February 15, 2022 - Croatia has secured its spot in the World League European final eight after topping Russia in Zagreb on Tuesday. 

After Greece, the Croatia water polo team defeated Russia in the second round of the World League Group D. Croatia celebrated in Zagreb on Tuesday 11-9 (1-4, 4-4, 2-1, 4-0) thus securing the World League final European tournament.

However, it wasn't so certain from the start. Russia was ahead 4-0 in the first quarter, and Croatia hit the net for the first time only from their seventh shot! The Barracudas were in disarray until the end of the third quarter. Namely, Russia was up by a considerable 9-5, but fortunately for Croatia, they did not score until the end of the match.

On the other hand, after locking their own goal, Croatian slowly began to gain an advantage. Six and a half minutes before the end of the match, Burić regained hope with a goal for 8-9, while three minutes before the end, Bukić equalized at 9-9.

Burić and Fatović then scored for 11-9 and confirmed Croatia's brilliant turnaround. Loren Fatović was the top scorer with three goals, while Bukić and Burić scored two each, and one each by Vukičević, Žuvela, Benić, and Lazić. Marko Bijač defended brilliantly during the second half and stopped seven of 11 shots from Russia. The Croatia goalkeeper was also named the player of the match.

In the first match in Athens, Croatia defeated Greece 12-11, and with the victory against Russia, secured a place in the final European tournament of the World League, which should be held in Budapest (though this is no longer certain) from April 28 to 30. Croatia will play against the second-placed team from Group C, almost certainly Italy. In the 3rd round next month, Russia and Greece will meet. 

World League, Group D (Round 2):

Croatia - Russia 11-9 (1-4, 4-4, 2-1, 4-0)

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

February 15, 2022 - The best Zagreb County Gault & Millau chefs were presented today at Korak Winery to promote the first "2022 Gault & Millau Zagreb and surroundings" guide.

The promotion of the first "2022 Gault & Millau Zagreb and surroundings" gastro guide organized by the Zagreb County Tourist Board was held today at the Korak Winery. Gault & Millau encourages sustainable tourism, i.e., that small food and wine producers and restaurants remain dedicated to the food and dishes of their region. Zagreb County has a rich tradition in gastronomy because it has several products with a mark of origin. Although it is the destiny of every good dish to disappear soon after being prepared, these dishes have the status of a cultural asset precisely because of carefully preserved recipes and a skill passed down from generation to generation as part of a unique local heritage.

"Today, we are grateful to our caterers who, thanks to their dedicated work, are included in the guide, and these yellow chef's caps are a guarantee of proven quality for tourists. Zagreb County is also home to the black truffle, which excellent chefs use and compose with our indigenous cuisine. Food and culture are deeply ingrained in the national identity of Zagreb County. Even the simplest dishes cooked by our grandmothers are real gastronomic specialties because they are prepared from authentic ingredients from family farms. This unique story "from the field to the table" is significant," said the Zagreb County Tourist Board director, Ivana Alilović. She added that they are incredibly proud to have participated in preparing the world gastronomic guide Gault & Millau Croatia in cooperation with the Zagreb Tourist Board to present a part of the authentic gastronomic scene. "I thank Gaul & Millau for believing in the strength and quality of our County's gastronomy."

Zagreb County and the City of Zagreb are top gastro destinations with great wealth. The quality of the food is exceptional, so the idea of expanding the next guide to include family farms and wineries in addition to restaurants will be considered.

"The gastronomic scene of Zagreb and its surroundings has developed especially in recent years, and the city has received many new restaurants with a rich and diverse offer. Certainly, some of them deserve a place in the guide, but they could not be included in this year's print edition due to the limited number. However, they will be presented on the GM website, where the guide's content for the whole of Croatia is available, and it records 2.5 million users and 6 million views a year. The printed edition of Gault & Millau Croatia 2022 for Croatia will be published on April 5. Therefore, the special edition for Zagreb and its surroundings is a real announcement of what awaits us then," said Ingrid Badurina Danielsson, Gault & Millau director for Croatia.

As part of the promotion, awards were given to the best chefs in Zagreb County.

Restaurant Trajbar Team with chef Vlasta Šander won 13 points and two toques. The following were evaluated with 13.5 points and two toques: Restaurant Mon Ami with chef Goran Marko Beus, Restaurant Karlo with chef Karlo Navoj and Restaurant Gabreku with chef Ana Perić. The most significant recognition as the highest-rated restaurant with 16 points and three toques went to Restaurant Korak and chef Bernard Korak.

"Our restaurant nurtures tradition and cuisine not only as an offer but also as a culture of living and creating unique stories and combining our rich heritage and knowledge results in authentic gastronomic experiences recognized by Gault & Millau. This recognition is a great incentive to our work and effort. We have made a big step forward since last year, and I hope that we will continue to do so," said chef Bernard Korak.

After five years in Croatia, Gault & Millau has published its first specialized edition for Zagreb and its surroundings, which is also the announcement of Gault & Millau Croatia 2022, which will be released in early April. The City of Zagreb and Zagreb County thus received their edition of this prestigious gastronomic guide. In addition, for the first time in history, a bilingual (Croatian-English) edition of the guide was published, translated by Morana Zibar. The guide contains reviews and photos of 100 restaurants, taverns, snack bars, POP bars, and pastry shops in Zagreb and the surrounding area. This wide range of catering listings is based on GM's motto, "luxury is in quality, not price."

Gault & Millau is a French restaurant guide founded by two critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau, in 1965. Gault & Millau rates on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest. Points are awarded based on the quality of the food, along with comments on the restaurant's service, price, or atmosphere. Based on this rating, high-ranking restaurants can display one to four toques.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

February 15, 2022 - It is reasonable to believe in a possible record summer season in 2022 due to the number of reservations. However, low vaccination rates, rising energy prices, and other factors may still interfere, warns Tomislav Fain, head of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies.

All EU countries are still on the map of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in dark red, but most of them with higher vaccination rates are expected to drop more over time than expected in Croatia. Our tourism workers hope that despite low vaccination, rising energy prices and other things, all previous efforts to invest in the season will not "melt", but due to many open questions they do not dare to predict whether we'll have a good start to this season, writes Slobodna Dalmacija.

Booking is better than for 2019, but there is no guarantee that part of these reservations will not be canceled.

''From the current perspective, the view of this year's tourist season seems quite optimistic, especially when it comes to peak season, July and August. Demand is high, reservations are constantly arriving, but we must be very careful because they are all made with the possibility of cancellation and no advance payment'', says Tomislav Fain, owner of the Zadar travel agency "Terra Travel" and president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies.

He reminds that the situation with COVID has greatly changed the previous way of doing business and everyone must be flexible, so reservations are accepted without payment.

''We had to adapt to this pandemic. We don’t know what could happen tomorrow, whether there will be an increase in contagion and some new measures again and we had to allow people to cancel their reservations. So we still have to be careful with optimistic announcements, but I say that if everything remains as it is now, there could be a record summer season'', Fain says.

The pre-season is filling up a bit less but he emphasizes that it is a good signal that most airlines left their flights at the beginning of April, which is an indicator that their seats are filling up.

''Our guests are accustomed to having enough capacity and there will probably be a lot of "last minute" reservations'', said the president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies.

Vaccination is holding us back

Along with COVID, the rattling of weapons on the border between Russia and Ukraine is not in favor of more frequent trips.

''At the moment, we do not know how the situation will unfold there by the summer or how and how much it can affect the arrivals. We, like everyone else, follow what is happening there'', Fain points out.

The interest of the population in vaccination in Croatia is miserable; those who wanted to get vaccinated did so a long time ago, and in the persuasion of those who do not want to do so, the announcement of the ECDC, which will include the parameters of vaccination of the population in the map of European countries, does not help.

''In terms of vaccination, we are the worst of all countries that are our strongest tourist competition. These are "landmines" that can reduce the possibility of a record summer season because even if we do not have a lot of infected people, data on poor vaccination can significantly affect the arrival of guests. If we stay in the red because of that, we will close the door to some markets for ourselves. It is enough for Germany to mark us as undesirable, and here we are in trouble'', concluded Fain.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

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ZAGREB, 15 Feb 2022 - Croatian and Bosnian bishops met on Tuesday in Mostar to warn that Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina are outvoted and that they should be equal to the other two main ethnic groups, with Croatian Bishops' Conference (HBK) head Želimir Puljić voicing satisfaction with Croatia's improved care for them.

"Unfair laws enable the outvoting of the less numerous ones by the majority, with the Croats suffering most frequently,"  Sarajevo Archbishop Tomo Vukšić said at the meeting.

He added that the Church is constantly reminding the BiH authorities that they need to respect the rights of every man and the collective rights of every ethnic group. He called for "changing unfair legal solutions and adopting and implementing just laws." Addressing a press conference in Mostar, Archbishop Vukšić explained that as an "individual from the rank of Croats," he expected equal rights for all ethnic groups.

Zadar's Archbishop and HBK president Puljić said that he understands the frustrations of Croats in BiH, and that he is "happy to feel that Croatia is caring for its people in BiH."

"Seeing that it is a signatory to the Dayton Accord, Croatia has an obligation to care for the Croat people and in doing so, it cares about the entire country, which has been blocked for a long time," Puljić underscored. He said that he hoped BiH would soon "see the prospect of European Union membership," and that its EU membership bid was strongly supported by Croatia.

"I hope that Croatia will help BiH, notably Croats, to join the community of peoples as soon as possible," he added.

ZAGREB, 15 Feb 2022 - The contracts signed by EVN Croatia Plin and its clients are valid and envisage no changes to gas prices, the company said on Tuesday in a statement on a webinar on the price of natural gas in Croatia, attended by gas suppliers and their clients.

The webinar was organised by Advantage Austria, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber's foreign trade organisation, the Energy Academy (ENG-A) and EVN Croatia Plin.

EVN Croatia has been present in Croatia since 2009 and it is owned by the Austrian company EVN AG.

EVN Croatia Plin supplies gas to around 1,300 clients (households and businesses) in Zadar, Šibenik-Knin and Split-Dalmatia counties. It has also won a tender to build the gas distribution system in Lika-Senj County.

The rise in gas prices in Europe has had a strong impact on companies operating in Croatia, with EVN Croatia Plin director Vlado Mandić noting that the purchase price of gas for some clients had increased by as much as 350% in 2021.

Citing the case of a hospital, Mandić said that the share of the price of gas in public procurement in 2021 was 63% while in 2022 it was 89%.

Mandić said that with its timely response EVN Croatia Plin in 2021 secured lower gas prices for its clients.

He noted that as soon as a short-term but significant increase in gas prices was noticed in April and June 2021, the company offered its clients new contracts and most of them signed them by the end of summer 2021. He added that the prices agreed then would not be changed.

Most of the clients concerned are businesses that sign contracts in line with market conditions.

EVN Croatia Plin said that cushioning the blow of rising gas prices required the contribution of the state as well as other stakeholders.

In the future, the possibility of introducing additional market mechanisms should be considered to prevent future energy crises, such as determining strategic gas reserves and considering greater flexibility in the public procurement procedure, as well as training people who conduct public procurement, notably those who do so on behalf of other institutions, Mandić said, noting that the diversification of supply routes to secure more stable gas prices would also be desirable.

As for gas price forecasts, the organisers of the webinar said that the price of gas was affected by a number of factors, however, they presented optimistic data regarding current gas prices on energy markets.

"The price at which gas for 2024 and 2025 is currently traded is at the pre-crisis level, which means that if the situation does not change, the price for end-users should normalise in the future and be lower than it is now," it was said.

ZAGREB, 15 Feb 2022 - Croatian Police Trade Union president Dubravko Jagić said on Tuesday, after negotiations with government representatives, that government employee unions demanded an 8% base pay rise as public employee unions, rejecting the government's offer of a 2% rise.

We demand the same as the public services, a base pay rise in three instalments: by 4% as of 1 March, by 2% as of 1 July and by 2% as of 1 November, Jagić told the press after the ninth round of negotiations at the Labour Ministry.

"I think we will arrive very soon at a joint solution to the satisfaction of our members," he said, adding that they expect a new government offer next week.

"The new collective agreement must be better than the current one. We demanded from the government a 13th month pay, increases of indices and everything else, just like the public services. We expect to be equated with the public services," Jagić said.

Government will take a position on union demands next week

Assistant Labour Minister Dražen Opalić said the government was offering a 2% base pay rise in the second half of the year but that the unions wanted "a little more ambitious" pay rise this year.

"The government took note of that and we agreed to resume the talks next week, and the government will take a position on the demands of the public and government employee unions," he said.

In previous negotiations, public employee unions requested an 8% base pay rise. Vilim Ribić of the Independent Science and Higher Education Union criticised the government for "saying that it doesn't have the money although, according to all indicators, it does."

Next year Croatia is expected to be the second fastest growing economy in Europe, GDP has risen by 10.5%, inflation was 4.6% last year and is expected to be 4% next year, he said, adding that all indicators point to the need for a stronger intervention by the government.

We heard the same story that there was no money for public and government employees during the 2008-15 financial crisis, then during the euro crisis and then during the pandemic crisis, Ribić said.

We are always hearing the same story, even now when there is money and everything is  changing, he added.

ZAGREB, 15 Feb 2022 - The Croatian Ministry of Finance sold HRK 1.3 billion and €6.5 million worth of treasury bills at an auction on Tuesday.

The bills mature in one year and the interest rate is 0.01 per cent for kuna bills while there is no interest on euro treasury bills.

In advance of the maturity of treasury bills worth HRK 1.1 billion, the Ministry offered HRK 700 million and €10 million worth of treasury bills for subscription. Financial institutions submitted bids totalling slightly more than HRK 1.3 billion and €6.5 million and the Ministry accepted them all.

The favourable borrowing terms are due to a large surplus liquidity in the domestic financial system, exceeding HRK 77 billion.

The balance of subscribed kuna treasury bills has now increased by HRK 211 million to HRK 13.8 billion.

The balance of subscribed euro treasury bills has now increased by €6.5 million to €177.5 million.

The next auction of treasury bills will be held on 22 February, the Ministry said.

(€1 = HRK 7.52)

ZAGREB, 15 Feb 2022 - The Croatian Civil Protection Directorate has been granted just under HRK 80,000 from the EU Solidarity Fund to cover the costs of rental and maintenance of chemical toilets and sanitary containers used after the March 2020 earthquake in Zagreb.

The Directorate said on Tuesday that HRK 79,351 has been approved based on the application for the operation "Provision of logistical support for earthquake relief efforts".

The funding will be used to cover the costs of rental and maintenance of chemical toilets and sanitary containers used by rescue services and for the temporary accommodation of people, as well as to cover the purchase costs of materials used by response teams.

About 100 civil protection personnel set up tents for 500 people left homeless by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that struck Zagreb on 22 March 2020.