October 22, 2020 - As coronavirus cases rise in Croatia, Health Minister Vili Beros says introducing a curfew is the last resort.

Index.hr reports that Health Minister Vili Beros warned on Wednesday that the number of newly infected is higher than ever and announced that possibly introducing some previous measures will be decided in a few more days.

"If there are no positive developments, it is quite certain that we will introduce some additional, but balanced measures that will primarily refer to the restriction of gatherings," Beros said. He reiterated that citizens could contribute to preventing the spread of the virus through responsible behavior.

"We are the best cure for this pandemic if we respect the measures. Only then can we expect the number of infected to slow down. However, I must say that the virus is spreading horizontally, radiantly among the population. Therefore, we need to be more careful than ever," he said.

He even told reporters that they were too close to each other.

"And you are too close to each other, even though you have masks on and we are outside," Beros said.

When asked about introducing a curfew, Beros answered that some countries had introduced a curfew but that he did not want to give an affirmative answer now. He pointed out that a curfew is the last thing he will introduce if necessary, adding several other measures that can be taken before that.

The head of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, Davor Bozinovic, said on Wednesday that in a situation where the number of people infected is growing, they would focus mostly on punishing all behaviors that are not in line with epidemiological measures, especially legal entities.

During his visit to Jastrebarsko, Bozinovic told reporters that there would be no need for additional activities to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection if the measures already adopted were applied as intended, negotiated, and ultimately prescribed.

"We are monitoring the situation; the numbers are growing, the numbers are growing outside Croatia," said Bozinovic, emphasizing that they will mostly concentrate on prescribed measures, especially the obligations of legal entities that organize events or engage in economic activity with fluctuating people.

In doing so, he said, they will be aimed at sanctioning all behaviors that are not in line with epidemiological measures.

He claimed that they had made a great effort, including the Croatian Institute of Public Health, which made detailed recommendations for all economic and social activities to not close.

"It is an effort that has been translated into concrete recommendations of the Headquarters," said Bozinovic, calling on all citizens to adhere to these measures because it is the only way to slow down the spread of the virus in Croatia.

He emphasized that citizens should refrain from large gatherings, private parties, and meetings as long as the epidemic lasts.

He noted that they prescribe measures for public events, while what happens in homes cannot and should not be controlled. However, he warned that it is in these circumstances that citizens relax the most, which is why the virus spreads when they return to their home or go to work.

"This is not a big philosophy. In practice, it is not comfortable or easy to wear a mask when we cannot maintain physical distance, but it is not so difficult as long as it is the only way to overcome the crisis," he said.

He pointed out that the headquarters can make decisions, and epidemiologists prescribe recommendations, but nothing will be achieved if the citizens do not accept it.

Bozinovic announced the intensified inspections aimed at irresponsible behavior, explaining that the facilities' organizers and owners will be sanctioned if the measures are not adhered to in their facility and stated that a 30 thousand kuna fine is prescribed for dancing in clubs.

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October 22, 2020 - 'Underwater Muse,' the underwater archeological project of the Resnik Split Airport area, known as 'Siculi,' was presented in the 15th-century Vitturi castle in Kaštel Lukšić.

Dalmatinski Portal reports that the project, which is financed from EU funds and cross-border cooperation with Italy, was presented by the city administration, the Public Institution RERA, and the Museum of the City of Kaštela, who explained what has been done and how soon visitors to the Vitturi castle will be able to enjoy a virtual walk through the sites.

Mayor Denis Ivanović stated that Kaštela has a rich cultural heritage and history that is quite unexplored, and EU funds are an opportunity to explore and get to know the entire history.

"The ultimate goal is to bring everything we have hidden to light," he concluded pictorially.

Veljko Martinović

Project manager Marjan Dumanić, on behalf of RERA, added that the Resnik submarine site would be explored. An attempt will be made to protect and transform it into use in an economically acceptable way.

"In addition to presenting the findings of archaeological research, we will use all our knowledge to form a 3D model that we will soon be able to see in the Kaštela City Museum," announced Dumanić.

The director of the Kaštela City Museum, Ivan Šuta, revealed what they found through archeological research.

"We have found remains that date back to 6000 BC, i.e., older than the Neolithic period. With this research, we have contributed to the knowledge of the older Neolithic period when they first had permanent settlements; they began to engage in agriculture at a depth of three meters. We were also looking for the remains of a Roman port, or rather of late antiquity," he said.

Veljko Martinović

He claimed that they had been given enough data to make a virtual reconstruction so that visitors to Vitturi Castle could walk through the three permanent sites.

Mate Parica from the Department of Archeology, University of Zadar concretized part of the findings.

"We discovered an ancient port, on the one hand, ceramics, processed stone and the like from archeological materials, and on the other hand, we worked on a prehistoric site, which contained floor plans of older buildings. There we found several flint artifacts, knives, scrapers, and the like," Parica described.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of October, 2020, this past weekend, Civil Protection inspectors fined five Croatian clubs in the City of Zagreb in the total amount of 150,000 kuna.

One such club was fined 30,000 kuna for exceeding working hours, and the other four were fined the same penalty for having a crowded dance floor, non-compliance with maintaining social distancing between guests and a lack of information at the entrance about the number of guests permitted within the club, Jutarnji list writes.

The possibility of punishing legal entities was announced last Monday by the director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Krunoslav Capak. The inspection can impose a fine of 20 to as much as 70 thousand kuna on each legal entity, ie the owner of the premises who fails to comply with the current epidemiological measures and instructions.

As of it now seems, inspectors only fine more serious offenses such as exceeding working hours until midnight, not maintaining social distancing and so-called "irresponsible" dancing. In addition, the total number of guests in the premises must be displayed at the entrance, and is determined by the criterion of four square metres per person.

Mladen Vlaic, head of the Sector for Administrative and Inspection Affairs of PUZ, says that all of the fines written this weekend for the five Croatian clubs punished were in the lowest possible amount.

"The minimum fine under the Civil Protection System Act is 20,000 kuna for a legal entity, and 10,000 kuna for a responsible person in a legal entity. The owners of the Croatian clubs who received a misdemeanor warrant have the opportunity to appeal, and then the court decides on that,'' explained Vlaic, adding that all of the inspected clubs this weekend respected the appointment and arrival of the ''covid guards''.

Last week, more than 2,300 inspections of restaurants, nightclubs, weddings and events were carried out across Croatia, and 259 verbal warnings were issued. The most relaxed were in Split and Osijek. In Osijek, an irregularity was found during every fifth inspection, and in Split during every third. But no fines were written.

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As Novac/Gordana Grgas writes on the 21st of October, 2020, Croatian employers have generally voiced their satisfaction with the announced redesigned Government measures, but HUP warns that labour costs are not the only operating costs, business liquidity for many industries is still seriously jeopardised and that a drop in revenue of less than 40 percent could potentially mean business closure for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Hrvoje Bujas, president of the Voice of Entrepreneurs (Glas Poduzetnika) Association, therefore says that they welcome the introduction of a different modality of support for the preservation of jobs as well as increasing the possibility of reducing working hours, but they demand that the so-called covid-liquidity loans and investment loans are sped up.

"The measures adopted by the government are good for salaries, and in order for the private sector to recover, investments need to be increased. "Some companies are now changing the sectors in which they operate, switching because they have to manage," he explains. He believes that, according to the current situation, the support measures should last at least until April next year.

Regarding the new measures to be adopted by the CES Management Board, the open question is whether the recipients of aid are allowed to give business-related dismissals. The representative of the UAS in the CES Governing Board, Ana Milicevic Pezelj, explained that their position is that this isn't allowed and that the state must set the proper framework for that up.

"We're not asking for Croatian employers to not be allowed to to lay off staff in a certain period after the use of these measures to preserve jobs, but not in the time of their duration, not while using them," she emphasised. This, she added, only applies to business-related dismissals, meaning that the union is not asking for an absolute ban on lay-offs, but believes that Croatian employers "can't have both sheep and money."

Since September, says Ana Milicevic Pezelj, they have noticed a trend in some industries, such as tourism, to engage in business-related lay-offs to permanent employees, along with severance pay, with the announcement that they will be re-employed in the spring, but in another sense.

''This further erodes stable working conditions, and in those cases coronavirus merely serves as an excuse,” she noted. HUP said that dismissals are the last resort for Croatian employers, but given the epidemiological and economic situation, it is possible that in some companies, despite the subsidies, there will be a need to lay off a certain number of workers "so that business can be kept going at a reduced level and so they might keep at least part of their workers,''

They noted that the state co-finances salary amounts, while the employer is still obliged to pay the difference up to the full amount of salary, and that in the conditions of a prolonged crisis and significantly reduced business volume, there is a lack of income that could cover all such costs. HUP is therefore in favour of introducing a model related to percentage drops according to the size of the company, as was the case at the beginning of the introduction of measures back in March.

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As Novac/Gojko Drljaca writes on the 21st of October, 2020, a new wave of coronavirus cases is seeing Europe slide into a double-dip recession scenario, this is the thesis with which The Financial Times has come out. A number of European governments are tightening their epidemiological measures, and an increase in the number of cases is leading to a drop in consumer optimism. What does this mean for Croatian GDP?

After reducing the number of cases during the summer, which saw the easing up of the epidemiological measures and the recovery of European economies, we're now witnessing the continuation of the scenario which, in the event of an increase in the number of cases, envisages a prolongation of what has become the status quo and even a deepening of the recession.

Although the last session of the Croatian National Bank Council a few days ago estimated that Croatia will end the year with a GDP decline of 8 percent and that its growth of 5.2 percent is expected in 2021, we've since learned that the central bank is already thinking about revising their relatively optimistic estimates.

For the final conclusion, the central bank will wait and see if the Croatian Government will react with stricter epidemiological measures that could affect business activities.

Well-informed people claim that the behaviour of Croatian consumers has already started to change due to the growing number of cases of infection, which is reflected in the decline in traffic in some shopping centres and restaurants. It should be noted that the Croatian National Bank has already concluded that "during the third quarter, at the same time as the epidemiological situation worsened, signs of a slowdown in recovery became visible, with consumer and business expectations in services and industry deteriorating in September."

According to a statement from the Croatian National Bank, the annual inflation rate in August remained in negative territory (-0.1 percent), real activities and the labour market are in a much more unfavourable situation than before the pandemic.

Although we had a good tourist season for the year with the pandemic, tourism will still bring much lower revenues in 2020. The Croatian National Bank is cautious because they consider forecasting during a pandemic to be extremely difficult due to numerous unknowns.

''We're in a recession and it's easily possible that in the event of the continuation of this trend of the epidemic, the recession will continue in the fourth quarter, and possibly in the first quarter of next year. Delaying the start of the recovery would deprive Croatian GDP of 1 to 2 percentage points annually. In that case, the decline for 2020 would amount to the previously expected 10-11 percent instead of 8-9 percent, as expected before the autumn wave,'' said economist Velimir Sonje.

Due to the growing number of cases, the tightening of epidemiological measures has been announced by all major European countries. Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands - all of which recorded strong growth in the number of cases of infection and all took new measures last week.

Smaller European countries facing an increase in the number of cases are behaving identically. The Czech Republic, which has recorded the largest increase in the number of cases, has reached a high level of restrictions. Belgium has announced the closure of cafes and restaurants for four weeks. As of Monday, they are introducing curfews, bans on gatherings and restrictions on the sale of alcohol.

Switzerland has expanded its obligation to wear masks. A nocturnal epidemiological curfew has been introduced in Paris since midnight on Saturday. In Catalonia, bars and restaurants have been closed in and around Barcelona. The Italian authorities are arguing over what to do: part of the government is calling for stronger measures while Conte insists the new rise in cases is not as dangerous as the first, but they will certainly come up with new measures in any case.

In Sweden, the regional authorities are left to advise citizens to reduce their overall mobility and to adhere to social distancing measures.

Fiscal exposure

Senior Allianz economist Katharina Utermohl commented on the surprising growth rate of cases across Europe and stressed that they are already seeing further economic downturn in a number of countries in the fourth quarter.

"A new recession is absolutely possible," Utermohl said. Google’s mobility data in October again points to a significant decline in major European cities. Countries with large service sectors such as France, Spain and Portugal will once again have particularly major problems.

It is very inconvenient that the countries of the European Union have already dramatically increased their fiscal exposure this year due to the global coronavirus pandemic. The European Commission has announced a plan according to which Eurozone members are expected to have an aggregate fiscal deficit of 976 billion euros this year.

This means that national fiscal deficits will be 10 times higher than last year or those projected for this year. Although the European Central Bank's interventions have managed to keep the borrowing costs of the most vulnerable countries (Italy, Greece) very low, the need for new fiscal interventions brings the EU into a completely unexplored territory, which some call "fiscal extravagance".

ECB Governor Christine Lagarde warned over the weekend that fiscal stimulus should continue to be insisted on, regardless of the risks, in order to avoid "labour market hysteria" and prevent a wave of bankruptcy. The IMF also supports this thesis.

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As Novac/Nikola Patkovic writes on the 21st of October, 2020, milk processing and production in Osijek will not be shut down on December the 31st, 2020. Instead, the Osijek milk factory, currently called Meggle, will start operating in the system of the Fortenova Group on the first day of the new year, under the name of their company Belje Plus, which will buy the Osijek factory.

Thus, the crisis, which occurred three months ago when the German Meggle announced that it was ending its production in Osijek and Croatia at the end of this year, will still have a happy epilogue, because the factory will not close, and the ''victims'' of the decision will eventually be minimal. Although neither Fortenova, ie Belje, nor Meggle want to officially confirm that an agreement has been reached, according to unofficial information, the "ironing out" of the last details is currently in progress, but the majority of the agreement has been reached. Belje will thus keep up to 70 percent of Meggle's 160 workers and continue processing and milk production in the Eastern city of Osijek, some workers will probably retire early, and some of them will be offered jobs in one of the other business units by Belje. Additionally, they plan to take over all subcontractors who want to continue working with them, and there are 282 of them.

The agreement

''The agreement is nearing its end and the last details are being agreed on. It's also important that Meggle keeps its promise that it will keep hold of all of its workers until the end of the year and pay them their salaries, and after that it will pay them the agreed severance pay,'' a person familiar with the negotiations between Belje and Meggle revealed.

It's worth reminding ourselves of the fact that Meggle's announcement that it is leaving Osijek and Croatia caused a big shock in Slavonia, which is already economically devastated and for which the closing of the factory with 160 jobs would be an additional blow/ Osijek-Baranja County Prefect Ivan Anusic was especially fierce at the time, saying that he was ready to initiate various types of pressure on Meggle because of such a decision. However, high-level meetings followed in the following days, in which the Croatian Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, joined in, and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic supported finding a solution that would preserve the 71-year tradition of Osijek's dairy industry. Anusic announced a few weeks ago that the end of negotiations on the takeover of Meggle was in sight.

''Talks with Meggle are over. Meggle is leaving, but 65 to 75 percent of workers will stay working. We'll take care of the other workers. Production will continue in Meggle's plants, and the details should be reported to the public by those who led the negotiations,'' said Anusic two weeks ago on HRT's Otvoreno/Open show. Even now, he didn't want to go into details until the company itself announces them.

Meggle responded to an inquiry by saying that they "have made great efforts to ensure a positive outcome of the talks with several potentially interested companies. The negotiations are at a very high stage, but without the consent of other parties and given the obligation of confidentiality, we can't give you more information ".

Dukat also showed interest in buying Meggle, and the owner of Zito, Marko Pipunic, once said that he was interested, but there were no negotiations on the matter. When it comes to the workers, it is known that the unions have agreed with Meggle's management on their severance pay, which is 25 percent more than the legal obligation, and a total of eight million kuna has been provided for them.

More than 4000 cows

Belje, by the way, also has a dairy cattle farm with more than 4,000 cows that produce 35 million litres of milk a year, as well as a dairy factory where famous Belje cheeses are prepared. With this acquisition, Belje will increase its share of milk purchases on the Croatian market from 11 to 16 percent, but will still remain the third player on that scene, where two thirds of the market is held by Dukat with 42 percent and Vindija with 29 percent.

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ZAGREB, Oct 21, 2020 - The Croatian Tourism Association (HUT) on Wednesday welcomed the government's latest jobkeeping measures and amendments to eligibility criteria with regard to a decline in turnover in the second and third quarters of the year.

In the association's (HUT) latest issue of "Croatia Tourism & Travel", HUT director Veljko Ostojic underlines that the continuation of the government's job retention measures and changes to eligibility criteria with grants in proportion to the fall in turnover in Q2 and Q3 compared to the corresponding period in 2019, has expanded the number of enterprises that will apply for the measures.

"That is the key to keep workers in the tourism sector. Since the outbreak of the pandemic we have stressed that this is the most important link in the chain to keep jobs and in that regard, the survival of enterprises. We welcome the government's decision to continue implementing its measures until the end of the year in the belief that they will be extended to 1 April 2021 or the start of the tourism season," said Ostojic.

He believes that the recovery of the tourist trade is the key to Croatia's economic recovery and that it is essential to avoid laying off workers because that would have a negative impact on Croatia's overall recovery.

 ADAC: Italy and Croatia most popular destinations for Germans

Apart from that, HUT released the latest analysis by Germany's ADAC automobile association on travel by Germans this year noting that Croatia is just a step away from Italy in being the most popular foreign tourist destination for Germans in 2020 as 14.3% of Germans chose Croatia as their holiday destination while 14.9% opted for Italy.

However, according to the survey, Croatia once again surpassed Italy with regard to camping tourism with Istria chosen as the most popular camping region for Germans while Dalmatia 'jumped' from fifth to second place among most favorite regions.

"The results of this survey and the hugely positive step by Croatia's Istria and Dalmatia regions in the eyes of German tourists provides us with a clear direction for Croatia's tourism promotion and communication for next year," said Ostojic.

He added that ADAC's survey showed that Croatia's campsites recorded the best improvement in quality in Europe, including those in Istria which scored an average of 4.2 points on a scale of 1 to 5.

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ZAGREB, Oct 21,  2020 - The head of the national Covid response team, Davor Bozinovic, said on Wednesday that as long as the number of people infected with coronavirus continued to grow they would concentrate on punishing violations of epidemiological measures, in particular legal entities.

Bozinovic visited the National Civil Protection Authority's warehouse in Jastrebarsko and told reporters that new measures would not be needed to curb the spread of coronavirus if measures already adopted were adhered to.

"We are monitoring the situation. The numbers are growing. They are growing outside Croatia too," said Bozinovic and underlined that they will concentrate the most on the measures in place, in particular the obligations of legal entities that organize events or other commercial acclivities where people fluctuate.

In that regard, he said, "we will punish any behavior that is not in accordance with the epidemiological measures."

He claimed that they had invested a lot of effort, including the Croatian Institute for Public Health which adopted detailed recommendations for all commercial and social activities so that they would not have to shut down.

"That effort has been transformed into specific recommendations by the response team," said Bozinovic, calling on all citizens to adhere to all measures as the only way to slow down the spread of the virus in Croatia.

He underscored that as long as the epidemic lasts, citizens have to avoid any large gatherings, private parties, and meetings.

He noted that the measures in place were intended for public events and not for events in people's homes. He warned, however, that it is in those circumstances that citizens forget themselves the most which then results in the virus spreading when they go home or back to work.

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