May 9, 2021 - Hažić Wine Camp, opened in Jurovčak in the Sveti Međimurje municipality Martin na Muri, is the first Croatian wine camp of its kind. 

The camp on the Hažić family farm offers 12 pitches for campers and eight wooden mobile homes available in early July. It is built to the highest environmental standards along with a category of four suns.

"We have invested a lot of effort and energy in our wine camp. I am happy that we succeeded. Although still until at the end of June we have to set up mobile homes. The first campers have already arrived”,  said the owner Tatjana Hažić, who has been running this farm with her sister Valentina for many years.

The camp's construction, worth 3,500,000 kunas, was helped by the Rural Development Fund with 1.5 million. OPG Hažić is an excellent example of a successful withdrawal of funds from EU funds because, since 2015, they have applied for six projects with a total value of over five million kunas.

The camp will offer accommodation to tourists who want to enjoy nature, fine wines, sparkling wines, juices, and other apple products of the Hažić family and the rich tourist offer of Međimurje.

Campers in the area can enjoy cycling, wellness services at Terme Sveti Martin, getting to know local cultural sights, enjoying numerous adventurous activities is organized by the Accredo Center, or on a picnic with excellent local food and drinks from the restaurant Međimurski dvori.

The Hažić family represents a very successful tourist story of rural Croatia, which through the countryside tourism provides the best of Međimurje. EU funds have certainly helped them in their development funds. Still, the immeasurable contribution of this whole valuable family must not be overlooked either own funds invested in improving the quality of own products and tourist offer" emphasized Aleksandra Kuratko Pani, head of the Croatian Rural Tourism Association, of which she is a member of the family farm Hažić since 2020.

Guests and tourists of the camp can also enjoy local products from Međimurski štancun.

If you'd like to find out more about Međimurje, click HERE. 

For more, follow our travel section.

May 9, 2021 - As the SLAPP lawsuit intimidation tactics against journalists continue in Croatia, I invite Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to back the proposed anti-SLAPP bill from Centar MP Marijana Puljak. 

It has been an intense few weeks. 

In addition to the launch of our new national tourism portal, Total Croatia, and the ongoing Digital Nomads-in-Residence Program in Dubrovnik, the aftermath of my decision to make public the two lawsuits from the Croatian National Tourist Board against me continues to feature large in my daily life.

I have been genuinely stunned at the public reaction and support (95% in an Index poll in which about 20,000 people voted), as well as the significant media interest from Croatia's independent media. I am also very grateful for the opportunity to discuss my case on national television (you can see my appearance on Good Morning Croatia - Dobro Jutro Hrvatska below).

I decided to go public with news of the lawsuit after reading an article on RTL about the culture of intimidating journalists through the issuing of SLAPP lawsuits by my lawyer, Vanja Juric (you can read a translation of that article here).  I had no idea that the practice was so widespread. Why would I, if very few people talk about such things in public. 

Apart my surprise at the massive public support, the other thing that stayed with me from breaking the news was how shocked people were that the national tourist board would sue me for 100,000 kuna.

Apart from being shocked in the sense of being intimidated (at least initially until Legendica Vanja filled me with reassurance), I was not that shocked at the issuing of the lawsuit. I took it as a HUGE compliment, of course, that one fat blogger in a cafe can bother them so much with the truth, but these tactics of intimidation are not actually that new to me - or, I am guessing, any other independent journalist in this country.

And while we all bear these daily harassments silently, I am wondering if perhaps the time is right to try and initiate a public discussion on this very topic.

I feel emboldened to do so in support of Centar MP, Marijana Puljak, who kindly raised my case in Parliament, calling for the quashing of the lawsuit and the removal of Kristjan Stanicic as Director of CNTB. You can see Marijana's speech above (and a translation under the video in this article). 

But this is certainly not the first time I have been subjected to this kind of intimidation as an independent journalist. And, just as I called for - and received - the Prime Minister's attention to my case last time, so too in this case. My impressions of the premiership of Andrej Plenkovic fluctuate a LOT, but I will remain eternally grateful to him calling me over for a chat on the main square in Jelsa at a time where I had been made to feel like a pariah by sections of the local community. 

I know of one other foreigner after me who wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Plenkovic, of course, and I congratulate both Jan de Jong the PM for working together to make the Croatian digital nomad permit a reality in a very short space of time. 

But back in August 2018, foreigners writing open letters to Prime Ministers was unheard of. I decided to do so because I thought the intimidation I was made to feel in my adopted hometown needed to be countered by someone of influence outside the town. And with the Prime Minister coming the following week for 'Dan Opcine Jelsa' (Jelsa's Municipal Day), I decided to try something out of the box which you can read about this TCN article - How to Fix Croatia: Open Letter to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

That summer of 2018 taught me more about the realities of Croatia than any other. 

Jelsa has been incredibly good to me, providing me with a home, lovely family, and a fantastic lifestyle for more than 13 years. It was a town (and an island) I loved writing about. And my Total Hvar blog was - for the most part - incredibly positive about Hvar, putting many destinations on the international map for the first time.

And then it all changed. 

It remains the story I am most proud of in my ten years of writing for the Total Project, in terms of facts and research. I don't think I have ever published a story which had as many documents or verified facts. I first published in March, 2018.

Goodbye Jelsa Bench, Hello Carpe Diem? Mayor Niksa Peronja Gives Prime Concession to Hvar Party Partner.

The story caused quite a stir, but the plot thickened, as certain people (always anonymous - nobody wanted to be publicly quoted) sent me more links and documents, which I also published in July:

Hvar Party Tourism Spreading to Jelsa? How to Grab Island Zecevo When Nobody is Watching.

This caused an immediate reaction from the Mayor of Jelsa, more I suspect due to the anonymous letters posted around Vrboska. He announced a public meeting in Vrboska to explain to people there the truth behind the future of Zecevo. 

The night before the meeting, there was a town council meeting in Jelsa, after which I was informed by three sources that the Mayor had decided to sue me for defamation. A figure of 200,000 kuna was apparently mentioned. 

A huge sum, and certainly not one I could afford to pay at the time. But I decided to attend - and film - the public meeting the following day. I was extremely curious not only what the Mayor would say, but also what the reaction of the local audience would be to such an emotive issue. 

And that is how - as YouTube has recorded for posterity - Mayor Niksa Peronja announced to the world that he was suing me (see video below). 

What happened after that was a real education. People I had known for years unfriended me on Facebook. Others looked the other way while I walked down the street. Suddenly there were lots of seats next to me at the cafe. As unpleasant as that was, the really fascinating place to be was my inbox. So many people thanking me, but asking for my understanding that they could not be seen to do so publicly. Others sending me other examples of alleged corruption, with documents, asking me to publish them. When I suggested that we publish under joint name, they disappeared. It was fine for me to fight the fight on their behalf, but there was no way they would greet me in the street or stand with me.  

And so I wrote to the Prime Minister. If he would show me some support, that could potentially make my life less unpleasant. 

He sat down at the next cafe with the local HDZ crew for a chat and photo op, as the Prime Minister does at this event every year. And every year, I always rise from the next cafe and take a photo for a story. Only this year was different. 

The Prime Minister motioned for me to come over to his table. I did, and he rose to greet me. 

"Hi. Call me Andrej. You are the blogger, right? The one who wrote an open letter with four ways to fix this country?"

Indeed I was. We had a pleasant chat for a couple of minutes with ended with a very reassuring promise from the Croatian Prime Minister, which was the title of my next article, some 15 minutes later, and which he has (so far) kept:

Prime Minister Tells Total Croatia News: I Won't Sue You, Don't Worry.

And he never has. And for that brief intervention in my life, I will always be grateful to the man who told me to call him Andrej, even if I have strong differences of opinion on some other issues. 

And the funny thing is that Mayor Peronja never sued me either, despite his public promise. Make of that what you will. 

And so, Andrej, for that is how you told me to address you, you have shown decency on the topic of defending the independent media with my case in Jelsa three years ago.

Will you also commit to supporting Marijana Puljak's initiative to introduce anti-SLAPP legislation into the Croatian Parliament? 

May 9, 2021 -The view from Emmanuel R. Goffi, PhD and Aco Momcilovic, EMBA of the Global AI Ethics Institute and Alliance for Responsible AI.

AI may benefit or represent a threat to humanity in many ways in numerous fields such as education, environment, health, defense, transportation, space exploration, and so on. 

To avoid potential drifts of AI and benefit as much as possible from its advantages, AI must be controlled by normative frameworks. Yet, setting legal norms is a difficult and time-consuming process. 

Therefore, ethics is seen as a convenient and acceptable alternative to laws, since conversely to laws, it is flexible, easily and quickly adjustable, and less constraining than formal rules. 

The number of Ethics codes that have been issued around the world demonstrates the need to regulate AI while avoiding formal legal constraints. This tendency to use ethics as a tool to escape from constraining laws, is referred to as ethics washing, or cosm-ethics. 

Too many rules kill rules

Since 2017, the number of codes pertaining to AI ethics has increased at a fast pace reaching 1 180 documents according to a meta-study released by the ETH Zurich.

In a report by Tim Dutton from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, AI strategies from 18 different countries have been studied showing that they did not “share the same strategic priorities” and that “governments are taking very different approaches to promote the development of the same technology”.

With different so many documents and goals leading to different strategies, it seems impossible to elaborate a set of shared ethical standards. The report by Dutton even shows that ethics does not have the same importance to each government and that in some cases, like in the strategies of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan; it is totally absent. Only Sweden and the European Union are putting ethics at the top of their priorities. For most other stakeholders, ethics comes after research and industrial strategy.

What can we learn from these considerations about AI ethics codes? First, stakeholders have been so far unable to agree on shared values on which they could build a global ethical standard. Second, ethics is not a top priority in AI strategies for all governments. Third, each country is pursuing specific interests and setting ethical standards accordingly.

So, questions remain: What are all these codes aiming at exactly? Is their multiplication efficient or counterproductive in regulating AI?

The EU deontological stance: a moral suicide

In the race for leadership in AI, the stakes are high, and the struggle is harsh. With the US and China leading the sector, being competitive requests some comparative advantage. It seems that positioning itself as a normative actor, the European Union has found a way to enter the competition knowing that it is, nonetheless, lagging way behind many other competitors.  

The European Union has thus made the choice to invest its energy in demonstrating that, conversely to its rivals, it is willing to make sure that the development and use of AI would be framed by ethical standards in the absence of a legal framework.

In June 2018, the European Commission set a High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence which issued in April 2019, a document entitled Ethics guidelines for Trustworthy AI. In this document, seven principles are listed, with the purpose of “achieving Trustworthy AI”, “in the service of humanity and the common good, with the goal of improving human welfare and freedom”. 

In other words, the European Union demonstrates a strong will to develop a responsible approach to AI, making sure this technology will not become a threat to human beings. 

This stance differentiates the Union from other competitors for it gives it a status of normative power focused on ethical AI. 

At the same time, one must remind that this posture comes with the scope of a tenacious competition driven by the promises of huge economic benefits.

The European Union, like any other AI race runner, is perfectly aware of the benefits it could generate from this technology. It is also perfectly aware that it cannot compete against the US or China. Hence the question: is the European Union positioning itself as a normative power because it firmly believes in the importance of AI ethics, or does it do it for the competitive advantage it procures? Is trustworthy AI, as Thomas Metzinger wrote it, “a marketing narrative invented by industry, a bedtime story for tomorrow's customers”?

After all, it is clearly stated in the Guidelines that “Trustworthiness is a prerequisite for people and societies to develop, deploy and use AI systems”. How should we interpret that? 

It is noticeable that in its White Paper on AI the EU mentioned that “Europe is well placed to benefit from the potential of AI, not only as a user but also as a creator and a producer of this technology”, that the Union “should leverage its strengths to expand its position” and seize “the opportunity ahead” in a “data-agile economy and to become a world leader in this area”.  

The whole White paper is actually built on this focus on competitiveness supported by the establishment of an ecosystem of trust.

The normative logorrhoea of the European Union

In April, the European Union has released the draft proposal of its “Artificial Intelligence Act”, adding one more document to the list of guidelines, recommendations, regulations, reports, and other resolutions. In this “Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence, the EU is inserting a new layer of complexity to existing norms introducing the notion of a risk-based approach. If the intention is good, this new document makes even more complex the operationalization of EU normative requirements.

Many national AI Associations (like CroaAI) raised their concerns that companies working in the practical world, with pragmatic objectives will be even more lost in translation. The multiplication of ill-defined words, notions, and concepts, artificially linked to a superficial ethical narrative tends to blur EU expectations and real goals, much more than to make them clearer and easier to apply. The concern is that this additional regulation must drive a new wedge between companies with different capabilities and the potential to deal with new layers of administration and complexity.

The Union itself seems lost in its own regulatory tools and wording, trying to explain former tools with new ones that will need further explanation through new documents. Certification agencies are struggling to translate these regulations into practical processes. Companies are petrified facing this wall of meaningless words and ideas. The EU is killing its own market by imposing impenetrable rules, while other stakeholders, public and private, are developing at a fast pace free from legal constraints.

Normative discrimination might not happen only at the companies’ level. It can also apply to nations having different capabilities, possibilities, agendas, or even resources. This would create a situation of unfair discrimination between countries based on their National AI Capital. This discrimination could lead to the denial of diversity and existing differences in norms and values perspectives within the EU. Then, we could ask ourselves the following question: is the current EU regulatory process going to foster or to discriminate against nations’ opportunities to fully benefit from this technology?

At the end of the day, the ethical stance of the EU is all but clear. While asserting the importance of having an ethical framework for AI, the European Union developed non-constraining tools such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and principles that both lend themselves to all kinds of interpretation and are almost impossible to understand, operationalize, and therefore to implement. On the practical level, is it even reasonable to assume that all countries have enough of “Human Capital”, in the sense of enough educated people in the area of AI/Tech/Regulation, that would be required to be employees of national regulatory agencies, that are planned to be open by this act? What will be the consequences for those who do not have enough experts? Not developing AI? Will they have some kind of pro forma procedure? Something else?

Language is the vector of perceptions and ideas. As such, it seems that the EU is slowly getting tangled up in ethereal verbiage, losing sight of any practical and operationalizable end.

As one can see it the reality of the words might be somehow different from the reality of the action. Between pretending to be and being, between ethics and cosm-ethics, there is a very thin and porous line.

Is the European Union a real normative actor willing to frame AI with ethical principles? Or is it a mere competitor doing whatever it takes to get its lion’s share? Is the EU strategy in AI relevant and efficient? Aren’t we killing our own dynamics instead of boosting it in a highly competitive field?

It seems that the EU is now stuck in its own ethical swamp. It might be costly for our economy and our companies that will lose the race for AI dominance.

It is time to rethink our strategy and our ethical stance escaping from low-cost deontology to switch to a subtle balance between real deontology and consequentialism, in the framework of virtuous behaviors.

To read more news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 9, 2021 - TCN is delighted to welcome award-winning blogger Ana-Marija Hota to TCN, bringing a much-needed Croatian voice from Ireland. She starts with a look at the pandemic responses in Ireland and Croatia with a Croatian view from Dublin. 

In March 2020, I found myself in Dublin, Ireland, which has been my home since September 2013.

The pandemic was looming, and it all seemed like a bad dream. In the weeks prior to the lockdown, I was very busy in the hair salon where I was working at the time. It was a bit scary, because many of my clients are international travellers, and being in such proximity to hundreds of them, made me slightly uneasy. So, it felt like a real relief when the owner decided to close, 10 days before the government officially closed our sector.

Immediately afterwards, the government introduced a package of measures, including a pandemic unemployment payment, the first installment of which was in my account the next week. I found myself, like all other parents, in homeschooling/cooking/walking routines. I was missing work, missing my friends. But it was nice to have security, knowing I was getting paid although I was not allowed to work. My husband is a web developer, so he was able to work from home, which gave us an additional sense of stability.

My teenage daughter was slightly sick at the beginning of March, so she was in quarantine. Then I got slightly sick at the end of March, but couldn’t get the COVID test, so we never found out if we catch it, or if it was due to some other viral illness, which seemed more likely. It was still frightening and made us even more determined to try to avoid it at all costs.

In the first wave, almost 2000 people died in the Republic of Ireland, while my native Croatia seemed untouchable. At the time, Croatian egos were flying high, and there were those theories about genetic superiority and Tuberculosis vaccines. From my perspective, Croatia was safe because the government had introduced strict travel measures early, and people responded well. I was proud of that fact and it made sense; most of us had experienced war, hiding in basements and shelters and our fight or flight responses are heightened, you could call it collective PTSD, but that´s a taboo subject in Croatia. We´re all perfectly fine and tough, allegedly.

As the summer of 2020 was approaching, I was shocked with images from Croatia. Ireland’s bars, pubs, stayed closed at all times, and Croatians were expecting to host millions of tourists, nightlife was like before the pandemic, everyone I know lived a life like before the pandemic. I was constantly worried about my Mum, my aunts and uncles and I felt like people are letting each other down. Even to this day, I feel like we are a universe apart, Ireland is in a third lockdown, numbers are better again, while Croatians are dying at faster rates, and it seems that nobody cares. COVID theories seem to be spreading faster than the “bura” wind. I have never been supportive of Croatian government and institutions, I always felt they do not really care about citizens, and the way Ireland is handling this pandemic has confirmed my suspicions. Empathy is on high levels here, apart from some exemptions, and the health and wellbeing of citizens matter.

Ireland takes care of its citizens, their aspirations and dreams. Two hundred different nationalities living together and sharing this small island, mostly in peace with a good sense of community.

I had a lot of time to think, and I realized: I am happier living a full year in a lockdown in Ireland, than I would be living freely in Croatia. Because in this country, I feel safe, I feel respected and protected. I feel like I matter as a human being. I´ve changed so much since I came here, bad things also taught me some things. I discovered you can be a white European and another white European can discriminate against you based on race. That one was new to me.

Do I miss holidays in Croatia? Of course I do, I haven’t seen my family and friends since the summer of 2019, and it looks like it might be another year before I visit again. Currently in Ireland, it is illegal to go on holiday abroad, or to even leave the county. But even if I could, I would not go, not before my whole family is vaccinated, which will be some time away, considering vaccines are still not approved for under 16s. Croatia doesn´t look appealing to us right now, with high rates of infections and low levels of social distancing.

Also, I feel deeply grateful for this new home of mine. In January last year, we bought our own home. I feel Ireland is my forever home and I´m happy to support and give back to the Irish economy, before I spend it elsewhere, some other year.

You can follow Ana-Marija in English or Croatia on her blog:

https://life-in-dublin.com/

https://zivot-u-dublinu.com/

May 9, 2021 - Borna Sosa, one of the most talented young Croatian football players and a member of the U21 national team, has decided to play for the national team of Germany. The 24-year-old footballer talks to Index.hr about his decision.

An unforgettable day is behind Borna Sosa, one of the greatest Croatian talents who, with a brilliant game in the Bundesliga, provoked the legendary Oliver Bierhoff and the German Football Federation to urgently arrange for his German citizenship and status in their national team. The young defender has just made the most important transfer in his career and announced that he would play for Germany in the future, while Croatia has been left without the player it has been waiting for for 20 years, since the farewell of Robert Jarni.

Sosa is one of the best offensive defenders in Europe, plays as a left-back, and excels in the Stuttgart jersey, where he arrived from Dinamo in 2018 in a transfer worth six million euros. He was a member and occasional captain of the U21 Croatia national team, but he never received an invitation from the A team. When the news about the acquisition of the German Federation was published on Friday, panic started in all HNS structures. 

The first HNS operative, director Marijan Kustić, claims that he found out about the German Football Federations' offensive the day before yesterday, coach Zlatko Dalić believes that Sosa knew he should make his debut in the match against Malta in March and that his former assistant Ivica Olic led the operation, while the young football player says that he never saw Olic, but received messages through intermediaries.

Sosa agreed to tell Index.hr his side of the story and made claims that could cause great damage to the responsible HNS operatives.

In the Croatian media, your transfer to the national team of Germany is the topic of the day, but there are many different messages and contradictory statements. Did you get to read any of that?

Yes, I have seen the statements in the Croatian media, and I will answer everything you ask me.

Tell us what is true. Why did you decide to play for Germany?

I decided to play for Germany because I think I am already 24 years old, I have played in the Bundesliga for three years, and I am still without a performance in the A national team. I realized that Croatia is not counting on me and thinking they have better players in my position. I respect that attitude and their decision, there is no anger, and we remain on good terms. I decided to play for Germany.

Have you talked about this with HNS before?

I’m not the type who waits for others to pull moves; I pull them when I think it’s good and necessary. I made the decision personally. This season I had no contact with people from Croatia's A national team, and no one ever called me from HNS. I spoke with Dalic for the first time this morning when the news came out that I had decided on Germany.

Is it true that you received a guarantee that you would make your debut against Malta in the qualifiers for Qatar?

That's not true. Dalic did not tell me that I would make my debut against Malta, nor did we ever talk. There was speculation, there was talk about it, and you wrote that Dalic was talking about it. Officially, I never received any invitation from the Croatia national team.

Did Ivica Olic come to Stuttgart matches and follow your performances? We were told that Olic, now a former assistant coach of Dalic, was in charge of following you and informing you about Dalic's plans.

Olic did not come, as far as I know. I don't know what his role is, but he told me through a third person that I will be invited to the A national team in March, i.e., in the opening cycle of the Qatar World Cup qualifiers. I never talked to Olic, there were some messages through intermediaries, and I didn't take it seriously. The only invitation I ever received from Croatia was sent to me by the coach of the U21 national team, Igor Bišćan, and, as you know, I responded. I played in the Euro qualifiers.

If you had received Dalic's call earlier, what would you have done?

If I had received Dalic's invitation and played in March, or there in September and October last year when there were opportunities, I would have played for Croatia. There have been many gatherings, and I am no longer 17 but 24 years old. Unfortunately, it was not feasible for me to receive an invitation from Croatia and our paths diverged. I received Dalic's support and understanding this morning, and I thank him. He wished me luck; I wish him the same. Big things are waiting for me. I’m looking forward to getting a chance to play with such greats, mostly Bayern players.

What are your experiences with the U21 national team? Why didn't you come to the Euro?

I also had some injury problems then, and after I received a red card in the last qualifying match and a suspension for the first two games at the Euros with the young national team, my club decided for me to stay there. They said they didn't want me to go to the national team because I didn't have the right to play in the tournament's first two games due to a red card. There was no reason for them to take the risk and send me to train with the young national team if there is no need. Personally, I also think that there is no point in taking risks, the rhythm of the matches is crazy anyway, and every detail should be paid attention to. The club made the decision; they explained to me that they didn’t want me to get hurt and lose me unnecessarily. I couldn't play for the national team anyway.

But the match against England is disputable when the suspension expired. It was a key match to get to the quarterfinals. You told Bišćan that you were injured, and a few days later, you played for Stuttgart. What happened?

There will always be speculation, but I won't deal with it. I don’t want to get into arguments, and I wouldn’t talk about it too much because tensions are rising and unnecessary. I sent Bišćan a doctor's report in which it was clearly written that I was not in the best condition. The problem is always the same, my right knee. Maybe some people don’t believe I’m hurt, but those who follow my career know how much I’ve been through so far. Maybe some people can’t understand it at all. I don't blame anyone.

It's hard to count all the injuries you went through during the first two seasons in the Bundesliga - your back, knee, edema, concussion ... How do you feel now, and are you satisfied with the season, the results, and your game?

I can’t be happier than I am now, both because of the personal game and because of the whole team. After two seasons where I struggled with injuries, this year, everything fell into place. I collected ten assists. I healed an injury that caused me to miss three games before last night’s game against Augsburg. It is rare for defenders to collect so many assists in a season.

After checking the data in the top 5 leagues, only Cuadrado is better and has one more assist.  

Yes, I know about that fact. Crossing is my forte, and it has nothing to do with the system in which Stuttgart plays. I honed the strongest weapon I have and can center if needed from Mars as well. If I’m sure of anything in life, then it’s my crossing, ha-ha.

What impression did the director of the German federation, the famous striker Oliver Bierhoff, leave on you?

The German Federation is the strongest in the world, and Bierhoff, as the chief operative, proved to be a man of his word. He is calm and sticks to what he says; you can’t function any differently in Germany.

How long will it take to join the German national team?

The whole story takes about two to three months. They did everything we could to resolve the citizenship as soon as possible, and I am very grateful for that.

How did it start?

They found out that my mom was born in Germany, and they got in touch with me. We started the process, and we were constantly communicating. They came to every game I played. They said I was responding to them as a player for the German national team system.

Have you ever met coach Dalic?

I don't remember; I think I saw him once in my life, nothing official. Thus, HNS had information for two months that I had an offer from Germany. I personally reported this to one director.

Which director? There are not many directors in HNS?

It doesn’t matter; I really don't want to name names. It's over. I told them I had an offer from Germany and to talk to them. That was it; no one from HNS contacted me after that. They made their decision; I made mine, there is no evil, and no tension should be created.

You must have read the comments of angry fans. How do you deal with that?

I try to explain to people that this is a business decision. Many call me a traitor, but they do not understand that I still love Croatia the most, and it will always be my country, the country of my family and friends. I do not play for the Croatia national team, but I still love my country. In the business world, I decided to play football for Germany.

Are you already on Germany's list for the Euros?

I don't know if we will reach the Euro; FIFA will solve the change of my citizenship, it is a technical matter, and it may not be resolved by the Euro. But that’s not crucial for me; I’m thinking about the next 10 to 12 years with the German national team.

The sporting director of Stuttgart called you the new Beckham. How about that?

He said that last year. It's funny that the director announced before the season that I have the best-left foot in the Bundesliga, but people didn't believe him. I'm so glad now, not so much for me ... I know what I can do. I am glad that I did not let the director down; now everyone knows that he has good grades. I am nicknamed the "god of crossing" in Germany.

Will you go to Bayern this summer?
As for the transfer to Bayern, where there is smoke, there is also fire. There will be an interesting transition period.

Will you support Croatia at the Euro?

Yes, unless Croatia plays against Germany, ha-ha. Croatia will always be my beautiful country, and in Germany, I decided to develop football. Thanks to everyone who decided to help me along the way.

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

To learn more about sport in Croatia, CLICK HERE. 

May 9, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as KLM flights to Dubrovnik return after almost 32 years!

Croatian Aviation reports that the Dutch national airline, KLM, introduces the Amsterdam - Dubrovnik Airport - Amsterdam route from June this year! The line returns after almost 32 years.

After the announcement of United, which will connect New York with Dubrovnik this summer, and Friday's announcement of Delta Air Lines, which will also operate from New York to Dubrovnik Airport, more good news arrives - KLM will introduce a regular line between Amsterdam and Dubrovnik!

KLM last operated to Dubrovnik back in 1988. After Croatia's independence, this company did not have a regular line to Dubrovnik Airport.

In February this year, the Dutch national airline expanded on the Croatian market, introduced additional flights to Zagreb, and now operates twice a day on the route from Amsterdam. There is also a line to Split, which will increase the number of weekly operations as we approach the summer season.

From the end of June, KLM will operate daily to Dubrovnik

A new destination - Dubrovnik airport, is certainly a logical choice for the company.

From June 26, KLM flights between Amsterdam and Dubrovnik will operate daily, with E190 and B737 aircraft announced.

Tickets are not currently on sale on the airline's official website, but that should change as early as Monday.

Only the British EasyJet had a regular route between Amsterdam and Dubrovnik, while Croatia Airlines last operated on this route before 2010.

Given all the airlines' announcements, it is to be expected that Dubrovnik Airport will have significantly higher traffic this year compared to last year. Three large, world-famous airlines are coming to Dubrovnik this summer, and the management of Dubrovnik Airport should certainly be congratulated on that.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

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

May the 9th, 2021 - Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic has discussed the controversial new ''covid passports'' which he insists are not passports and must not be referred to as that, despite it being both easier to remember and easier to say. Could Croatia's digital green certificates be ready by next month?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Bozinovic stated that ''they aren't passports, let's not call get into the habit of calling them that, maybe it's easier to say that these are digital green certificates that refer to facilitating international travel. They will be interoperable, and they'll allow mutual recognition of vaccination, recovery and testing certificates.

By a majority vote, European Union lawmakers backed the digital green certificates proposal, Bozinovic noted, adding that the final proposal has yet to be adopted, and that it will likely happen in the first half of June.

"Croatia is in the advanced stage of implementing a national technical solution and we're ready to test it on the available European Union platform. Particular emphasis should be placed on the importance of databases, the accuracy and entry of all data as certificates will be issued based on the databases of people who have already recovered from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, those who have been tested in the last 48 hours and people who've been vaccinated.

We're in favour of the adoption of these regulations as soon as possible. With out participation in the pilot project, we've become one of the EU member states that will be ready to issue certificates as early as June the 1st. In Croatia, these certificates will be issued in digital PDF format, and people will be able to submit their applications through the e-citizens system. Certificates in physical form for people who request them will be issued in some of the 150 HZZO offices. The verification of these certificates will be carried out by reading QR codes, and 250 certificate readers have already been deployed at the country's border crossings,'' pointed out Bozinovic.

The entercroatia.mup.hr portal will provide announcements for the arrival of foreign nationals, which will shorten the time spent at Croatian borders. Passengers will be able download their receipts for their digital green certificates in PDF format on the aforementioned page before their arrival for the purpose of verification as soon as possible.

For more on coronavirus in Croatia, from border, travel and quarantine rules to the locations of vaccination points and testing sites across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

May the 9th, 2021 - There was much talk about the much anticipated Zagreb cable car which was in the works for a significant amount of time. The project was surrounded by issues and problems with time despite the fact that works had continued relatively normally up until recently.

As we previously reported, the Zagreb cable car failed to get the necessary permit to be put into function due to noise issues which need to be fully rectified before another request for a permit can be sent, with the State Inspectorate giving a very firm no at the moment. However, that isn't all, and now accusations of political motives for throwing a spanner in the works of the Zagreb cable car are being thrown around.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the conflict between Zagreb and the State Inspectorate, headed by HDZ member Andrija Mikulic, still hasn't abated. While the State Inspectorate claims that the Zagreb cable car cannot start working due to noise issues which need to be rectified, the City of Zagreb says that they're deliberately making it harder because of the local elections looming.

After the State Inspectorate recently deemed that the Zagreb cable car is the cause of excessive noise, the would-be Sljeme attraction now has another problem at its doorstep. The substation. Namely, as has unofficially been found out, the substation didn't pass the necessary inspection protocols either, and the contractor was given a period of two weeks to fix the problems found.

As 24sata has learned, the Zagreb cable car's substation doesn't have enough voltage to be able to supply electricity to the cable car itself, nor to the Mihaljevac-Gracansko dolje tram line.

As a reminder, the Zagreb City Office for Spatial Planning rejected the opinion of the Sanitary Inspection on Thursday last week, which refused to give a positive opinion to the Zagreb cable car for a permit due to its excessive noise.

Namely, inspectors determined that the City of Zagreb didn't provide evidence of noise measurement, and from the City Zagreb they claim that this isn't true and that they submitted all the necessary documents for the future cable car.

For all you need to know about Zagreb in 2021, make sure to bookmark Zagreb in a Page and choose your preferred language.