June 6, 2021 - Croatian swimming waters are of excellent quality, confirmed a new study of the European Environment Agency.

The study of swimming water quality for 2020 was conducted among thirty European countries, with Croatia coming fifth. An analysis by country showed that at least 95.6% of the swimming waters in Croatia are of excellent quality.

As reported by CEOWORLD magazine, Cyprus tops the list of cleanest swimming waters in Europe with 99.1% of excellent quality bathing waters, followed closely by Austria's 98.5%. Malta is in the third place with 97.7% and Greece comes fourth with 95.7%. 

According to the European Environment Agency, an agency of the European Union, 889 swimming areas in Croatia are of excellent quality, 29 are of good quality and only 6 are of sufficient quality. The great news is that there are no swimming waters whose quality can be classified as poor. In the study, both coastal and inland waters were monitored.

This survey also shows that Croatian waters are cleaner than those of some other popular tourist destinations, such as Portugal (in the 7th place, with 91.5% of excellent quality bathing waters) or Spain and Italy (both in the 8th place, with 88.4%). Croatia has also outrun its neighbours, Slovenia and Hungary, who took the 17th and the 23rd place on the list, respectively. 

It remains to be seen just how wisely Croatia is going to use this fact to its advantage.

CEOWORLD magazine cited the Commissioner of Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginius Sinkevicius, who said, quote: ''Clean swimming waters are often seen as a given, but they are in fact one of Europe’s collective achievements. It is the result of the hard work of many people for many years. This year’s report confirms that European citizens can continue to enjoy very high standards of quality when swimming in European waters and that all measures must be taken to continue this process.''

screenshot/EEA interactive map

Individual bathing sites (points) are coloured according to the classification of bathing water quality, with blue indicating excellent water quality.

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ZAGREB, 6 June, 2021 - Over 1,200 firefighters from Croatia went on pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Marija Bistrica on Sunday, with several high-ranking officials attending this 22nd traditional pilgrimage.

Addressing the pilgrims before the mass, War Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved recalled the huge contribution of firefighters not only to efforts to put out wildfires and fires but also to efforts to deal with the post-quake situations in 2020 and to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The chief fire commander Slavko Tucaković thanked the government for the procurement of 450 new vehicles for the firefighting system.

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ZAGREB, 6 June, 2021 - Online Vacancy Index (OVI) for May 2021 is several times higher compared to May 2020, and comparison with May 2019 shows that labour demand was about 1% higher compared to the pre-pandemic level, the Zagreb Institute of Economics (EIZ) said last Tuesday.

From the perspective of OVI index, the labour market has been showing clear signs of recovery from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic for the third consecutive month, the EIZ said.

OVI index for May 2021 is many times higher than in the same month last year, but in May 2020, the labour market was extremely inactive due to strict antipandemic rules. However, a comparison of OVI index for May 2021 and for May 2019 shows that labour demand is about 1% higher compared to the pre-pandemic level. This is the first recorded increase in labour demand, compared to the pre-pandemic level, since the pandemic started, the EIZ said.

The most sought-after occupations in May 2021 were salesperson, cook and waiter, with a total combined share in labour demand of about 28%.

"The demand for cooks and waiters has recovered significantly, which is in part a result of relatively late preparation for the tourist season," EIZ analysts said.

OVI (Online Vacancy Index) is a monthly index of online job advertisements developed by the Zagreb Institute of Economics in cooperation with the web portal MojPosao.

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ZAGREB, 6 June, 2021 - Danijel Ferić, the Social Democratic Party's (SDP) candidate for Istra County Prefect, who was defeated by Boris Miletić of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) by a slim margin of a few dozen votes, on Sunday announced a complaint against the State Electoral Commission's (DIP) decision.

The Constitution Court has a 48-hour deadline to respond to the objections to be lodged by Ferić and the SDP on Monday.

On Saturday, DIP affirmed the victory of IDS leader Boris Miletić in the election runoff on 30 May for the new Istria County prefect. During its hours-long session the commission partially upheld the objections made by Ferić and SDP observers on the count of the votes after last Sunday's election runoff.

As a result, Ferić, was given 17 more ballots, and Miletić three more ballots than they had after the count of votes immediately after the polling stations were closed. Thus, of 52,574 valid ballots Miletić and the candidate for his deputy, Tulio Demetlika, won 26,308, while Ferić and his deputy Antonella Degrassi mustered 26,268 ballots, or 40 fewer ballots. There were 2,056 invalid ballots or 3.76%.

Ferić told a news conference in Pula today that the constitutional complaint would refer to the DIP's refusal of the SDP request to check the allegations that people who actually had not been in the town of Labin during the election runoff being were registered voters who exercised their right on that day.

Ferić insists that the election runoff for the Istria County prefect were contaminated and particularly in the towns where the IDS was in power: for instance, Pula, Labin, Rovinj and Pazin.

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June 6, 2021 - Wonderful news ahead of the Olympic Games in Tokyo as the Sinković brothers win the gold medal, the Lončarić brothers the bronze, and the Jurković sisters the silver at the World Rowing Cup III in Sabaudia, Italy! 

Brothers Valent and Martin Sinković won gold in coxless pairs in the third regatta of the World Rowing Cup in Sabaudia on Sunday, while brothers Patrik and Antun Lončarić took third place.

The Sinković brothers celebrated convincingly with a time of 6:16.79. Second place was taken by the British crew Calvin Tarczy and Douwe de Graaf, a little more than six seconds behind. Patrik and Antun Lončarić took third place with 6:25.89.

"There's no beating the Sinkovic brothers this year. Another dominant win for Martin and Valent - they will be the crew to beat in Tokyo, no doubt about it," said the World Rowing Twitter account after the win. 

This is a great result for both Croatian crews, especially for the Sinković brothers, for whom this was great preparation ahead of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which begin on July 23.

Even better news - the Jurković sisters won second place in the World Cup race. This is a historic success of Croatian sport because never in the history of a medal have two pairs of siblings won a medal in the same competition!

The great Damir Martin will race a little later today. Stay tuned! 

Source: Index.hr

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ZAGREB, 6 June, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, of 4,973 tests performed to coronavirus in Croatia, 157 (3%) have turned out to be positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Sunday.

There are currently 1,482 active COVID-19 cases, of whom 579 are hospitalised patients, including 55 placed on ventilators. Currently, 8,021 people are self-isolating.

The COVID-related death toll has increased by six to 8,086 in the last 24 hours.

Since 25 February 2020, when the country registered its first case of the infection with the novel, virus, more than two million tests have been performed, showing that nearly 358,000 people have caught the virus.

So far, 348,000 have recovered, including 252 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

To date, 1,902,092 vaccine doses have been administered, with 1,337,469 persons receiving one dose and of them 564,623 having got both shots.

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ZAGREB, 6 June, 2021 - An estimated 500 participants gathered for this year's Pride Ride that took place in downtown Zagreb on Saturday afternoon, and the ride was organised by an informal initiative of many individuals and organizations called "Proud Zagreb" - informal group LGBTIQ+".

This is the second annual edition of the pride ride, and the first pride ride was organised last year instead of a pride parade due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The organisers of this year's event, aimed at raising awareness of the rights of LGBT members, said that the first pride ride had been held last year due to the strict anti-epidemic measures and consequences of the 22 March 2020 earthquake.

They said that they were sad to see that no progress had been made in providing better living conditions for residents of Zagreb, including members of the LGBT community.

Danijel Martinović, an activist of the Rainbow Families association, said that the aim of this year's pride ride was to increase the visibility of LGBT persons in the public sphere.

He also underscored that LGBTIQ+ members would not be intimidated by cowardly acts such as the burning of LGBTIQ+ flags and effigies and physical assaults on LGBTIQ+ members.

"We should show that we are here," Martinović said adding that some progress was made in enabling same sex couples to foster children but there was always room for further improvement.

He added that they also expressed concern at the government's decision to appeal the court's ruling that enabled same-sex couples to foster children.

One of bicycle riders in this year's ride was a politician and MP Sandra Benčić of the We Can party. Also the newly-elected deputy mayor Danijela Dolenec of the same party came to support the riders.

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June 6, 2021 - Guests enjoyed a pleasant encounter with the best selection of Plešivica sparkling wines and breakfast snacks, in the hills outside Zagreb.

A sparkling breakfast in the Chez Suzy vineyard for the weekend was the real formula for outdoor hedonism, reports Turističke Priče. At Plešivica, Šember wineries, Šoškić court wines, Drago Damir Režek, and a guest from the Krašić vineyards, Šimanović winery, presented their sparkling wines for which this wine region is famous. In addition to Plešivica sparkling wines, guests enjoyed strawberries and indigenous products of Zagreb County and copanjek, and homemade game salami. As an announcement of the upcoming Sparkling Zagorje breakfast in Zagorje, štruklji, zlevanka, cheeses, chocolate mousses, and chocolate cake were also served.

Salon of Sparkling Wines

The novelty of this year's Sparkling Breakfast edition was the guided pairing of food and Plešivica sparkling wines. The event was driven by the idea of ​​the hostess Suzana Košćak, gastronomy students Izabela Andrašić, Adrian Karačić, Filip Poštenik, Bruno, Karić cooked at the event. The menus were paired with champagnes, after a hearty breakfast dominated by cheeses and strawberries, continued with freshly baked homemade focaccia and steak tartare that future chefs prepared next to the guests. It was a real "cooking show", and then from a small three delicious risottos came out in hot kitchens full of original ideas, the first with apple and celery, the second with asparagus, the third with strawberries. An additional joy of pairing was homemade macarons with champagne. Demanding but purposefully selected, the yellow lemon cream cookies were paired with white brut champagnes, and the pink champagnes matched the pink strawberry sour cream cookies. Macarons were made by a gastronomy student, Ana Tokić.

Salon of Sparkling Wines

The eye pleased, the palate celebrated, and the wines matched. The snacks were mesmerizing and the guests truly enjoyed themselves. An additional interesting and refined gathering was the presentation of a new wine from each winery, the so-called "An example of Plešivica". In this part of the program, Šember winery presented its new Chardonnay 2020, Šoškić wines, Sauvignon blanc 2020, Drago Damir Režek wines - Pinot Noir 2017, Šimanović wines presented Frankovka 2017. A special surprise of the day was Šoškić brandy, many did not know that such a pearl exists on Plešivica, it was sipped with gusto, gentlemen "spiced" it with cigars, and ladies with cigarillos. As an additional spice to the wonderful country atmosphere, similar to Provencal, served antique props from the Comedy Theater as well as tables and accessories from DVD Plešivica.

Salon of Sparkling Wines

Delighted guests, sparkling wine lovers, but also wine connoisseurs, sommelier, oenologists, wine merchants, in pleasant conversations with winemakers learned about Plešivica wines and selected snacks and the potential of various forms of tourist offer Plešivica in the context of branding wine destinations and entire vineyards through targeted, smaller events.

Croatian wines and grapes are among the best in the world, and you can find more information about them in Total Croatia’s Guide to Croatian Wine HERE. Total Croatia’s articles are now available in your language!

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