August 21, 2021 - The U19 Croatia handball team will play in the final of the European Championship against Germany on Sunday at 5 pm in Varaždin!

A medal has been secured, and Krešo Ivanković's team has the opportunity to become Croatia's second generation with European gold in the cadet category, reports Jutarnji List.

So far, these have been U18 competitions 18, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Euros were not held last year, and as a U19 competition was postponed to this year. Croatia has gold from the U18 European Championship in 2006 and two silver medals, one from 2004 and 2016.

The semifinal between Croatia and Slovenia was a duel of teams that know each other at heart. After all, before the Championship, they played two preparatory matches - one in which Slovenia celebrated, and the other a draw. However, in the most crucial match, Croatia was better.

It was a victory won primarily by Croatia's defense, a victory they controlled from the beginning, although Slovenia was always close. Slovenia, however, could not reach Croatia's advantage, which for most of the match was +3.

With two goals by David Jurišić, Croatia went to +3 for the first time in the 9th minute, and even then, Slovenia had to call a timeout. Then, Ivan Barbić increased the lead to +4 (6:2) in the 13th minute. After that, Croatia had +4 (7:3 and 8:4) on two more occasions, and in the 27th minute, Slovenia came to -1, which is how the first half ended.

Dominik Kuzmanović recorded six saves from 15 shots on goal (40%) in the first 30 minutes, and Denis Strašek had five saves, of which one 7-meter throw taken by Barbić. Lisac and Jurišić, who also played the whole game in defense, had three goals each, but they missed goals from the left outside (Grubišić 1/4 and Hršak 0/1).

The second half started with Kuzmanović's defense, and with two goals by Jurišić, Croatia went to +3 again (12:9) in the 33rd minute. Croatia mostly maintained that advantage until the end. The closest Slovenia managed was -2.

In the last 10 minutes, Croatia received three goals from Patrik Hršak from the left-wing while Slovenia tried to press in the end, but it didn't help. Croatia's David Jurišić scored seven goals from 13 attempts, Barbić scored 6 out of 7, and Lisac 6 out of 9, but the key to victory was the defense.

Croatia played six games in this Championship and has lost only once.

This Croatia squad already has one gold from EYOF two years ago, but now they have the opportunity to receive one from a more important competition.

Croatia will face Germany in the final, which beat Croatia in the last game of the second round.

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August the 21st, 2021 - More than 50 percent of the Croatian adult population is now finally vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which is a target the country had hoped in vain to reach before the tourist season began. Still, it's better late than never.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian Institute of Public Health director Krunoslav Capak stated that every second adult living in Croatia has made a positive step forward and been vaccinated against the virus. The fact that more than 50 percent of the Croatian adult population is now vaccinated is cause for celebration in the eyes of Capak.

''In order to preserve their personal health and life as well as the health and lives of their fellow citizens, every second adult in Croatia has now received at least one dose of vaccine. Everyone who was vaccinated, with this selfless gesture, has contributed to health, safety, preservation of life, the preservation of the hospital system, and the preservation of jobs as well as the tourist season.

I'd like to thank everyone who responded to the vaccination invitation as well as the healthcare professionals who did a great job. We're moving on,'' said the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, epidemiologist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sc. Krunoslav Capak.

The highest coverage of vaccinated with the first dose was achieved in the City of Zagreb (48.0 percent of the total population, ie 58.0 percent of the adult population), and the best level of those fully vaccinated was also achieved in the City of Zagreb (44.2 percent of the total population, ie 53.5 percent of the capital's adult population).

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to the Republic of Croatia, including test centres, vaccination points, and travel and border rules, make sure to check out and bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.

August the 21st, 2021 - The very first Croatian damage claim against a death listed as having been caused by coronavirus has been submitted, and subsequently rejected by the hospital in question.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the director of KBC Zagreb, Dr. Ante Corusic, stated that the hospital rejected the settlement because there is no evidence that the woman became infected with the novel coronavirus during her stay at the hospital.

''We took all possible measures to provide protection against coronavirus that were possible at the time," he added.

Whether or not the family of the individual in question will file a lawsuit isn't yet known. But regardless of this case involving the very first Croatian damage claim, there is a possibility that lawsuits related to coronavirus will be significantly more frequent given that the pandemic is not yet over.

During the last year in healthcare institutions across the country, there were guidelines in place that provided a certain level of protection against the infection of healthcare workers, and then patients, but with them the possibility of transmission remained significant, and the reasons for lawsuits are, owing to that, rather limited. However, from the moment the vaccine was made available, safety was significantly increased, but only if healthcare professionals chose to get vaccinated first.

This is the reason why in some EU countries vaccination is mandatory for them, such as in Italy, France, Greece and Hungary. Unfortunately, the situation with vaccination of healthcare professionals here in Croatia is still bad. It is true that doctors in Croatia have been vaccinated, at least more than 80 percent of them have, but nurses and technicians have only just reached half.

Namely, this case from KBC Zagreb actually has no basis on "gross negligence or intent to infect" if it happened in the hospital. It was a patient who came to the hospital as they had sustained a rib injury caused by a fall. She was tested and was negative for the virus at the time. Sadly, as it often happens, just a few days later, she returned a positive test. She was then transferred to KB Dubrava, where she unfortunately died on December the 6th. KBC Zagreb pointed out that all protocols in regard to coronavirus were respected.

"It's very important when deciding whether a patient is entitled to compensation or not to determine whether everything based on the guidelines of the profession has been taken into account in order to protect against infection," explained lawyer Ana Gruber of this Croatian damage claim case.

''It's precisely because of coronavirus that over in the United States, where the submitting of claims is an almost daily occurrence, changes to the laws governing compensation in most states have been made since the beginning of the pandemic, ensuring "civil immunity to claims related to the spread of coronavirus except in limited situations involving gross negligence, willful and reckless conduct of reckless harm or intentional harm,'' she noted.

In other words, hardly anyone could get compensation associated with coronavirus until the vaccine appeared and was made available.

The answer from the Ministry of Health as to how we might proceed with the continued vaccination of healthcare professionals, ie whether or not mandatory vaccination will be introduced, is somewhat pitiful.

"The possibility of introducing new health protection measures within the healthcare system will depend on the epidemiological situation in the future, as well as the joint measures adopted by the competent authorities. On this track, a document is being harmonised at the professional level that will take into account the current epidemiological situation related to safety in health care institutions.''

Although there is no definite answer "yes" or "no" to the mandatory vaccination of healthcare workers, it is clearly stated by the Ministry that compensation should be paid by the hospital to either the infected patient or the infected employee in successful damage claims.

Can the hospital then be protected from having to pay out compensation in a Croatian damage claim case caused by an employee who simply doesn't want to be vaccinated? Hospital directors believe that institutions should have an additional "tool" with which they could hold employees accountable for their non-vaccination, Jutarnji list writes.

"The moment a vaccine arrives, the situation changes because there's an additional possibility of protection. If doctors or nurses aren't vaccinated and a patient becomes infected with coronavirus, then it can be demonstrated that not all protection measures available to the hospital have been taken.

Whether the compensation should be paid out by the hospital itself or by an unvaccinated worker must be decided by the competent authorities. A possible solution is, for example, for the hospital to ask its employees for a statement confirming that they don't want to be vaccinated, but that they also accept compensation for possible damage,'' concluded Gruber.

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August the 21st, 2021 - The world famous Croatian Zrce beach has been involved in a study carried out by the Croatian Institute of Public Health on the effects of clubbing in regard to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, vaccination against the novel coronavirus, a liberal approach in the form of anti-epidemic measures against the spread of the pandemic and an indestructible desire for fun, with the good organisation of testing points, all saw Zrce beach get some significantly better results this season than expected.

Moreover, due to extremely good epidemiological results despite high traffic, the Croatian Institute of Public Health selected Zrce beach in their preparation of a study of the relationship between clubbing and the spread of the infection, which should provide many answers about this segment in the coming period.

The traffic at the end of the summer on Zrce beach will be taken care of by the closing festival brought to Croatia by Amnesia, one of the most famous clubs in the world from Ibiza. Clubs on Zrce beach entered the summer season ready for another year of improvisations, organising smaller festivals, and understanding that every day the risk of infection posed the potential closure of the beach.

Club Noa on Zrce beach had even better traffic in July and the previous part of August than in the same period in pre-pandemic, record 2019.

"Of course, we weren't allowed to work in June and this will be reflected in the annual results, as will the fact that there were no big festivals, but the rest of the summer was very successful, thanks to our guests who acted very responsibly and respected the order of things, I have every praise for them. Zrce beach was chosen as the location for testing because it is the location that has the largest sample of the population of at least 1500 to 2000 people a day, or between 500 and 700 people per club,'' revealed Zlatko Balasko, the owner of Club Noa.

Namely, Club Noa has become a partner of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, which, in cooperation with the Institute of Public Health Zadar, will prepare a study that should provide answers on the connection between clubbing and the spread of this particular infection, as well as the safety aspects of the industry, given all of the measures conducted on site.

Despite tension between the clubbing industry and  thedecision-makers on measures to protect the population from infection on the eve of the summer, Zrce beach praised the good cooperation with national and local civil protection directorates.

"Apart from proving that our industry is resilient, as well as the natural desire of young people to have fun, it has been shown that the liberal model of managing this crisis is justified, to which the state agreed and enabled us to work as much as possible. It's true, this year there were no big festivals such as Hideout, Sonus, Fresh Island, but, the traffic has been much better than we expected.

We put a lot of effort into it, the festivals were transformed into lower budget ones to reduce the overall risk, we developed new brands, several old brands used vouchers for tickets that couldn't be used last year, it's all part of the flexible business model we had to adopt,'' explained Boris Suljic, the owner of the Kalypso club, who this year brought the new brand Tattva to Zrce beach, a combination of a beach club and a restaurant whose development he expects to continue over the coming years.

By the end of the year, Kalypso is preparing three more smaller festivals, and the final “Ibiza Takeover Croatia”, which will be the result of the very important cooperation of all Zrce beach clubs with the Amnesia club from Ibiza and the company BSH Events.

We're told that this cooperation is really a big deal in this business, and a great recognition for the strongest Croatian party destination, although it must be admitted that this happened due to the fact that the coronavirus pandemic kept all clubs in Ibiza closed this summer.

Amnesia from Ibiza is one of the world's most famous clubs, which has been named the best global club four times at the IDMA Awards in Miami. Amnesia opened back in 1976 as a gathering place for hippie culture and bands. Numerous world-famous programmes were held at the club, and almost all the world's leading DJs have performed there.

The arrival of Amnesia in Croatia and the Ibiza Takeover Croatia festival is therefore a great recognition for Zrce beach, as well as an opportunity to promote Croatia and the island of Pag at the global level. Balasko pointed out that this could be the basis for future cooperation of these locations and with clubs from Ibiza.

"It's great that the world's strongest club from Ibiza has included us in its programme. These closing parties are very popular in Ibiza and it's great that we'll be able to end this season like that. The season has so far been a pleasant surprise, compared to what we expected at the beginning of the summer, with daily traffic of between 500 and 1000 people. We can also thank the National Civil Protection Directorate for that, as they've enabled us to reach the end of the season with strict controls and without incidents,'' said Ivan Busljeta, the owner of the Papaya and Nomad clubs.

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August the 21st, 2021 - A Rovinj school team has participated in the international economics olympiad among 200 other high school students from as many as 44 teams.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, more than 200 high school students from 44 national teams competed in the International Economics Olympiad (IEO) 2021. The host country this year was Latvia, and the competition was held online from July the 26th to August the 1st.

Croatia was represented by the Batana team from the Zvana Crnja High School, a Rovinj school which includes students Deborah Bozic and Tea Paris and students Luka Domic, Simon Constantin Djekic and Patrik Mocibob. The winning team was mentored by Sandra Kranjcic and Jelena Bulian Petrovic.

"The crown of our effort and work, the acquisition of knowledge through four years of education in economy, was the winning result at the National Economic Olympiad. Considering that this was the first economic olympiad held in Croatia, and at the same time the first performance of students and mentors at the international competition, we didn't know what awaited us.

We relied on our acquired education in which we invested a lot of effort and work. As far as the national competition is concerned, it was important for us to achieve good investment results and have a good overall result. We succeeded in that through teamwork, togetherness and faith in all members of the team,'' say mentors Sandra Kranjcic and Jelena Bulian Petrovic.

As they say, the whole competition was conducted in English, which was a difficult circumstance for them in solving the tasks.

"The tasks were quite demanding for us because the curriculum for the education of economists differs from country to country. The entire competition included the Financial Literacy Game - a simulation of life and investments through a certain character of a person and the importance of their dreams through which we presented our knowledge of financial literacy, our exam knowledge of economics and the preparation of presentations and case studies on new car production.

The experience was positive for all of us, we made new acquaintances, communicated with students from different places, and adopted new knowledge and skills. We tried out something new and different that will definitely help us in our further education. We had the opportunity to present our work and demonstrate our communication and presentation skills to the mentors and juries from various countries.

Unfortunately, the entire competition was held online because of the situation with the pandemic, so we didn't have the opportunity to travel to Latvia and experience the real charm of such a large competition,'' said the members of the Batana team from the aforementioned Rovinj school.

This year, EMI is being held for the fourth time, and since its launch back in 2018, the hosts have been Russia and Kazakhstan.

The Olympiad included individual competitions in the form of a simulation game in financial literacy, tests of knowledge in economics and its practical application, as well as team competitions in the development of the best strategy for solving a practical business situation.

“For Latvia and the University of Latvia, the honour of hosting the Olympiad is the greatest recognition of our work on the committee, the council and the jury. We're determined to do our best to make this year's competition an unforgettable adventure for young talent from all over the world, both in terms of gaining new knowledge and making new friendships,'' said Gundars Berzins, Dean of FBME at the University of Latvia.

The Croatian Economic Olympiad, ie the Croatian Economics Olympiad, is a project of the Centre for Youth Development, whose winners were the Batana team from the Rovinj school representing Croatia in Latvia. The aim of the project, they say, is to encourage high school students to engage in extracurricular activities and use their knowledge acquired in school on concrete examples and tasks, and to further interest them in entrepreneurship and economics.

According to the association, they are extremely satisfied with the response this year, namely almost 20 Croatian schools have confirmed their participation, and some have even registered more than one team. It's worth mentioning that the Centre for Youth Development has been operating since 2012, and under the auspices of the centre, more than 500 students and young people have volunteered since its activation.

“The association cooperates with more than 90 student associations and youth associations and provides support to more than 200 of their projects in order for young people to contribute to the community, while gaining knowledge and skills that aren't provided by formal educational institutions,'' stated the centre.

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ZAGREB, 20 Aug, 2021 - The head of the Democratic Alliance of Vojvodina Croats (DSHV), Tomislav Žigmanov, on Friday condemned the opening in Subotica of an office of the Captain Dragan Foundation, run by convicted war criminal Dragan Vasiljković alias Captain Dragan.

The office has been set up in the centre of Subotica, a year after that foundation established its branch in that city in the north of the province of Vojvodina, and the purpose of the foundation is to "assist the Serbs unfairly convicted and imprisoned in the countries of the region," that is in Serbia's neoghbourhood.

In September 2017, Split County Court sentenced Vasiljković to 13.5 years for crimes committed against prisoners of war in the Croatian towns of Knin and Glina during the 1991-95 Homeland War. Born in Belgrade and holding the citizenship of both Serbia and Australia, Vasiljkovic was arrested in 2006 in Australia where he lived under a false name and worked as a golf coach.

He was extradited to Croatia in July 2015 and denied the charges from the very start of the trial. Given that the eight years and nine months he had spent in extradition prison in Australia were credited to his sentence, Vasiljković's sentence expired in March 2020 when he was released from prison in Lepoglava and transferred to the Bajakovo crossing on the border with Serbia and banned from entering the European Economic Area for a period of 20 years.

Addressing the press on the topic of captain Dragan's foundation's office in Subotica, Žigmanov said that he was worried but not surprised.

"We are registering more and more activities by convicted war criminals and the downplaying of their verdicts, their rehabilitation in the public and their influence on public opinion creation," Žigmanov said.

He recalled that ICTY convict Vojislav Šešelj purchased a house to open the office of his Serb Radical Party in the town of Hrtkovci, a byword for the persecution of Vojvodina Croats in the 1990s.

Upon his transfer from Croatia to Serbia, Vasiljković engaged in political activities and ran in parliamentary elections.

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ZAGREB, 20 Aug, 2021 - In July 2021, there were 1.59 million persons in employment in Croatia, which is 1.5% more than in June 2021 and 2.3% more than in July 2020, while the registered unemployment rate this July slightly went down, the national statistical office (DZS) reported on Friday.

According to the DZS, the number of jobless people in January-July 2021 dropped by 0.2% on the year.

The number of the jobless registered with the Croatian Employment Service at the end of July 2021 was 126,006, down 0.2% on the month and 16.8% on the year, with the registered unemployment rate set at 7.4%.

A total of 1.35 million people were employed in legal entities, which is 1.3% more month on month and an increase of 2% on the year.

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ZAGREB, 20 Aug, 2021 - EU Funds and Regional Development Minister Nataša Tramišak said on Friday in Split that HRK 7.8 billion would be earmarked for development projects on Croatian islands until 2027.

The national plan for the development of islands will provide a scope for investments, and we have assessed that 7.8 billion kuna will be necessary for the implementation of measures envisaged by the plan. However, that amount is not definite and other ministries are expected to make contributions to additional investments in compliance with the money made available in EU funds until 2027, Minister Tramišak told the press.

Tramišak held the news conference after she awarded seven contracts, worth HRK 22 million in total, on regulating the state's co-funding of the EU-funded projects.

The total value of those seven projects which will be implemented in Split-Dalmatia County stands at 223 million kuna, and 140 million will be covered by EU funding.

After Split, Tramišak travelled to Hvar for a ceremony of awarding HRK 4 million worth of contracts on that island.

The registry of islands and the national island development plan will be presented at that ceremony.

More than six billion kuna was invested from national funds into different activities and projects for the islands in the 2016-2020 period.

Croatia has 1,244 islands, and 45 islands are permanently or temporarily inhabited, with 51 maritime routes, 58 community health centres, 102 primary and 13 high schools, and 23 care homes.

(€ 1 = HRK 7.482172)

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