visa requirements in addition to some other minor conditions, such as security in air traffic, he said.
The next step that both countries are expecting soon is signing an agreement on avoiding double taxation, which will facilitate business communication.
For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
President Zoran Milanović and Izetbegović Discuss Relationship Between Croatia and Bosnia
ZAGREB, 29 Sept, 2021 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović spoke with the leader of the Democratic Action Party (SDA) of Bosnia andHerzegovina, Bakir Izetbegović, on Tuesday about the relationship between the Bosniaks and Croats, the President's Office said in a press release.
They discussed the relationship between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, notably the relationship between the Bosniaks and Croats and the need to improve it in accordance with the Dayton agreement, the press release said.
Izetbegović also serves as Chairman of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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