ZAGREB, October 18, 2020  - Croatia will send by the end of June its list of priority areas for funding from the 2021-2027 funds to Brussels, Regional Development Minister Natasa Tramisak told Hina.

Next week, Commissioner for Cohesion Elisa Ferreira will meet with Minister Tramisak, and the European Commission (EC) will request that Croatia urgently send its list of priority areas for funding from the 2021-2027 funds.

The EC thinks that none of the 27 member states will adopt and send its plan by the end of March, and Croatia says it will send it by the end of June.

"Everything depends on the process of adopting the regulatory framework at the EU level. The negotiation process on the legislative framework, which regulates the use of 2021-2027 funds, has not yet been finished at the EU level," Tramisak said.

The European Commission wants to know what kind of projects Croatia wants to finance with the money from the joint budget in the next seven-year period. Until Croatia sends the document to Brussels, it will not be able to access €9.3 billion allocated to it.

With the cohesion policy, the EU aims to reduce disparities between rich and poor parts of the 27-country bloc.

In the 2014-2020 period, Croatia has contracted projects, the biggest of which is the construction of Peljesac bridge, absorbing the entire amount of €10.7 billion allocated for it in the EU budget. The projects can be realised by 2023, and to date about 36% has been paid out to users in Croatia.

In March 2019, the EC published a report saying that Croatia and other countris should as of 2021 use the funds to finance projects for digitalisation, green economy, connectivity, social affairs and getting closer to citizens. In September 2019, it held a meeting in Brussels with the then Regional Development Minister Marko Pavic, but a partnership agreement was not signed.

The partnership agreement would define Croatia's investment priorities.

Croatia still has time to presents its plan of priorities, said EC spokesperson for cohesion policy Vivian Loonela.

We are aware of the fact that Croatia faced difficult circumstances in 2020: the coronavirus pandemic, the presidency of the Council of the EU, mostly during a lockdown, the earthquake in Zagreb and parliamentary elections in July, she added.

Minister Tramisak did not say what Croatia's funding priorities would be, but she said that they would follow European priorities.

Croatia joined the EU in July 2013, and as the newest member was able to use funds during the entire seven-year period, from January 1, 2014 to the end of 2020. The partnership agreement for that period was concluded only on December 16, 2014.

In this phase (until January 1), there is no reason to speak of delay, Loonela said. In case there is a delay, and that European legislation and national programmes are not adopted by January 1, 2021, member states will be able to finance approved projects themselves, and will receive money from the EU budget later, she said.

ZAGREB, October 18, 2020 - The moratorium on debt enforcements ends on Monday, October 19, and according to available data, citizens owe the biggest amount of money to financial institutions.

Citizens owe the biggest amount of money to banks, which includes loans and credit card bills, so the debt to the financial sector amounts to 35% of the total debt.

The most common creditors are from the telecommunications sector, but the total debt to them accounts for less than 5%.

Utility debts, including water, gas and electricity bills, make up 1.6% of the total debt.

Enforcement to be carried out in three phases

Debt enforcement will be conducted in three phases, starting on October 19, November 20 and January 20.

In the first phase, enforcement decisions made on the basis of applications received by June 30 will be issued, those received by August 31 will be issued in the second phase, and in the third phase decisions made on the basis of applications received by October 18 wil be issued.

Most citizens owe up to HRK 10k

Data from the Financial Agency's (FINA) system for execution of enforcement over monetary assets have shown that the largest number of enforcement debtors, 109,000 or 46% of citizens with blocked bank accounts, owed up to HRK 10,000, while the total amount of their debt was HRK 396 million.

For every third enforcement debtor, the creditor is a bank or another financial institution, FINA has said.

FINA's data have also shown that 1,475 citizens owe as much as HRK 6.7 billion, or 40.2% of the total debt of citizens, which amounts to HRK 16 billion.

Among them, there are even those who owe about HRK 30 million.

There are 101,500 citizens who owe more than HRK 10,000 but less than HRK 100,000, and their total debt is HRK 3.6 billion.

Amendments to Act on Execution of Enforcement over Monetary Assets

On April 18, FINA stopped executing enforcement over monetary assets of a total of 244,865 enforcement debtors who are natural persons. The execution of 1,089,620 enforcement procedures was halted, and the total amount of uncollected debt was HRK 23.9 billion.

Mid-July, the government extended the moratorium on enforcement over monetary assets of citizens and natural persons, as well as on the execution of all enforcement procedures.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday in a government session that he expected there would be fewer enforcements than before the measures were adopted.

This week, amendments to the act on execution of enforcement over monetary aseets were put to public consultation, and Justice and Public Administration Minister Ivan Malenica said that the government had shown that it was sensitive about social matters since enforcement procedures would be about HRK 600 cheaper, and Christmas and Easter bonuses, as well as other social benefits, would be exempt from enforcement.

Association of enforcement debtors: Amendments are unfair

An assocation of enforcement debtors said on Saturday that national security had to be taken into account when working on the act on execution of enforcement at such extraordinary times, and said that amendments to that law could not be accepted because the law was unfair and carried too many risks.

The association said in its press release that it was impossible to predict all social implications the "new normal" would have, noting that the coronavirus pandemic was redefining the face of the world and Croatia.

(€1 = 7.57 HRK)

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes on the 18th of October, 2020, the Croatian shipbuilding company Agena Marin from Biograd, known for its semi-submarines with glazed bottoms and small taxi catamarans, which sail the Croatian and international seas, will present its new innovative creation next week at the Biograd Boat Show. It is a new ecological, commercial vessel in retro design.

''The Solar Ferry is an extremely economical boat, without fuel and service costs, and its purpose is to transport passengers on shorter routes and panoramic rides, romantic tours or campaign cruising along the shores of the sea or lakes, which enriches the tourist offer. It's a completely ecological and economically acceptable commercial vessel called Solar Ferry, which is powered by solar power and electricity,'' explained Mladen Peharda, the owner of Agena Marin.

The new ship built by Agena Marina is eight and a half metres long and has a capacity of up to 12 passengers, and its purpose is to transport passengers on shorter distances and panoramic rides.

"The boat has a line of steamships from the 1920s and I see it as an ideal tourist vessel for so-called ''champagne cruising'' or some romantic tours along the coast or lakes. Something like a tourist carriage ride through the city. However, this shape of the ship was taken for another reason, and it's related to its economy. Namely, in the past, hulls were designed to be as efficient as possible, because at that time there were simply no engines of unlimited horsepower. We took it on because we wanted a low-resistance hull, which would be well-suited to solar and electric propulsion,'' Peharda explains.

Apart from the retro hull and solar panels, economic viability was achieved through the construction of the ship itself, since it was built in a vacuum infusion of extremely light, "sandwich" material. In addition to the reduced weight, this segment also introduces an additional environmental component, as the material is mostly based on recycled PET packaging. On top of that, great savings throughout the project were achieved through the use of ordinary AGM batteries, instead of the otherwise much more expensive lithium ones. The batteries are very easy to charge, because the power of solar panels on a hardtop is 1,500-2,000 W. The estimated travel speed is 5.5 knots and the battery capacity of the solar roof allows sailing time of five to eight hours, depending on the speed and load of the ship.

That's why Agena Marin's innovative Solar Ferry has no fuel and service costs, and it's completely affordable. The manufacturer has prepared a discount for the first three customers to board Solar Ferry at the aforementioned boat show, and the price of a standard equipped boat will be around 300,000 kuna, which is two to three times cheaper than can be found abroad in this category and size of boat.

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October 18, 2020 - Croatia's best tennis player, Borna Coric, advanced to the final of the ATP tournament in St. Petersburg after defeating Canadian Milos Raonic 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinal after an hour and 56 minutes of play.

Jutarnji List reports that this was the second meeting between Coric and Raonic in which Coric retaliated against the Canadian for losing in Delray Beach three years ago.

With the victory against Raonic, Coric repeated last year's result in St. Petersburg, when he also reached the final. However, last year, Russian Danil Medvedev was more successful. On Sunday, Coric will also play against a Russian opponent for the title, but it will be Andrey Rublev.

Coric's appearance in Sunday's final will be his seventh final match on the ATP Tour. So far, he has won two titles, Marrakesh 2017 and Halle 2018, while his last appearance in the final was just last year in St. Petersburg in September.

Coric lost the first set very quickly, and the key was the second game, which lasted more than 10 minutes. Coric saved three breaks, each with an excellent serve, but on the fourth, he made a double fault. Raonic then quickly reached a 5-0 lead, and thus the set.

However, in the second set, the situation changed completely. Coric started to return Raonic's powerful serve much better, and already with a 1-0 lead, he reached three breakpoints. He used the third for 2-0, which was Raonic's first lost service game in the tournament. Coric did not stop there; with an advantage of 3-0 and three excellent winners, he reached an advantage of 15-40 on the opponent's serve. Raonic missed one backhand, and Coric reached an unattainable 4-0.

At the beginning of the third set, Coric managed to save three breaks in his first service game in that set. After overcoming a small crisis, he played much better again and managed the 3-2 advantage. By the end of the match, Coric held his serve firmly for a significant victory.

"I don't know if I ever played as badly as in the first set. In the second set, I found my rhythm, played better and in the end managed to win," said Coric after the match, and then looked back at his next opponent, Rublev, against whom he's lost in all three previous duels:

"Rublev plays perhaps the best tennis of his life. I hope I will be able to play my best match on Sunday as well."

Rublev reached the final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against another Canadian player, Denis Shapovalov. For the 22-year-old, it will be the eighth final in his career, and he has won five titles so far.

Coric and Rublev meet today at 15:30. 

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ZAGREB, October 17, 2020 - Police and the Zagreb County Prosecutor's Office said on Saturday that the armed attack on the government building which occured on Monday was attempted murder of three police officers, confirming that it had elements of a terrorist act.

Police showed reporters security camera footage of the attack, which shows 22-year-old assailant Danijel Bezuk firing a certain amount of ammunition in St. Mark's Square, changing the clip on his weapon as he was walking, after which he fired a few more bullets and then aborted the attack after one of the police officers guarding the government building fired back.

Apart from the lives of the three police officers, one of whom was seriously wounded, also in danger were the lives of other people, said police.

Police Director Nikola Milina and Zagreb County Prosecutor Jurica Ilic confirmed the crime had elements of terrorism.

For the time being the crime is still not being treated as a crime against humanity and we need to wait for the findings of the investigation, Milina said.

Ilic said that prosecutors and police would continue conducting measures with regard to other persons and events that could be linked with the incident in St. Mark's Square.

Milina said police were gathering information about the attacker as well as all persons who had been in contact with him.

He expressed condolences to the family of the assailant who after the incident committed suicide but warned that the information collected so far showed that radicalisation could have influenced his conduct.

Warning about the appearance of various types of threatening behaviour in society, he said that police were doing their best to prevent such conduct and protect all citizens, including political officials.

Croatia is a safe country and police and all the other services and prosecutorial authorities are working to keep the highest possible level of public security, he said.

Milina pointed to the widespread availability of weapons, noting that from 12 to 16 October police recorded 83 voluntary handovers of weapons and explosive devices, including 12 machine guns, four semi-automatic firearms, two pistols, 53 hand grenades and close to a kilogram of explosive.

Commenting on criticism that the security of senior office-holders in St. Mark's Square was not adequate, Milina said security measures had been stepped up but that the police officers' response to the attack showed that the regime in force until now was functioning.

Police have determined, rather precisely even though not entirely, the route of the attacker's movement.

The attack was very fast and sudden, the motive is still being established, Milina said, adding that for the time being he could neither confirm not rule out that the attacker wanted to enter the government building.

As for media reports that before the attack the assailant looked for information on the web on the movement of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and President Zoran Milanovic, Milina said that those reports did not fully correspond with the facts established by the police.

He said the recording of the attack was shown because of different interpretations and information which made most people believe only one police officer had been attacked.

ZAGREB, October 18, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours, there have 819 new cases of the coronavirus infection in Croatia and eight fatalities, and the number of active cases now stands at 5,164, the national COVID-19 response team said on Sunday.

There are 548 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including 32 who are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 25,580 people have contracted the novel virus, 363 of them have died and 20,053 have recovered, including 491 over the past 24 hours.

Currently, 21,148 people are self-isolating.

To date, 397,000 people have been tested for coronavirus, 4,948 of whom in the last 24 hours.

October 18, 2020 - On Sunday, in Soelden, Austria, the best Croatian skier Filip Zubcic kicked off his new World Cup season in the giant slalom, a discipline in which he achieved his first victory last season and finished third in the overall standings.

Going into Sunday's performance, Zubcic was second in the FIS giant slalom rankings, behind Frenchman Alexis Pinturault. The 27-year-old from Zagreb said on Saturday he is ready for the traditional opening of the season in Soelden, where he made his debut in the World Cup eight years ago.

"We are expecting a slightly different opening of the season because there will be no audience, no fans. I feel great, I ski well, I believe I am in solid shape, and I can't wait for the season to start," said Zubcic ahead of his 105th appearance in World Cup races.

The Zagreb native shone in the second half of last season, before it was interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic, when he climbed the podium three times, winning second place in the giant slalom in Adelboden, Switzerland and Hinterstoder, Austria, and achieving his first victory in Naeba, Japan.

Thanks to these results, Filip was third among the giant slalom skiers at the end of the season with 368 points and in the fight for the small crystal globe, and with 475 points, he was 14th in the standings for the big crystal globe.

Reaching full competitive maturity, Zubcic enters this season as one of the favorites for a high place in giant slalom races. He will be able to continue to prove his ski versatility in slalom.

So far, performances in Soelden have not been too lucky for Zubcic because he was only once in the second run and among the points winners. In 2015, he finished in 12th place. He failed to qualify for the second run three times, and twice he was left without a place in the first, which was the case last season.

But now, he will also have the advantage of a better starting number, as he would start among the top seven.

"As for my goals, I would like to ski as well as possible in both runs, without calculations. I think that then the result will not be missed," concluded the best Croatian skier.

The first giant slalom run in Soelden was held at 10 am on Sunday, in which Zubcic was solid. 

HRT Screenshot

Namely, the Croatian skier is currently 78 hundredths of a second behind the currently leading Swiss Gino Caviezel, who achieved a time of 1:08.13 with the starting number 12. For a long time, the leader was Slovenian Žan Kranjec, who had the first starting number and achieved a time of 1:08.19.

Croatia's best skier started well and was four-hundredths better than Kranjec in the first pass, but by the second pass, he lost his rhythm and was 1.18 seconds behind. He finally managed to accelerate and finished the first run with 72 hundredths of a second behind Kranjec.

Last season’s big Crystal Globe winner Alexander Aamodt Kilde failed to finish the first run.

The second run is scheduled at 1:15 pm. You can watch the broadcast on HRT 2. 

More soon...

Source: HRT

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October 18, 2020 - Nine klapas from four continents will perform on Sunday, October 18 at 3 pm (Croatia time) in the ONLINE LIVE SHOW program - Klape Worldwide on Facebook.

This special virtual concert will feature klapa singers who live and reside in Munich, Buenos Aires, South Africa, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Windsor, New York and Santiago. The following klapas will perform: men's klapas Croatia München (Germany), BA (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Astoria (New York, USA), Ova Klapa (Johannesburg, South African Republic), Frankfurt (Germany), mixed klapa Kartolina (Windsor, Canada), and women’s klapas Valovi (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Snaga (Santiago, Chile), and Filiae Croatiae (Stuttgart, Germany). 

Mijo Stanić, director of the Festival of Dalmatian Klapas Omiš will deliver a special message to all performers while the concert will end with a song performed by the famous tenor Vladimir Garić from the klapa Cambi. The entire program will last about 90 minutes and is hosted by Romano Sole. The idea of ​​networking the klapa song on the Internet came from Dubravko Šunjerga from the klapa Croatia Munich, who also wants to send a message that the klapa song and the Croatian cultural heritage are preserved abroad. Although separated by huge distances, emigrant klapas communicate with each other, exchange music and help each other. Most of all, they are happy to host our music leaders and klapas from whom they can learn and exchange valuable experiences. 

Facebook link to watch the virtual concert - https://fb.me/e/1HZDA5O6n

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