ZAGREB, 11 December,2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that the government wouldn't publish the contracts for the purchase of 12 Rafale fighter jets from France because they were confidential, and rejected President Zoran Milanović's speculations about the removal of Defence Minister Mario Banožić.

"The contracts are confidential, such contracts don't get published, but we can provide all information that the public has to receive," Plenković said after a government session, asked about the government's readiness to publish the contracts it had signed for the purchase of fighter jets, which President Zoran Milanović is calling for.

Asked by reporters whether he was planning to remove Defence Minister Mario Banožić from office, as Milanović claims, Plenković briefly answered "No."

He also responded to the president's claims that the price of the fighter jets had non-transparently risen by €200 million, explaining what the rise from the initial €999 million referred to.

France's offer at a price of €999 million was compared with offers from Israel, Sweden and the US, and this was the best offer, but those prices did not include VAT, the prime minister explained.

"VAT amounts to €110,642,467, and MORH will transfer that to the Ministry of Finance, who is paying for the jets. We are paying this money to ourselves, so it isn't very relevant, except for bookkeeping," Plenković said.

Price indexation was not included, the same would be with Swedish or US jets

The offer did not include price indexation for 2020-2026, and the prime minister noted the same would have happened had we chosen the Swedish or US jets, while the estimate amounts to €44,129,000.

He also listed the other costs to be added to the basic offer -- 1,219,000 (VAT included) for interoperability with NATO, the cost of infrastructure facilities of 23,271,510 (VAT included) and  3,310,000 for crew training in France.

When the jets arrive in 2024, €67.5 million has been earmarked for their operational costs for 2024, 2025 and 2026, VAT included.

The prime minister recalled that the president, for unknown reasons, had not assigned formal representatives to the commission tasked with the selection process.

He also said it was "convenient" that the president had said that €200 million disappeared in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets on the anniversary of the founding of the Croatian Air force (HRZ) after this government had signed the contracts for the purchase of multi-purpose fighter jets and paid the first instalment of €316 million.

ZAGREB, 11 December, 2021 - Member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliament Enver Bijedić said on Friday he had filed a criminal report against Croatian President Zoran Milanović for making statements questioning the scale of the Srebrenica genocide.

Bijedić is the leader of a small non-parliamentary party called the BiH Social Democrats and he has reported Milanović to the BiH prosecutorial authorities based on amendments to the Criminal Code imposed in late July by former High Representative Valentin Inzko to outlaw the denial of all war crimes confirmed by court rulings.

Bijedić found the grounds for reporting Milanović in his statement that "not every genocide is the same", which he made in a comment on the decision by the leader of the BiH Croat HDZ party, Dragan Čović, to support, with other HDZ BiH deputies in the BiH Parliament's House of Peoples, a proposal by Serb deputies to repeal the law imposed by Inzko.

"On 3 December 2021 Milanović continued in an even more scandalous tone, trying to downplay the Srebrenica genocide by comparing it to the Holocaust and the Rwanda genocide," Bijedić says in a statement.

The politician believes Milanović's statements caused unrest and additional interethnic intolerance among BiH citizens.

Under the amended Criminal Code of 28 July, anyone who publicly condones, denies, grossly downplays or tries to justify the crime of genocide, a crime against humanity or a war crime determined by a final court ruling faces a sentence ranging from six months to five years in prison.

ZAGREB, 11 December, 2021 - About 16,000 illegal border crossings were registered by the Croatian border police in the first 11 months of this year, which is a drop of 40% on the year, the head of the border administration, Zoran Ničeno, said on Friday evening.

A similar drop has been recorded along the entire migrant route, that is, in Slovenia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ničeno told RTL television, adding that the route was changing and there were now more illegal crossings in Serbia, Romania, Hungary and Austria.

The search is still ongoing for a 10-year-old girl who disappeared in the swollen River Dragonja on Thursday night as a group of migrants attempted to illegally cross the Croatian-Slovenian border, while a Turkish woman, the mother of the missing girl, has been rescued from the river. Croatian police officers and divers have been joined by Slovenian divers in the search for the missing girl.

"We have shown the ability to protect the European border, which is now the Schengen border," Ničeno said, underscoring that the engagement of police forces at the EU's internal borders, with Slovenia and Hungary, would shift to external borders when Croatia joins the Schengen Area.

Compensatory measures will be applied at the border with Slovenia and Hungary, where border checks will be abolished and there will only be checks for COVID certificates and other checks when necessary, Ničeno said.

On Thursday, EU member states agreed that Croatia had fulfilled all the requirements from the Schengen Area acquis, which paves the way for lifting internal border controls.

ZAGREB, 11 December, 2021 - If more than 100,000 troops were on the border with Croatia, President Milanović would call the Ukrainian Prime Minister's visit to Zagreb not "charlatanism" but a manifestation of solidarity and friendship, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Twitter post on Friday.

President Zoran Milanović this past Thursday described as "plain charlatanism" Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's visit to Ukraine amid high tensions with Russia, saying that Plenković would "flee to Brussels if things get rough" and that "Croatian soldiers won't go there (on the border with Ukraine)".

"If more than 100,000 troops were on the border with Croatia, President Milanović would call the Ukrainian Prime Minister's visit to Zagreb not 'charlatanism' but a manifestation of solidarity and friendship," Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Twitter in a comment on Milanović's statement.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, after his statements about Ukraine elicited criticism, Milanović again commented on Plenković's visit to Ukraine, saying that he both sympathised and empathised with Ukraine but that one should be careful in relations with Russia and Ukraine.

"Don't stick your nose where it does not belong. It's very cold there and your nose might freeze," he said.

Plenković offered Croatia's experience of peaceful reintegration for Ukraine to use to regain control of the eastern parts of its territory also during an earlier visit to that country, an act that drew criticism from Moscow.

Earlier this week, he signed with Zelensky a joint declaration on Ukraine's European prospects, yet another element in Zagreb's support to a country under constant Russian pressure, making Croatia the sixth country to do so, after Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia.

ZAGREB, 11 December, 2021 - The Split County Court has upheld an indictment filed by the USKOK anti-corruption office against former Public Administration Minister Lovro Kuščević of the HDZ party, charged with real estate fraud and perverting the course of justice during his term as head of Nerežišća, a town on the island of Brač.

The investigation into Kuščević was launched in September 2019 after he stepped down as Public Administration Minister amid media reports that in the period from 2008 to 2018, during his term as Nerežišća mayor, he had unlawfully obtained HRK 4 million.

According to media reports at the time, he obtained the money through fraudulent activities involving land plots, changes of the local physical plan, bankruptcy proceedings and resale of commercial properties.

The investigation against Kuščević was subsequently expanded twice and also indicted in the case are his wife, his brother-in-law, former Nerežišća Town Council head Jakša Goić, the head of the town's administration department, Svemir Obilinović, and Split businessman Ante Marinović.

December 11, 2021 - Croatian ice skating pair Lana Petranović and Antonio Souza Kordeira broke their personal record for the second day in a row at the 53rd Golden Pirouette in Sisak. 

American pair Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov and Georgian Anastasia Gubanova won the first gold medals at the 53rd Golden Pirouette hosted by the Zibel Ice Hall in Sisak.

The Americans jumped from third place to the top of the podium and celebrated with a convincing 195.32 points ahead of Georgian pair Anastasia Metelkina and Danilo Parkman (189.60) and bronze Russians Julia Artemeva and Mikhail Nazarichev (189.29).

Croatian pair Lana Petranović and Antonio Souza Kordeira broke their personal record for the second day in a row in Sisak. After a short time, they had a record number of points in the free program and improved their personal record by 10 points (163.29), which brought them the final 11th place at this year's Golden Pirouette, but also another confirmation for next year's World Championship.

"We repeated the performance from the day before and hit a new personal record. The jumps did not go according to plan today, but everything else was very good. I'm just not happy with the jumps. But it can be worked on. We are returning to Russia and working for the European Championships in early January. The atmosphere tonight was great, a lot of people came, they supported us throughout the program," said Lana Petranović after the performance.

The best skater of the 53rd Golden Pirouette is Georgian Anastasia Gubanova, who won silver in this competition in 2018 but then skated for Russia. She has now won her first major medal under the new flag. She was the best in the short program and third in the free skate, which was still enough for gold (184.29). The current vice-champion of America, Amber Glenn, won silver with 183.36 points.

Estonian Niina Petrokina won the best free program, and with her results from the first day, she won the bronze (182.57). 

Lithuanian couple Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius (75.81) had the best rhythm dance, and in the final on Saturday, they will fight for gold against the equally great Americans, Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker (74.60), but also Russian pair Elizabeth Shanayev and David Narizhny (70.59) and Armenians Tina Garabedian and Simon Proulx Senecal (70.57).

Source: HRT

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December 10, 2021 - The Institute for Marine Conservation has awarded Brijuni National Park the Blue Park gold award for achieving the highest science-based standards of marine conservation and management, joining Brijuni to a growing network of 21 Blue Park areas around the world designed to protect and regenerate ocean biodiversity.

The Institute of Marine Conservation designed the Blue Park Awards to encourage governments to protect the marine world, preserve critical habitats, promote resilience to climate change, and preserve the beauty of our oceans for future generations. The program's goal is to establish an effective network that protects and maintains the marine world and habitats globally. Today, there are 21 protected marine areas with Blue Park status granted, reports HRTurizam.

"It is a great honor to receive the Blue Park Award, which focuses on ZMPs [marine protected areas], recognizes their results “on land” and encourages even greater efficiency in conserving the ocean. This award is dedicated to our employees, communities, partners and stakeholders who enable positive change," said the Acting Director of the Brijuni National Park Marno Milotić.

Dr. Lance Morgan, president of the Marine Conservation Institute, said they are happy to see new areas marked Blue Park that will help speed up the protection of the most critical regions of our oceans. Brijuni National Park is a perfect example of an important and biologically diverse protection area, mainly because it contributes to resilience to climate change and protects several endangered species of turtles, marine mammals and important birds, added Morgan.

With a long tradition of a particular area for conserving biological diversity, Brijuni is an essential and significant area for the Community within the Natura 2000 network.

Brijuni's healthy ecosystems contain a rich marine world managed and supervised by numerous professional staff and their partners. Therefore, the strategy of sustainable financing of ZMPs is essential. As one of the few ZMPs financially independent, Brijuni raises significant funds to implement nature conservation measures from visitor fees, tourism activities, and visitor services.

"I am looking forward to sharing the story of this great new area with Blue Park status in cooperation with the managers who take care of Brijuni. I hope it becomes a model for other ZMPs around the world," said Dr. Sarah Hameed, senior scientist and director of the Blue Parks program.

Brijuni National Park protects essential seagrass ecosystems, including one of the most extensive Posidonia meadows on the West Coast of Istria, an endemic seaweed species. Seagrass meadows support a high level of diversity of the marine world by providing food, shelter and habitats for many species of fish and invertebrates.

Migratory species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, including loggerhead turtles, bottlenose dolphins and numerous birds, visit the area and use its rich resources. Seagrass meadows can prevent ocean acidification and sequester large amounts of carbon, thus contributing to resilience to climate change.

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December 11, 2021 - Do heavy summer showers affect the quality of the sea? After extreme rains, there is a slight increase in bacteriological sea pollution. However, these values are so low that Omiš beaches are still within excellent sea quality parameters, reveals the Omiš Watercare project.

Rain greeted the participants of the Omiš Watercare project's final meeting, where the results of the impact of summer showers on microbiological pollution of the Cetina River and the famous Omiš sandy beach were presented. 

"Cetina is the source of life and economy in much of Dalmatia, from Vrlika to Omiš, all places and cities are connected to the Cetina, and our islands Brač and Hvar depend on it. Therefore, the importance of this river in our lives is indescribable, and that is why we hope that the results of the research are encouraging and that they will give us guidelines for its preservation and protection," said Žarko Kovačić, Deputy Mayor of Omiš, with a warm welcome to the participants.

On behalf of the organizers and partners in the project, Split-Dalmatia County, Anđelko Katavić, Head of the Administrative Department for Economy, EU Funds and Agriculture, explained the complementarity of this with another project implemented by the county on sustainable use of the Cetina River Basin:

"One of the greatest natural resources of our county and state is water, and on the example of the Jadro River, we see how many problems can be caused by more and more frequent showers that increase the parameter of drinking water turbidity. As the name of the project itself says, water should be taken care of, and the knowledge, equipment and instruments we have implemented through the project allow us to react in the event of an emergency as soon as possible."

Generally speaking, the quality of the Split-Dalmatia County sea is excellent; only in some places near rivers and streams is the bathing level lower quality. Martin Bućan, meeting moderator and senior advisor from the Administrative Department for Economy, EU Funds and Agriculture, answered if this is happening at the mouth of the Cetina River. 

He explained that automatic water sampling was carried out in the downstream part of the Cetina estuary, using two automatic measuring stations that measured several parameters such as water and air temperature, pressure and humidity, precipitation, wind direction and speed. In addition, specially installed measuring probe water parameters such as salinity, temperature, pH, turbidity, etc., were also examined, including E. coli bacteria and intestinal enterococci in the laboratory. At the same time, at regular intervals from May to October this year, seawater samples were analyzed near the mouth of the Cetina River at six locations in Omiš. Fundamental physicochemical quality indicators and bacteriological indicators, i.e., the presence of E. coli and intestinal enterococci, were also analyzed in seawater samples. Seawater samples were always taken during the morning hours and after completing the sampling of automatic stations. Sampling was carried out in different meteorological conditions, during sunny weather and after heavy rainfall.

“Out of a total of 42 seawater samples collected from six measuring stations after rainy weather, 39 were rated excellent, one sample rated good, while two samples were inconsistent. Therefore, research has shown that there is a slight increase in bacteriological pollution of the sea after extreme rains. However, these values are low on Omiš beaches and still within the parameters of the sea category of excellent quality," concluded Martin Bućan.

All data obtained from the probes and physical sampling of the sea are transferred to the Watercare project online application, presented by Goran Kopčak from Ericsson Nikola Tesla, an external contractual partner. He explained the functionalities and user interface of the created network application through which numerous stakeholders in the project can access data. Furthermore, thanks to the machine learning concept application, the platform will automatically be able to alert the responsible persons of the County, Civil Protection Headquarters, the City of Omiš, firefighters, and others due to the risk of the increased possibility of bacteriological pollution in the sea.

Once again, the Watercare project confirmed the importance of bringing together all stakeholders with scientific research institutions, which was further argued in their presentation by Marko Mimica and Gina Bilankov from EHCR. They presented a feasibility study to implement innovative solutions of the Cetina River and guidelines for coastal water management following international regulations, as well as the possibility of further financing the developing activities from this project from EU funds.

Water management solutions for reducing microbial environment impact on coastal areas is the full name of the project worth a total of 2.8 million euros, which lasts almost three years and is implemented within the cross-border cooperation program Interreg Italy - Croatia.

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