ZAGREB, 17 Jan 2022 - Croatian National Bank (HNB) Governor Boris Vujčić said on Sunday he was not thinking of resigning and called on the financial regulator HANFA to look into the veracity of media reports of financial wrongdoing at the central bank.

"We certainly didn't do anything wrong," Vujčić told RTL television in a comment on the article by the Index news website saying that 40 HNB staff had been involved in insider trading in securities.

Vujčić urged HANFA to look into the allegations, stressing that the HNB wanted the matter clarified as soon as possible. He said that the regulator had access to all the data, both at the HNB and the Central Depositary Agency.

He said it was not the HNB staff that had caused damage to the central bank but the media fuss that was made without any evidence.

Vujčić said that he always adhered to the law in his work. In 2001, when he joined the HNB leadership, he had sold his shares in two banks to avoid a potential conflict of interest, he added.

He said that the HNB had adopted a code of ethics in 2016, which requires all staff to report to their superiors if they trade in banks' securities.

"If anyone is found to have traded in insider information from the HNB, they will immediately lose their job and that will not be the end of problems for that person. At this point we do not have any indications that something like that happened," the central bank governor said.

Vujčić said he was not thinking of resigning. He noted that in his opinion this whole affair was aimed at undermining the process of adopting the euro, adding that this attempt would not succeed.

"These unsubstantiated accusations in the public sphere and partly in the political sphere are certainly undermining the credibility of the institution," he said.

Vujčić said he would not be attending the presentation of the Euro Act on Monday.  Asked how was it that he was not invited, he said the question should be addressed to the prime minister.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

January 17, 2022 - Croatia crushes Ukraine 38:25 in the final Group C match of the EHF Euro 2022 in Szeged, Hungary. Croatia's fate in the second round, however, depends on the outcome of the France-Serbia match later tonight. 

The Croatia men's handball team met Ukraine in the last round of Group C at the 2022 European Championship in Szeged, Hungary.

Bad news arrived before the match about two other infected players. Namely, David Mandić and Željko Musa received positive COVID-19 results, and Matej Mandić, Lovro Mihić, Marko Mamić, Zvonimir Srna, and Leon Šušnja had already been in isolation. Domagoj Duvnjak is still out and Halil Jaganjac could not play against Ukraine due to a minor concussion.

Recall, Croatia fell to France in the first match of Group C on Thursday and topped Serbia on Sunday to stay in the game for the second round. Croatia's spot in the second round, however, does not just depend on them. They must wait for the outcome of the match between France and Serbia. A victory or draw leads Croatia to the second round from second place in Group C. Croatia would be knocked out of the tournament if Serbia wins between two and six points. 

However, if everything goes as planned, Croatia will play in the second round, which includes two groups of six national teams. The two best teams from Group C intersect with the two best teams from Group A and Group B. 

Recap

The first goal of the match came in the 2nd minute when Lucin scored for 1:0 Croatia. Ukraine equalized moments later (1:1). Ukraine made it 1:2 in the 3rd minute. Martinovic equalized at 2:2. 

Ukraine retook the lead coming into the 4th minute for 2:3 and Lucin quickly equalized at 3:3. Martinovic made it 4:4 in the 7th minute. Maric made it 8:8 a minute later.

Ivic scored for 6:6 in the 9th minute. Jelinic scored for the Croatia lead in the 11th for 7:6, and Lucin for +2 moments later (8:6). 

Maric put Croatia ahead by 3 goals in the 13th minute for 9:6. Cupic scored from 7 meters for 10:7 a minute later. Lucin scored for 11:8 in the 15th! 

Sipic scored for 12:9 in the 17th and again for 13:10 a minute later! Martinovic scored from 7 meters for 14:10 with 9 minutes to go. 

Ukraine came back to just -1 with 3 minutes to go in the first half (14:13). Gadza made Croatia a bit more comfortable for 15:13 and Jelinic for 16:13 in the 28th. Gadza made it +4 for 17:13 with a minute and a half to go. Croatia scored in the final second of the first half for 18:13. 

Martinovic opened the second half with a goal for 19:14.  Lucin increased the score to 20:14 in the 33rd. 

Martinovic scored for 21:14 and Jelenic for 22:14 in the 35th. Ukraine had gone 5 minutes without a goal. Martinovic scored or 23:16 in the 38th minute - and it was 24:17 a minute later! Sipic made it 25:17 in the 40th. 

Sipic scored his 5th goal for 27:19 in the 42nd minute. Jelinic scored for 28:20 in the 43rd minute. Martinovic made it 29:20 in the 45th minute. 

Sipic scored for 30:21 in the 47th minute. Gadza scored for 31:22. Glavas scored from 7 meters for 32:22 - a comfortable 10 point lead. Glavas scored again from 7 meters for 33:23. 

Sipic scored for 34:24 with just over 5 minutes to go. Grahovac made it 35:25 in the 55th. Glavas scored for 36:25 with 4 minutes to go and again for 37:25 with 3 to go. 

Grahovac scored again for 38:25 with a minute left 

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

ZAGREB, 17 Jan 2022 - Croatia detected 1,397 new COVID cases in the past 24 hours while another 39 people died as a consequence of the virus, the national COVID response team reported on Monday.

There are 48,441 active cases, including 1,763 hospitalised patients, 221 of whom are on ventilators.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Croatia, a total of 818,832 cases of the novel coronavirus have been registered, 13,157 people have died while a total of 757,234 have recovered, including 8,416 in the past 24 hours.

Currently there are 24,211 people self-isolating.

To date, a total of 3,994,122 tests have been conducted, including 3,662 in the past 24 hours.

As of 16 January, a total of 4,963,468 doses of a vaccine had been administered, which is 56.20% of the total population or 66.91% of the adult population.

A total of 2,280,700 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine while 2,184,484 are fully vaccinated, which is 64.24% of the adult population.

January 17, 2022 - The first Women Entrepreneurs Check In will be held at Heritage Hotel Santa Lucia in Split at 11:30 am on Thursday, January 20. A look at what's in store.  

The first Women Entrepreneurs Check In is set to be the ultimate networking event for anyone interested in lifestyle and new business connections, all while indulging in a tasty brunch dressed up in stylish attire. 

The Women's Entrepreneurs Check-in is organized under the Lifestyle Check-in brand, which organizes a series of B2B & B2C events focused on international fashion, beauty, and lifestyle companies, held in mesmerizing venues such as galleries, yachts, and hotels. Thursday's event is thus held at Kavana Central, part of the chic Heritage Hotel Santa Lucia, located at Narodni trg 1 in Split. 

The Women Entrepreneurs Check In aims to raise awareness about women entrepreneurs and affirm women’s role in the Croatian and Dalmatian economies. Speakers and journalists from Croatia, Austria, Italy, and Romania will join the event through a panel discussion about women's entrepreneurship to celebrate great business minds and up-and-coming entrepreneurs while highlighting the influential role women play in the business community.

The opening words will be shared by Joze Tomas, Director of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce - Split County Chamber, and Nevena Cikes, manager  of Heritage Hotel Santa Lucia.

Panel speakers include Tash Pericic (Connection, Collaboration & Community), Sara Miante (Social Entrepreneurship), Cornelia Rieger (Design the Future),  Rino Medic (Collectivism Vs. Individualism for Sustainable Growth), Hildegard Brandl (Green Village / a project in cooperation with Charlie Ottely), Barbara Markovic (Luxury Tourism), and Janine Widmann (Start-ups). 

Earth Wind Desire is a special touch to the event, an artist/architect duo helping people reconnect to nature and their inner self. It is founded by Larisa Cisic, licensed architect, and Daniel Poelzl, wood artist. Based in Croatia, the couple uses reclaimed materials found in nature to create exceptional artwork, architecture, and interior design. 

Singer Michelle Rowsell will perform during the panel breaks, bringing a diverse musical taste spanning from old classics by Sam Cooke and The Shirelles to modern pop songs performed in a stripped-back, acoustic style. International artist Suncica Kuzmanic Perisin Tomljanovic will conduct live portrait sessions, while Esther Canata will showcase her emotionally charged, moody, complex, and empowering artwork, embodying femininity, sensuality, diversity, and soulful depth of character. 

Poliklinika MakeOver will spoil guests with a "Beauty Corner" and reveal the newest treatments in the world of esthetics, and Pierre Lang jewelry from Austria will be on display.

The event is sponsored by the Central Dalmatia County Tourist Board and Amarea Travel, which will offer a city tour with a personal guide after the event.

On Thursday evening, journalists are invited to attend an elegant dinner at Zrno Soli in Split, sponsored by the Central Dalmatia County Tourist Board. 

A Covid passport, negative PCR or antigen test, or COVID-19 recovery certificate in the last six months is required to attend the event. 

Tickets & more information: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or https://lifestylecheckin.com/

For more, check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

January 17, 2022 - Congrats to former TCN intern Ivor Kruljac on publishing his first collection of prose stories this year, Grotesque Incidents!

Ivor Kruljac is a young Zagreb poet and graduate journalist (who worked with TCN in 2021), best known for his slam poetry. So far, he has published three collections of poems in digital form; “Nebulae” (2017), “Psychedelia” (2018), and “Intellectual Circulations” and is one of the authors represented in the poetry collection “Where Were You in 2020?: Verses Under a Mask”.

He published the first collection of prose stories this year, Grotesque Incidents. It is a collection that contains a series of short stories on various topics, but all written in the grotesque writing style, just as its title dictates. This stands out both in the work and in the style of writing. Some of the stories have a not so simple task of entertaining the reader, while others have an even more difficult one - to shed light on social phenomena and, as the author says, "metaphysical dilemmas."

Disturbing events at the Zagreb Archaeological Museum. A dissatisfied shoemaker with a new job. A doctor with unusual methods of vaccination. A debate on the importance of information during a bombing. A student's head punctured in the classroom. A native dissatisfied with the violence of his tribe. A man who wants to be miserable to make it easier to die. These are just a few plots, some previously published, some unpublished, in the first collection of prose stories. 

Themes also extend through various fiction genres, so we find those in the form of science fiction, horror, crime, those that mix genres or do not belong to any of them. The grotesque is realized in everyday phenomena, even those that not everyone dares to write about, such as (still taboo in our country), sex, and violence. However, this is precisely what makes this collection tempting - not shying away from painting ugly pictures, exciting pictures, instructive pictures, intriguing pictures to talk about the individual, the world, ourselves, and the author. Isn't that the purpose of art?

It is a book that could intrigue fans of Stephen King, Agatha Christie, W.S Burrough, or perhaps Guillaume Apollinaire!

The collection Grotesque Incidents was published by Redak and can be ordered HERE.

Source: Knjizevost, Webknjizara 

For more, check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

January 17, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as there are currently no international winter flights to Dubrovnik Airport 

Dubrovnik Airport ended 2021 as the third busiest Croatian airport after Split and Zagreb. As things currently stand, the beginning of 2022 did not bring new regular international routes to Dubrovnik, but the airport instead was temporarily left without its regular international Turkish Airlines and Vueling lines, reports Croatian Aviation.

According to earlier announcements and the Dubrovnik Airport winter flight schedule, Turkish Airlines and Vueling aircraft were to fly from Istanbul and Barcelona to Dubrovnik until the end of the winter flight schedule.

According to the earliest announcements, Turkish Airlines was supposed to operate up to four times a week in Dubrovnik this winter, but the flight schedule was quickly revised by the airline. The last recorded Turkish Airlines flight on a regular route to Dubrovnik was recorded on January 8.

According to the earliest announcements, Vueling was supposed to operate twice a week this winter in certain periods, i.e., on Thursdays and Sundays, but Vueling made its last recorded flight between Barcelona and Dubrovnik on January 9.

According to available information, the first available date to purchase Turkish Airlines tickets from Dubrovnik to Istanbul is Saturday, January 22. From January 22 to March 26, Turkish should continue to operate to Dubrovnik Airport twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Vueling's return to Dubrovnik is expected on March 3, when the Spanish low-cost airline should continue to fly to Dubrovnik twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays.

From January 9 to January 22, there was no international air traffic at Dubrovnik Airport, and Dubrovnik is connected to international destinations by Croatia Airlines planes, but with a transfer at Zagreb Airport.

Although 2022 may not have started with many scheduled international flights at Dubrovnik Airport, Croatian Aviation concludes that we can certainly be pleased that a significantly larger number of international flights from Dubrovnik are already announced for the summer flight schedule.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

January 17, 2022 – Perhaps it's the perfect balance of nature, culture and close proximity to the buzzing, big city? Zagreb County celebrates successful 2021 visitor numbers, despite the ongoing global challenges.

After tourism in 2020 was almost totally nixed, 2021 will be remembered as the year things began moving again. Certainly, that can be said for Zagreb County, who are celebrating after releasing relatively successful visitor numbers for the year.

According to data from the eVisitor system, in Zagreb County in 2021 there were 87.5 per cent more tourist arrivals and 49 per cent more overnight stays compared to 2020.

In 2021, 59 per cent more domestic tourists visited the county and accounted for 9 per cent more overnight stays. Foreign visitor numbers were up a huge 110 per cent on 2020 and their tally of overnight stays was up 91 per cent on the previous year.

In total, 2021's numbers accounted for 58 per cent of the arrivals and 69 per cent of overnight stays that occurred within the record year of 2019.

Most foreign tourists to Zagreb County in 2021 were from Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, the United States, France and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Looking at what sort of accommodation visitors chose, most overnight stays were taken in hotels (40 per cent). Household facilities like holiday homes accounted for 25 per cent, accommodation linked to a catering facility stood at 19 per cent and 10 per cent of visitors camped overnight.

The Zagreb County destinations most popular with visitors were Velika Gorica, Sveta Nedelja, Samobor, Jastrebarsko and Ivanić-Grad.

"Considering that 2021 was also marked by the coronavirus pandemic, I think that we can be very satisfied with the achieved tourist results,” commented Zagreb County Tourist Board director Ivana Alilović. “Tourist staff have made great efforts so that domestic and foreign guests can enjoy the diverse offer of our destination while feeling safe. And the Tourist Board of Zagreb County, through various campaigns, systematically worked to promote and attract tourists to the Green Ring of Zagreb."

The director added that the tourism sector had once again shown that it is adaptable and innovative and that the best results are achieved through synergies. She also noted the growing interest in holiday homes that offer security, excellent service and an authentic experience.

Last year, Zagreb County awarded one million kuna in non-refundable grants to entrepreneurs in tourism. The aim was an increase in quality of service and of facilities. As well as the building of new facilities, monies were directed towards the renovation and equipping of existing facilities, with focus given to additions such as swimming pools, wellness and other recreational, sports and entertainment content.

For more news about Zagreb County tourism, bookmark Total Croatia News pages here.

All images courtesy Turistička zajednica Zagrebačke županije

January the 17th, 2022 - As if the 2021 Croatian census results weren't damning enough for the country now numbering less than four million inhabitants, now it has emerged that of those inhabitants, almost every third person is drawing their pension.

As Index/Vedran Salvia writes, here in Croatia, the number of insured persons on the 30th of November, 2021, stood at 1,583,131. The number of pension beneficiaries in that same month of November was 1,234,991. The ratio of the number of pension beneficiaries and insured persons is 1: 1.28.

In other words, if we take into account that, according to published data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, Croatia has a population of 3,888,529, this means that practically every third person in Croatia is retired and drawing their pension.

Of course, the number of those who receive their pensions abroad should also be taken into account, and according to the Mirovina.hr portal, back in October 2021 there were a total of 181 thousand of them. However, the bigger picture doesn't change that much.

The number of older employees is growing

Index contacted economic analyst Andrej Grubisic (who answered some more 2021 Croatian census questions here), who pointed to the research piece entitled "An analysis of the Croatian pension system (with proposed adjustments) and global trends in private pension savings", which was prepared by Grubisic and his partners for the Association of members of mandatory and voluntary pension funds.

Among other things, this study states that within the age structure of employees, negative changes are also visible in the form of increasing growth in the number of older employees who are expected to retire soon, while the number of younger employees (as a share of total employees) is declining.

"The existing macroeconomic and demographic foundations don't indicate the possibility of a significant improvement in the ratio of insured persons and beneficiaries in the next 5-10 years," the research states.

These changes in the decline in population and working capacity, with currently extremely low levels of activity and employment compared to other European countries and low GDP "per capita" indicate an additional burden on the existing pension system in the form of limited potential for significant growth in contributions to the coverage of current pensions, and in particular, it all has a negative impact on the possibility of a significant increase in the pensions of existing retirees in terms of real purchasing power,'' the study said.

Reduce contributions for the first pillar...

The research also proposes adjustments to the existing system, ie it is stated that from the year 2024, contributions made to the first pillar should be gradually reduced until in 20 years they fall from the existing 15 percent of a person's gross salary down to 5 percent of it. It also states that allocations for private pension savings should be increased. This is so that the allocations from 2024 would increase from the existing 5 percent of gross salary in a period of 20 years to 15 percent.

The proposals also imply that members of mandatory pension funds should have financial resources at their disposal, but also that those financial assets should be inherited after the death of the beneficiary.

For more on the 2021 Croatian census results, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.