September the 10th, 2022 - Krizevci in the continental part of Croatia is doing excellently when it comes to relying on solar power and becoming more and more green in the energy sense, with the number of Krizevci households using solar power doubling.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, following a recently announced public call/invitation, the mayor of Krizevci, Mario Rajn, signed contracts with an impressive 39 Krizevci residents on the co-financing of the construction of solar power plants on the roofs of their houses.

This is the third year in a row that the co-financing programme for the construction of solar power panels has been implemented, and the number of users compared to 2021 has tripled.

"The people themselves are the backbone of the energy transition. We were the first to introduce this equipment co-financing programme, we were the first to co-finance a public photovoltaic power plant, and we were the first to open the Energy and Climate Office. I'd like to invite the others to use the funds from the call for the creation of project-technical documentation and to be ready next year when the tender opens," said Rajn.

Satisfaction with the increased number of users in Krizevci and beyond was expressed by expert associate Ivana Dubravec on behalf of the energy cooperative KLIK and the Energy and Climate Office, and she had to say the following:

"This year, we prepared as many as 48 applications for project documentation and 35 applications for the construction of solar power panels. It can be seen that our work is recognised within the city of Krizevci and beyond. I'd like to invite you to spread the positive word so that even more people will be able to receive help and that in 2023 we will build even more projects and power plants.''

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

September the 10th, 2022 - Fascinating anti-tank mines from back during the Second World War have been discovered on the popular Rab island in Northern Dalmatia.

As Morski writes, ever since the beginning of September 2022, the police have registered three voluntary surrenders of dangerous explosive devices by people from the areas of Crikvenica, Gorski kotar and Rijeka. Those individuals handed over one gun, a hand grenade and 31 pieces of different ammunition.

Over the aforementioned days, a German-made anti-tank mine from the Second World War was also found on Rab island. All the explosives discovered were handed in and dealt with by employees of the Rijeka Anti-Explosion Unit and will be disposed of safely and according to the strict rules of the profession.

The police would like to thank the conscientious citizens who joined the "Less weapons, fewer tragedies" campaign, which enabled the voluntary surrender of all types of weapons and explosives without any misdemeanor or criminal sanctions being imposed on anyone.

We'd also like to ask other citizens who still own unregistered explosive devices to hand them over to the police without fear of being sanctioned or punished in any way, and we particularly urge that such dangerous devices are not left out in open spaces in nature or at waste disposal sites, as this greatly endangers the safety of other people.

We'd also like to ask citizens not to touch or bring their explosive devices to the police station themselves, in order to prevent their activation and unwanted injuries, but to instead report the explosives to the police via the number 192. After that, authorised police officers will come and those explosives will then be taken safely away, the police explained.

Detailed information on the implementation of this action, as well as the handing over of weapons and other explosive devices, can be obtained by calling the free phone line 0800 88 92.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

September the 10th, 2022 - The Croatian National Association of Caterers has welcomed the package of economic measures the government has introduced to battle inflation and spiralling energy bills.

As Morski writes, on Thursday, the Croatian National Association of Caterers welcomed the package of measures introduced by the Croatian Government following drastic energy bill increases which, over recent months, have posed a huge amount of danger to the survival of enterprises already exhausted by the dire effects of the global coronavirus pandemic.

This is especially true with those operating within the catering, hospitality and tourism sector, which are mostly micro, small and medium-sized businesses and companies, the aforementioned association's press release notes.

From the government's package of measures, the Croatian National Association of Caterers have singled out the measure of capping the cost of electricity and the measure which seeks to increase the amount of tax-free payments to employees, which, as they pointed out, will enable the continuation of the work of catering and hospitality establishments this winter, as well as contribute to the preservation of jobs.

They have assessed that by limiting the cost of electricity for half-yearly consumption by companies up to 250,000 kWh to 0.53/kWh kuna, which ensures a price 12 times cheaper than the stock exchange price, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development has showcased "a previously unheard of level of understanding and support for micro, small and medium-sized companies which experience the most difficult moments when doing business, and at the same time forms the backbone of the domestic economy."

The Croatian National Association of Caterers has also said that they hope for successful negotiations and equal treatment when it comes to the limiting of the price of gas, which, along with electricity, is an essential energy source in the hospitality industry, especially in the area of ​​continental Croatia in the winter period of the year.

Considering the wide scale and long-term nature of this ongoing and unfolding crisis and limited resources, they're also calling for the implementation of savings measures and the rationalisation of energy consumption in the business and private spheres, as reported by HRT.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

September 9, 2022 – The rich history of the British royal family can be divided into two stages. The one before Queen Elizabeth II and the one after her enthronement. The ties that she spread all over the world and her own country will be remembered for a long time, so it's no wonder that Britain is mourning her passing. SiB took a moment to remember what binds the queen and her family to Osijek and Slavonia.

As SiB writes, the queen's only visit to the former Yugoslavia was connected to Slavonia, more specifically Đakovo, where the queen visited the famous Lipizzan Stud Farm. The State Stud Farm Đakovo reminisced and expressed its condolences to the royal family for the death of their dear guest, whose visit was written down in considerable letters in the history of the Farm.

Zagreb, 1972. Bozidar Kelemenic / Pixsell

However, what few people know is the royal family's blood connection with Osijek. The distant great-grandfather, of until yesterday Prince Charles, and soon King Charles III, and the great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II, was Franz von Teck, who was born and spent part of his life in Osijek.

Charles certainly knew all this when he visited Osijek in March 2016 together with his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. They then met with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, and as a gift from Osijek they brought a signed NK Osijek jersey, and Charles became an honorary member of the NK Osijek fan club.

Vlado Kos / Pixsell

After Osijek, they visited Baranja and Đakovo, where only the Duchess went to visit the Stud Farm.

In Baranja, the king also enjoyed the local specialty, fish stew. The royal family remembered their trip at the end of that same year with "the most festive Christmas card ever". They wished a happy Christmas with a photo from Osijek, and on it, in addition to the duchess and then the prince, there were members of HKUD Osijek 1862 in festive costumes.

The ties of the royal family with our region are so very deep, and it is up to Osijek and Slavonia to nurture and deepen them in the future.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.

September 8, 2022 - The semifinal game against Italy was a close one, but 11:10 victory made Croatia the finalists of the competition taking place in Split!

This is the fourth time Croatia will play in the European championship finals, and their opponensts on Saturday will be Hungary, who beat Spain in the other semi-final match.

Jerko Marinić Kragić scored for Croatia four times, Andrija Bašić added two goals, Konstantin Harkov scored twice, and Marko Žuvela and Rino Burić once each. Francesco Di Fulvio scored for Italy three times.

10000 observers in the Spaladium Arena helped lift the players, and they needed the help as the game was extremely close and it could've gone either way. Two minutes before the end of the game the score was 10:10. Then the Italians made an unusual mistake, allowing Croatia to score for 11:10, and the Croatian goalkeeper Marko Bijač made a crucial save, securing the victory.

September the 9th, 2022 - Former Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Maric has been questioned by USKOK (Croatian State Prosecutor's Office for the Suppression of Organised Crime and Corruption), but seemingly only as a witness.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, ex Finance Minister Zdravko Maric was the chairman of the supervisory board of HBOR (Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development), and a month and a half before a certain loan was granted, he had a meeting with the investor Milenko Basic from the company C.E.M.P.

Basic had otherwise asked for a loan of 130 million euros to finance an investment, and in the end he was granted a loan of 80 million euros.

USKOK has as such accused former HDZ Minister of Regional Development Gabrijela Zalac and former HDZ State Secretary Josip Rimac of abusing their positions and long-term lobbying and pressuring members of the supervisory board and the bank's management to approve the loan.

It is important to note that former Finance Minister Zdravko Maric, who has managed to dodge his fair share of hot water over the years, has actually not been included in that investigation, so it can now be assumed that he gave his testimony as a witness who was involved in the approval of the aforementioned loan which is of interest to USKOK, 24sata writes.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.

September the 9th, 2022 - Zvonimir Zarec has been selected as the director for the largest investment in Bjelovar's history - Terme Bjelovar, which will take this continental Croatian town's tourism image to the next level (and beyond).

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, during the month of September, Terme Bjelovar will apply for its much talked about spa project, worth around 250 million kuna, and it will be done as a public tender as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Croatian: NPOO).

Zvonimir Zarec was elected in a public tender to be the director of Terme Bjelovar, a company 100 percent owned by the City of Bjelovar, which will deal with the construction of the aforementioned spa worth 250 million kuna, the City of Bjelovar announced recently.

Zvonimir Zarec was appointed as the new director of the project for a term of four years, and his main tasks will be related to the field of energy, the exploitation of Bjelovar's natural resources, and the development of tourist potential and investments in the use of green energy, they added in the press release from the City of Bjelovar. The newly elected director is not a member of any political party, which is also very important to note for anyone who knows how these things unfortunately often go in Croatia.

Until the appointment of Zvonimir Zarec as the director, it is also very important to note that the company Terme Bjelovar d.o.o. had no employees.

In addition to applying for the enormous spa project, Terme, as a partner of the City of Bjelovar, was approved for two more projects. One of them was for the construction of a new well in the Veliko Korenovo settlement, the co-financing for the preparation of the documentation of such is worth around two million kuna, and the co-financing of the construction of the well itself, which is worth an additional 25 million kuna.

The projects are co-financed by the "Energy and Climate Change" Programme of the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union (EU) Funds, financed by Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland as donor countries and the programme partner, the Hrvoje Pozar Energy Institute.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

September the 9th, 2022 - Ongoing inflation is continuing to spiral, and with countries across Europe making various arrangements and creating measures to help citizens and companies through this extremely difficult period, Croatia's PM Plenkovic has now spoken out, confirming that the Croatian Government will cap electricity prices as energy bills are set to soar.

The Croatian Government was very quick in stepping in with a package of various measures when the global coronavirus pandemic reached the country and began disrupting life as we've never known it before. Many sectors across the economy are hoping for the same rapid response as inflation rises, taking the cost of energy with it.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, PM Plenkovic stated that this recently held session was entirely dedicated to the autumn package of measures the government intends to put into place to protect households, companies and the domestic economy from continually rising prices.

''We've dedicated as many as the first twenty points of the government session solely to this," PM Plenkovic assured.

"We are going to be opting for a very strong intervention, as we've always done until now for the benefit of the Republic of Croatia and for our citizens," he said, adding that ''we are in a time of global disruption," before showing a presentation in which the graphs clearly show an extreme rise in oil, gas and electricity prices.

"The first part of the package we're going to introduce will be to mitigate the rise in energy prices, and we've primarily concentrated on electricity costs. When it comes to households, we're going to be capping electricity prices. This measure will be fixed for the period from October the 1st to March the 1st, and as such it will cover the autumn-winter period," he said.

"Whoever spends less will of course pay a lower price. Those who use more will be put into a higher price class," Plenkovic said.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.