Tobacco Industry War: What's Hiding Behind Talks of Closure of Kanfanar Tobacco Factory?
As Dnevnik/Ivan Forjan writes on the 29th of October, 2020, although they threatened to leave Croatia, British American Tobacco (BAT) hasn't yet made a final decision. They don't want to confirm whether they're leaving or not, but they're complaining to the state about the level of excise duties placed on tobacco products. Negotiations are underway with the Croatian Government, and Dnevnik checked what lies behind the whole story.
British American Tobacco threatened to shut down their machines at their Kanfanar tobacco factory/plant rather openly about a month ago. At the end of September, the five-year period expired in which they undertook the obligation not to relocate production from Croatia after buying the factory.
BAT didn't respond to Dnevnik's question about the negotiations with the Croatian Government and whether they're now any closer to reaching a solution. In addition, they don't want to answer whether they're being bothered by the unequal tax treatment of tobacco products, ie classic cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
"The government is conducting a dialogue not only with BAT but also with other market players, and I'm sure that we'll reach a solution that will enable the survival and retention of jobs at that factory in Istria," said Prime Minister Plenkovic. BAT in Istria employs 1,600 workers, and their union warns that the departure of BAT would be a big blow to the economy and would mean a wave of layoffs.
On the other hand, the subcontractors of BAT's factory see the situation somewhat differently. They've warned that BAT imports about 90 percent of its raw materials from abroad, and also sells more than 80 percent of its products abroad.
"Excise duty is paid in the importing country, not in Croatia"
"Practically speaking, tobacco excise duties in Croatia for BAT and their business are in some way neutral, if you export 80 percent of your tobacco products abroad, then you pay excise duty in the importing country, not in Croatia," explained Zeljko Aragovic from the Krupan List Tobacco Producers Association.
In the five years since BAT has been operating in Croatia, Aragovic says that tobacco production in the country has fallen by 36 percent.
"The fact is that not only are they blackmailing the government, they're blackmailing tobacco producers in some way or another, blackmailing the local community, blackmailing, so to speak, some of their business partners, because if they announces their departure and if they've made some agreements regarding that, then then it's blackmail,'' believes Aragovic.
In addition to BAT, Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Tobacco also operate here on the Croatian tobacco market. The second largest market player being Philip Morris.
"There is no European country in which these products aren't taxed differently than cigarettes are, or significantly lower. However, we don't see cigarette factories closing across Europe because of this.
The level of excise duties placed on heated tobacco products can't be the real reason for the potential closure of this cigarette factory in Croatia. It would be truly incredible if a company in Croatia succeeded in shifting the responsibility for its own failure to the state,'' they said from Philip Morris.
Japan Tobacco stated that they welcome the state's announcements about the introduction of an excise calendar, which would greatly facilitate their business planning. The final word on everything will, of course, be had by the Government, which, judging by the Prime Minister's statement, isn't going tp give in so easily to this pressure.
"It's the government that pursues the excise policy, to be quite precise," the Prime Minister said. The producers' association also says that the departure of BAT wouldn't mean the end of tobacco production in Croatia. As an alternative, they primarily see turning to a much wider and larger European market.
For more on this story, watch the Dnevnik news report which aired on Croatian national television.
Foreign Ministry: No Croatian Nationals Among Victims of Greece Earthquake
ZAGREB, October 30, 2020 - There are no Croatian nationals among the victims of the earthquake that struck Greece and Turkey on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign and European affairs said.
A magnitude 7 earthquake hit the Aegean Sea south of the city of Izmir on the west coast of Turkey at 11:50 local time.
The Turkish emergency management authority said that at least six people were killed and 202 were injured.
At the moment, there is no official information that any Croatian national has been killed in the earthquake that struck Greece and Turkey, it was said in the ministry's press release.
The embassies in Athens and Ankara, as well as the consular office in Istanbul, are monitoring the situation and are available to Croatian nationals for all necessary assistance, it was added.
Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman extended his condolences to his Greek and Turkish counterparts, Nikos Dendias and Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic also expressed his solidarity with Turkey and Greece.
"We deeply regret the tragic loss of life and the damage sustained and we wish a speedy recovery to the injured. Croatia is available to provide assistance," he said on Twitter.
According to Turkish sources, the earthquake measured 6.6 on the Richter scale, and according to American sources it measured 7.
The epicentre was in the Aegean Sea, and the earthquake was felt in Greece and Turkey, where several buildings collapsed.
A tsunami warning was issued on the Greek island of Samos following the earthquake.
Croatian PM Condemns Deadly Knife Attack in Nice
ZAGREB, October 30, 2020 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Friday condemned in the strongest terms Thursday's knife attack inside a church in the southern French city of Nice and expressed full support to France in its fight against terrorism.
"Croatia condemns the Nice attack in the strongest terms, and sees that as an attack against our values," the Croatian premier writes this message in the French language on his Twitter account.
He writes that Croatia expresses solidarity with France and the French in this distressing period.
Plenkovic says he supports President Emmanuel Macron and the French government in their struggle against terrorism.
During the deadly attack, a lone attacker armed with a knife entered the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice at around 9am Thursday and shouted "Allahu Akbar", according to news reports. A man and a woman died at the scene, while another woman died from her injuries. The attacker was injured after being shot by police and taken to hospital.
A few hours later, a man was shot dead near the southern French city of Avignon, after reportedly threatening police with a handgun, and according to news reports, a guard outside the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was attacked and wounded.
Those attacks ensued in the wake of the killing of school teacher Samuel Paty by an 18-year-old Islamist.
Croats Increase Savings by HRK 11 Bn in Past Year
ZAGREB, October 30, 2020 - Over the past year, Croatian citizens increased their savings by HRK 11 billion despite the pandemic and a weaker tourism season, with saving deposits across Croatia totalling HRK 52,784 per capita, the Chamber of Commerce (HGK) said on Friday ahead of World Savings Day.
Citing central bank data, the HGK said household deposits reached HRK 214.9 billion in August, up 5.4% on the year.
Across Croatia, deposits per capita amount to HRK 52,874, above last year's average of HRK 48,626, ranging from HRK 23,443 in Vukovar-Srijem County to HRK 78,681 in Istria County.
People on the coast, and partly in Zagreb, save based on tourism, which is why this year's disappointing season has changed some trends.
Year on year, deposits increased in every county bar Osijek-Baranja, but those in continental Croatia increased by 7.5% and those along the coast by 2.5%. This, the HGK said, shows that the weaker tourist season resulted in weaker deposits in the coastal counties.
Interestingly, deposits along the coast increased less than in 2019, whereas in continental Croatia the growth rate was above the national average, the opposite of last year.
Central bank economist Vedran Sosic said there were no household saving estimates in Croatia, i.e. estimates of the part of one's income that is not spent, so they are based on trends in the value of financial assets and bank deposits as their biggest component.
(€1 = HRK 7.5)
MEP Kolakusic Thinks Covid is 'Ordinary Cold' and Wants EP to Reopen Its Doors
ZAGREB, October 30, 2020 - Croatian independent MEP Mislav Kolakusic has sent a letter to his colleagues in the European Parliament, complaining about the closure of the EU House due to the new COVID-19 outbreak claiming that COVID-19 is just a cold.
"Tens of millions of our citizens fought numerous wars to preserve democracy. Millions of our citizens sacrificed their lives for the freedom of speech and movement, and we are closing the doors of the Parliament due to the fear of a possible cold," Kolakusic said in his letter which was carried by the Euractiv web portal.
In his letter Kolakusic says that despite the "indisputable fact" that although he knows "several thousand people, I do not know one single person who has Covid-19."
Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Croatia more than 45,000 people have been infected with coronavirus and 530 people have died.
For Kolakusic, this is just about a "cold", which by the way has cost the lives of more than one million people worldwide, says Euroactive.
Many MEPs are unhappy because they cannot temporarily access the European Parliament both in Brussels or Strasbourg.
The cause of their disgruntlement is a possible decision by the parliament's leaders to temporarily close the central attendance register throughout November. That means that MEPs will not receive daily allowances which amount to €323 for each day spent in Brussels or Strasbourg. They can receive that allowance only if they confirm their attendance in the central register.
Women's NGO Implementing EU Project for Improving Work-Life Balance
AGREB, October 30, 2020 - The B.a.B.e. women's civil society organisation and its partners are implementing a HRK 3.6 million EU project aimed at identifying the biggest obstacles to achieving work-life balance, which is one of the keys to prevention of negative demographic trends and the emigration of young people.
The project on the impact of public policies on the quality of family and working life and on the demographic picture of Croatia will be financed with an EU grant covering 85% of its value and 15% will come from the state budget. The 36-month-long project is being implemented in Zagreb, Sisak-Moslavina, Koprivnica-Krizevci, Osijek-Baranja, Vukovar-Srijem, Primorjre-Gorski Kotar, Zadar, Split-Dalmatia and Istria counties, the B.a.B.e. NGO as the project holder said in a press release.
The project will investigate the needs of women and men during working life and young people to analyse and recommend public policies that will enable a work-life balance.
The project will be used to build a network of civil society organisations and strengthen their capacities for partnership and inter-departmental cooperation in establishing sensible, comprehensive public policy to enable a work-life balance depending of the specific developmental circumstances in each county where members of the network are active.
Medical Chamber for Hiring Jobless Medical Staff for COVID Contact Tracing
ZAGREB, October 30, 2020 - The Croatian Medical Chamber on Friday welcomed the Health Ministry's initiative to establish call centres for tracing contacts of COVID-19 patients and suggested hiring over 1,200 medical staff registered with the Employment Service for contact tracing.
As a first step, the Chamber suggests that call centres at public health institutes hire over 1,200 nondoctors who are awaiting internship for contact tracing.
This month, due to the sudden surge in the number of COVID patients, the contact tracing system is bursting at the seams, so the Chamber welcomes Minister Vili Beros's initiative for urgently establishing call centres to step up contact tracing.
An efficient system of testing, tracing and isolating contacts is a prerequisite for establishing as normal a life as possible without the need to impose the strictest measures, the Medical Chamber said.
According to their proposal, non-doctors and non-medical staff would undergo the necessary training before being hired to work at public health institute call centres under epidemiologists' supervision.
Medical Staff Protest Plan to Convert Zagreb's KB Dubrava into COVID Hospital
ZAGREB, October 30, 2020 - Doctors and nurses at Zagreb's KB Dubrava hospital held a protest rally on Friday because the hospital would be fully converted into an institution for the treatment of COVID positive patients.
Ivana Suton, the representative of the Nurses' Union at the hospital, said that the protest was not organised by any of the unions but by staff gathering spontaneously to express their discontent over the difficult situation considering the large influx of patients and the shortage of staff.
The protesters were also addressed by Silvio Basic, the new chairman of the hospital's management board and state secretary at the Ministry of Health. He said later that the protesters had drawn his attention to the problems troubling them, such as care for their own health and the health of patients, and the lack of information.
Basic said that all 80 or so patients not suffering from COVID would be transferred to other hospitals across the city so that KB Dubrava could become a COVID hospital when necessary, which would depend on the number of new cases.
Responding to a reporter's remark that this was precisely why the staff were protesting, because they did not want the hospital to become a COVID institution, Basic said he sympathised with them. "We are seeing this disease for the first time, no one is trained to treat it and, of course, people are scared. But we must be aware as medical workers that we have taken on this risk."
Basic said that efforts were being made to ensure the sufficient number of staff. "Five anaesthesiologists have arrived today, and four more pulmonologists are coming in the afternoon. More nurses are also coming. This is a dynamic process," he said, adding that the hospital had enough ventilators.
Something New for Split: Znjan Hotel with 156 Accommodation Units Receives Building Permit
October 30, 2020 - A building permit has been approved for a Znjan hotel, bringing new tourism to the Split neighborhood.
Slobodna Dalmacija reports that the company "Split Peninsula Properties" from Zagreb received a building permit to construct a catering and tourist facility on undeveloped plots in the Znjan area of Split.
This building permit allows for the construction of 156 accommodation units located on five floors with a superstructure boasting 110 parking spaces.
It covers an area of about seven thousand square meters between Šetališta Ivana Pavla II and the Znjan Road, which is now covered with high vegetation.
The mentioned investor company, "Split Peninsula Properties," is registered as a micro-entrepreneur, with one founder - Andrija Antić.
Modus.hr
According to the Court Register, the company was founded at the end of 2018, has a share capital of HRK 20,000, and in that year, had a loss of HRK 304,345.
The architects created the conceptual design in 2018 for 170 accommodation units, but the request for a location permit was submitted for 156, covered by the building permit.
According to the information from the "Condo hotel center" page, which advertises this new hotel, it will be a four-plus hotel with a casino, spa and wellness center, rooftop lounge bar, and 24-hour room service. They say that the apartments will range from 328 to 667 square meters, with prices ranging from 216 to 263 and a half thousand dollars.
Supposedly, the hotel's management would be taken over by a big brand, but they would not buy the building, and different owners would buy the apartments. A contract would be reached with them according to which they would use their real estate 14 days a year, and their services would be charged at the minimum price, while the rest of the time, the hotel house would rent their apartments so that the owners would get a refund.
As for greenery, the hotel should preserve some vegetation on the west side and valuable pine trees, if any. The architects created new greenery around the hotel in the simulation, but in them, the entire Znjan plateau all the way to the promenade along the coast is green - and they drew only grass and trees, without cafes and sports fields. According to the Detailed Development Plan, such radical landscaping is not a bad idea, but it is not possible.
To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
All of Croatia On the German Red List of Risky Areas
October 30, 2020 - On Friday, the German government put all of Croatia on the German red list of epidemiologically risky areas, based on the recommendation of the central epidemiological institute Robert Koch.
As Index.hr reports, so far four Croatian counties – Istria, Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, and Primorje-Gorski Kotar – were not on the German red list. On Friday, October 30, 2020, all of Croatian counties were put on the red list and declared risky.
This means that 14-day self-isolation is valid for returnees to Germany from Croatia, which can be avoided by a negative test for coronavirus that is not older than 48 hours. Tests for returnees from high-risk areas are free, but tests from the country of return are also recognized.
Only six days ago, on Saturday, October 24, 2020, the city of Zagreb and four more Croatian counties – Karlovac, Osijek-Baranja, Varaždin, and Bjelovar – were put on Germany's red list.
As of Friday, Germany has also put Slovenia, Hungary, Cyprus, and Bulgaria on the list of epidemiologically risky countries.
Except for two municipalities, Austria is also on the list, and with the exception of Calabria, all of Italy, too. For the first time, one Greek province is also on the list of risky areas.
A municipality or city with more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last week is known as a risk area. Meanwhile, most parts of Germany have also been declared risky. In Germany, the ban on the operation of catering facilities and cultural and sports institutions will be in force from Monday, November 2, 2020. Tourist travel within Germany is also prohibited.
Despite the fact that almost all of Europe is a risky area for German citizens, the German government insists on open borders and opposes closure as was the case during the spring lockdown.
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