July the 22nd, 2021 - Five Croatian company owners are seeking not only answers but compensation for their extreme losses incurred owing to lockdowns and limitations from the Croatian Civil Protection Directorate.

As Novac/Gordana Grgas writes, five Croatian company owners are refusing to let this issue drop as their very existence was threatened during the pandemic. As such, they have filed a lawsuit against the state seeking compensation for what they claim are discriminatory decisions by the Civil Protection Directorate and inadequate economic measures introduced by the government, funded and logistically supported by the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association (UGP).

The amount they're asking for in court hasn't yet been publicly stated, and they say that it was calculated in relation to the turnover and profit that each of the companies had back during pre-pandemic 2019. The Croatian companies in question are "Djurina hiza" from Varazdin, Caffe & Wine Bar from Rijeka, the travel agencies "Svi koncerti/All concerts" from Varazdin, "Locuples" from the vicinity of Split and the Shark Attack trade from Primosten.

The first step in the lawsuit against the state for damages is a request from the Croatian company owners to attempt to come to a peaceful solution, which was sent to the Zagreb County State's Attorney's Office, it was said yesterday at a press conference organised by the UGP. As explained by the Matic and partners law firm who decided to take these cases, this means that within the legal deadline of three months "the state has a good chance to find modalities and an adequate solution." In other words, they believe that lawsuits shouldn't be filed with the competent courts if the state decides to settle in another manner.

Although the Constitutional Court has so far confirmed in its opinions that the measures adopted due to the pandemic were in accordance with the Constitution, lawyer Mato Matic believes that the Civil Protection Directorate directly violated the constitutional rights of Croatian company owners and states that there are serious violations of three articles of the Constitution (49, 50 and 54).

''Who exactly are those behind the Civil Protection Directorate? On what basis did they make thirteen decisions? On the basis of nothing,'' stated Matic, explaining that the state should have announced the introduction of a state of emergency so that the aforementioned group could make decisions, and noted that President Zoran Milanovic once spoke about it. Thus, Matic believes, there was no legal basis for these decisions to have been made, and no research has ever been conducted to suggest otherwise.

What the aforementioned law firm considers to be important is that judgments have been passed in several EU countries in support of such arguments, stating that the Spanish Constitutional Court declared the spring 2020 lockdown illegal, and the Belgian courts in Brussels declared the ban on the work of caterers and those in the hospitality industry to be illegal. They also cite the decision of the General Court of the European Union, which, as they say, interprets that everything that is prohibited or restricted for Croatian company owners by the decisions of the Government and the Civil Protection Directorate should be compensated in some way.

Hrvoje Bujas, the president of UGP, says that the lawsuits of the group's members are far from a bluff and says that the "gentlemen in the government" should take them very seriously. He emphasises that these are companies that were doing very well until the outbreak of the pandemic, and "became ruins" through absolutely no fault of their own.

For more, follow our dedicated business section.

July the 22nd, 2021 - An additional 580 million euros has been approved by the European Commission (EC) for use by the Republic of Croatia as part of the wider REACT-EU initiative.

As Novac/Iva Badanjak writes, the European Commission has approved an additional 580 million euros for use by Croatia to preserve jobs during the ongoing pandemic and after two major earthquakes during the spring and winter of 2020 (in Zagreb and Sisak-Moslavina) that had a serious impact on the Croatian economy.

The funds have been sourced from the operational programme of the European Social Fund (ESF) within the REACT-EU initiative.

This additional financial support is aimed at supporting the resilience of the Croatian labour market, employment, small and medium-sized enterprises and low-income families, as well as building a sustainable foundation for the green and digital transition and a sustainable form of socio-economic recovery.

The funds from this new programme will be used for job preservation programmes for about 280,000 people in sectors disproportionately affected by the coronavirus crisis, such as the tourism sector, the health sector and the food production sector.

Belgium will also receive three million euros from the same fund and for a similar purpose, and Germany will get 48.5 million euros.

The European Parliament and individual EU member states reached an agreement on the REACT-EU initiative and fund back in November 2020, and MEPs and the Council approved the content of the agreement in plenary in December.

It is a package worth as much as 47.5 billion euros (50.5 billion euros in current prices) that will be distributed to the bloc's member states over the next two years. Resources will be available through the EU Structural Funds, with 37.5 billion euros allocated for 2021 and 10 billion euros for 2022. The funds are being made available to member states in full.

MEPs have called for countries to be allowed to use additional funds until the end of 2023, instead of 2022, which was the European Commission's proposal. These resources will be allocated to countries in accordance with the partnership principle, including local and regional authorities, as well as relevant bodies representing civil society and the social partners.

Co-rapporteur Andrey Novakov (EPP) said that the REACT-EU initiative was a textbook example of cohesion policy as part of recovery immediately after the agreement was reached, and before the legal texts were approved by the Council and the European Parliament in plenary.

"2020 was a year of interruption, but also a year of recovery, companies and the healthcare sector have all been hit hard and this funding will bring a breath of fresh air to them. We hope the Council will overcome its internal divisions to allow the flow of these recovery funds across EU.''

MEPs also insisted that a stronger focus being placed on the people most affected by the coronavirus crisis, including but not limited to various cross-border projects. Social Democrat co-rapporteur Constanze Krehl added that she was glad that member states had agreed with MEPs' view that the REACT-EU initiative must focus on the social consequences of the pandemic, as well as on the regions and people most affected by this continuing crisis.

"This includes cross-border projects and support for the most vulnerable people and young people. All spending must respect the goals of sustainable development, as well as the Paris Climate Agreement - that should be self-evident, but it is good to remind member states of these commitments," Krehl said at the time.

Two Croatian members of parliament, Tomislav Sokol and Karlo Ressler, also took part in drafting the package for repairing the damage caused by the crisis, advocating that funds be allocated primarily to the least developed EU member states.

For more on Croatian and EU politics, follow our dedicated section.

July the 22nd, 2021 - The Dugopolje Municipality near Split has decided to raise the cash sum it gives to new parents in an attempt to encourage the birth of more children in the area.

Croatia's demographic crisis didn't come about with the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen many people take the plunge and head abroad in search of more stability following lockdowns and restrictions within the tourism industry, on which many jobs rely. It wasn't even new when the country finally joined the European Union back in July 2013 and when borders opened for the Croatian labour force.

Waves of emigration are very common for Croatia, with a huge number of people leaving during the 70s, 80s and 90s, typically, at least back then, for political reasons. Now, while politics certainly continues to play a significant role, it isn't the only deciding factor for most. The desire for a country with more economic stability, less red tape and a more forgiving system is what drives most people outside of Croatian borders, and the demographic crisis didn't even wane when travel restrictions were harsher last year, with many Croats still leaving to the likes of Ireland and Germany without looking back.

While the typically overlooked region of Eastern Croatia has always been dominant in this trend, with villages and towns emptying out at a worrying rate, the demographic crisis has spread further, with even ''richer'' areas where jobs were usually far easier to come by such as Dalmatia seeing people hop on planes and coaches with one way tickets. The Dugopolje Municipality has, as a result, opted to up the cash fee given to parents for each child born in the area.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Perica Bosancic, the mayor of Dugopolje, a municipality with about 3,500 inhabitants close to Solin (formerly Salona) took to Facebook to post about the increase in fees for newborn children in the Dugopolje Municipality.

As he wrote, the fee for the first born child will be 5,000 kuna, instead of the previous 3,000 kuna, and for the second 10,000 kuna instead of the previous 5,000 kuna.

''We announced this back on the 18th of April, and on July 20th, we kept our promise. We increased the benefits for newborns from 3,000 kuna to 5,000 kuna for the first child, from 5,000 kuna to 10,000 kuna for the second, and for the third, we increased the benefit to 15,000 kuna. Each subsequent child will see the parents paid an additional 15,000 kuna (meaning that the fourth child is is 30,000 kuna, the fifth is 45,000 kuna, etc.…). I'd like to thank the councilors for unanimously supporting this proposal,'' Bosancic wrote on Facebook.

For more, follow our lifestyle section.

July 22, 2021 - With the overall struggle to get Croatians to take the coronavirus vaccine, it is often overlooked regarding Roma people COVID-19 vaccination in Croatia.

Despite coronavirus infections being low at the moment, the situation is tense. On July 5, as TCN reported, only 35% of the Croatian population was vaccinated as the Delta strain spreads globally and in the country.

"Unfortunately, we aren't satisfied with the percentage of vaccinated people we hoped to have. We all wanted to vaccinate more than 50 percent of the total Croatian population during June, but sadly our numbers in that regard are much lower. Only about 35 percent of the total Croatian population has been vaccinated, which isn't enough for them to be calm and to be able to live according to the old normal,'' said epidemiologist Dijana Mayer back then. This was punished with the Croatian coast no longer being in the green, and without bigger vaccination interest, things can turn red. As TCN wrote, there are 5-6 Positive Cases at Split Airport every day, and new measures are introduced to British tourists as the Delta strain is booming there (but in a less fatal manner because of vaccines). Stricter measures, in general, can be excepted by the end of the month in Croatia too.

Fortunately, things got better in July. As reported on Wednesday, „Croatia administered nearly three million vaccine doses. Thus, 1.6 million people have received at least one dose of vaccines against COVID-19, and 1,388,674 have fully been vaccinated (1,349,652 have been double-jabbed plus 39,022 who have received a single-dose Jannsen vaccine), and this makes up 41.24% of the adult population“.

But, disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines is vividly spread (just as disinformation about COVID-19), leaving Croatian fact-checking site Faktograf knee-deep in debunking work. Many Croatians sadly believe the fake news of the anti-vaxxers, and the situation culminated to the point where the Croatian officials (as officials in many other EU countries that also struggle with anti-vax propaganda) seriously discuss obligatory vaccination. Will it happen? Some politicians are up for it, others no, but overall, the situation is uncertain as the fourth infection wave approaches, and the season could potentially be in jeopardy in mid-August, as 24 Sata writes.

COVID-19 vaccine © Pixabay

In summary, there are currently more vaccines in Croatia than there are people interested in. It's hard to believe how things progressed from the start of the year when we witnessed a delay in vaccine shipments, outrage by the public when people such as Zagreb University Rector Damir Boras received the vaccine ahead of time and schedule. From the malfunctioning Cijepi se (Vaccinate yourself) website where you had to register for an appointment (which took forever to get) to a family doctor being able to sign you up, all the way to be able to take a shot without an appointment today, vaccines truly became accessible for everyone. There were even buses bringing vaccines and performing vaccinations in remote villages. So vaccines are for everyone to take, but is it really so?

Nothing in the world is perfect, and neither is Croatia. From time to time, we can see that some groups in Croatian society do get discriminated against or suffer negative stereotypes. For example, with significant progress in accepting the LGBTQ community, sadly homophobic attacks still happen. The tensions with the Serbian minority vary from the day-to-day political agenda, but it is safe to say no one has it worse than the Roma people in Croatia.

As TCN previously wrote, following the 2020 report by Human Rights House in Zagreb, Roma people in Croatia are still facing many obstacles in achieving their rights, which include employment, access to services, and adequate living standards, and there is still segregation in the education system too. Either perceived as thieves, criminals, beggars or completely ignored in Croatia, the question of how many Roma people in Croatia received the vaccine and how many Roma people want the vaccine in the first place, can't be left aside, as it shows how much the vaccine rollout truly is fair for every citizen in the country.

Disinformation crippled 80% of those willing to get the vaccine

Veljko Kajtazi, a member of the Croatian parliament, elected as a representative of the Roma community, says that official research of percentage of vaccinated Roma people hasn't been conducted, but he frequently goes „to the field“, and sees that the situation isn't good.

„If 45% of the Croatian population is vaccinated, I can say that Roma people are a very small percentage of that number“, commented Kajtazi, then on a relevant number of vaccinated people.

He supports the talk of obligatory vaccines and finds disinformation and fake news regarding vaccines to be the cause of low interest.

Veljko Kajtazi, screenshot / Hrvatska radiotelevizija

„Roma people have a very social culture, love gatherings, and live in big families. When the pandemic started, I cooperated with authorities in ensuring that social distancing measures are respected in Roma settlements and that we educate people on the dangers of coronavirus“, recalled Kajtazi.

While Roma people can be found living anywhere, the majority is often ghettoized. An example is in Zagreb, where the Kozari Bok neighborhood on the east side of the city is famous for its big Roma population. When looking outside of the capital city, there are many Roma villages and settlements which count more people than other Croatian villages.

One such place is Piškorovec in Međimurje, which the Lupiga news site referred to as „the biggest Croatian ghetto“. Their article detailed both living in Piškorovec and tensions with the nearby town of Čakovec underlining incidents and division between Roma and Croatians (as Roma People are often perceived as thieves or beggars).

„Last year 80% of Roma people wanted to take the vaccine, but today, they are scared and believe various conspiracy theories. People are not informed, and social networks spread so much disinformation“, Kajtazi pictured how wishing for a vaccine turned sideways.

In the end, he added that he is regularly in contact with the government and institutions to provide information on vaccines to the community. Katja also hopes the vaccine buses will come to Roma villages too.

Questions for HZJZ

The lack of information, geographical isolation, and the overall achievement of social rights (such as health insurance) like other Croatian citizens that the Human Rights House in Zagreb expressed in their report left a lot of open questions regarding Roma people vaccination. Particularly, are there any statistics on how many people vaccinated that the health officials might have, what is the mood towards vaccines in Roma communities in their view, and can buses come to isolated areas to vaccinate Roma people? The inquiry was sent to the Health Ministry and to the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ). Health Ministry very quickly forwarded the inquiry to the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) as these questions are part of their domain. The health ministry even forwarded the questions directly to the HZJZ headmaster Krunoslav Capak himself and other close associates on e-mail addresses not visible on the HZJZ website. But, HZJZ hasn't responded yet. Whether I tried to remind them and ask when can they answer via e-mail or phone calls, none left a response (although a phone call with HZJZ PR service confirmed there are experts in HZJZ that deal with the health of vulnerable social groups, which includes Roma People).

When the answer that can be expected for the moment remains unknown, but TCN will publish HZJZ's response when we receive it.

In the meantime, as we can see, despite vaccine skepticism being strong, there is nevertheless a slow but steady daily rise of vaccinated people in Croatia. 

Let's hope for the sake of public health that disinformation and fake news that turn people away from the vaccines will lower its influence on all the cultural groups and identities you can find in Croatia.

Editor's note: HZJZ response

Learn more about travelling to Croatia during the COVID-19 pandemic on our TC page.

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

ZAGREB, 21 July, 2021 - Homeland Movement acting president Mario Radić said on Wednesday he would lead the opposition party until intra-party elections in the autumn but that he would not run for president who, he added, would be a person who brought people together and had a winning mentality.

Miroslav Škoro on Tuesday tendered his irrevocable resignation as leader of the Homeland Movement.

Radić said that although Škoro's resignation "has surprised many... it was first of all a highly moral act," a demonstration of responsibility to the party's members, sympathisers and voters.

He said he was glad that Škoro decided to stay in politics and contribute to the party's and especially national interests, both as a deputy parliament speaker and a member of the Homeland Movement.

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

ZAGREB, 21 July, 2021 - The Croatian coat-of-arms, a geographical map of Croatia, the marten (Croatian: kuna), the Glagolitic script and Nikola Tesla are motifs proposed for the Croatian side of euro coins, the Croatian National Bank (HNB) said on Wednesday.

The HNB Currency Committee today defined the final proposal for motifs for the national sides of future Croatian euro coins, which will now be considered by the National Council for the Introduction of the Euro as Official Currency in the Republic of Croatia, and then the government will adopt a conclusion.

The Croatian coat-of-arms will be used as a background on all coins, and other motifs will be used on coins of different denominations so that the 2 euro coin will feature a geographical map of Croatia, the 1 euro coin the marten, the 50, 20 and 10 cents coins Nikola Tesla, and 1, 2 and 5 cents coins the Glagolitic script.

The HNB said the main criteria for the selection was that the motif is acceptable to the general public and that it is a national symbol.

The rating given by citizens via an online survey at euro.hr, in which nearly 50,000 citizens took part, and a structured national survey on a sample of 1,000 citizens also influenced the Committee's final decision.

Based on the selected motifs, the HNB will announce a tender for the design of the national side of the euro coin. In mid October, the HNB will send the design of the motifs to the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, the press release said.

The production of euro coins with the Croatian national side should start at least six months before the introduction of the euro, that is the decision of the Council of the EU that Croatia is introducing the euro.

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

ZAGREB, 21 July, 2021 - The Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) indices dropped again on Wednesday after going up on Tuesday.

The Crobex decreased by 0.29% to 1,918 points, while the Crobex10 went up by a mere 0.06% to 1,185 points.

Regular turnover amounted to HRK 3.7 million, or HRK 1.4 million less than on Tuesday.

No stock crossed the million kuna mark and the highest turnover, of nearly HRK 879,000, was generated by the stock of the HT telecommunications company. The price of its shares went up by 1.85% to HRK 27.5.

A total of 33 stocks traded today, with 14 of them registering share price increases, 11 recording share price decreases and eight remaining stable in price.

(€1 = HRK 7.494568 )

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

ZAGREB, 21 July, 2021 - Justice and Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica said on Wednesday that Croatia has not disgraced itself before Europe by failing to appoint a Supreme Court president, adding that he expected the best candidates to apply for the post and the president to recommend a new candidate as soon as possible.

"The European Commission clearly said in this year's rule-of-law report on Croatia that there are certain controversies and that there is a certain disparagement of some judges. We know who that comes from, it certainly didn't come from the government," Malenica told the press.

He said the Commission's report was measured and that, to a large extent, it provided a fair overview of the situation, recognising certain shortcomings and confirming certain improvements.

Malenica said the shortcomings concerned the length of proceedings and backlogs.

"However, the report says that certain progress has been made in that area by shortening court proceedings and gradually reducing backlogs," he said, adding that the Commission highlighted as improvements an increase in transparency via the publication of officials' declarations of assets, further investment in the digitalisation of the justice system, and the gradual strengthening of judicial bodies' capacities.

The investigation and prosecution of corruption crimes have also been highlighted as an improvement, the minister added.

After last year's report, he said, the Justice Ministry undertook certain activities to amend legislation with a view to reducing backlogs and the length of proceedings.

Croatia has no problem with rule of law, but there is room for progress

"Croatia is not ranked among countries that have problems with the rule of law and it is not being discussed in the European Parliament nor has it been exposed to special resolutions being adopted, as is the case with Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia," Malenica said, adding that room for progress existed.

"We are confident that, through the National Resilience and Recovery Plan, in which we envisaged 13 reforms and six investments, the image of the situation in the Croatian judiciary will additionally improve."

Asked about the dismissal of SLAPP lawsuits against journalists, Malenica said they should be viewed in a broader context.

"The Culture and Media Ministry has formed a task force to deal with that issue... This government and the Culture and Media Ministry are willing to consider the issue of SLAPP lawsuits in a wider task force."

He said that last year there were 250 of these lawsuits but he could not say how many were upheld.

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