ZAGREB, Aug 3, 2020 - Minister Tomo Medved on Monday said he was glad the entire government would be in Knin, which is a strong message that "calls on everyone to have a united approach aimed at creating an atmosphere of normalisation and closure of many chapters that, in a certain way, burden Croatian society."

Veterans' Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tomo Medved attended the opening of an exhibition of photographs in Rijeka entitled "25 years later" as part of the 25th anniversary of the Storm military operation.

"Croatian Veterans' Day is the day in the year that the entire society stops for a moment to recall the defenders who were prepared to sacrifice their lives for the freedom of the homeland. We show our respect to all those who contributed so that we can have an independent and sovereign Croatia and together create a prosperous and even better Croatia," said Minister Medved.

He underscored that he was proud of the cooperation with all Homeland War associations from Rijeka and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. "Croatia has achieved the majority of its strategic objectives and let's be proud of what we have done as a nation," Minister Medved said and called for new challenges that life brings to be accepted with optimism as Homeland War defenders did.

Important to mark 25th anniversary of Operation Storm with dignity

Medved reiterated that the message he wishes to send by attending the commemoration in Grubori is that now the most important thing is to mark the 25th anniversary of Operation Storm in a dignified manner and that later commemorations and activities will be discussed after that.

"We all know what the summer and autumn time brought Croatia, how much suffering and commemorations are ahead of us. As we have done so far, we will pay our respects with dignity both to Croatian defenders who died and to all the civilian victims," he said and added that now "we are concentrating on remembering those courageous defenders, the days of pride and glory."

We will mark the anniversary of Operation Storm on August 5 with dignity with the main programme in Knin as well as in other counties, cities and municipalities, which pleases us. The celebration will be different due to measures related to the coronavirus pandemic and foremost to protect the lives and health of citizens, Medved said.

Asked what deputy prime minister Boris Milosevic's attendance at the anniversary of Storm in Knin means, Medved reiterated that he was glad that the entire government would be there. "That is a strong message that calls on everyone to have a united approach, aimed at creating an atmosphere of normalisation and closure of many chapters that, in a certain way, burden Croatian society," he said.

August 3, 2020- Continuing our series on Zagreb’s international food offer and the stories behind these cuisines and businesses. This time, from Punjab to Tkalčićeva; Royal India.

Royal India in the heart of Zagreb is the longest standing restaurant that sells Indian food. Like its chefs, owner Satinder comes from north India, the area’s distinct cuisine of spicy curries, oven-baked and marinated meats, and inviting breads synonymous with the Indian restaurant offer around the world.


Satinder Pal Singh (far left) and some of the staff of Royal India © Vedran Pažin

My name is Satinder Pal Singh. I’m from the northern part of India, a city called Chandigarh. It’s the capital of Punjab and Haryana. It’s near New Delhi. I say near, it’s 250 kilometres away.

Here at Royal India we serve authentic Indian food. Mainly we concentrate on food from north India. The food from the north is totally different from food in the rest of India. In the south, the kitchen is totally different; dosas, fish. If you eat Indian food anywhere else in the world, 99% of the time you will be eating recipes from the north of India. It’s the most popular cuisine of India. We have a lot of different kinds of curries – chicken, lamb, and many vegetarian dishes - chicken tikka butter masala is the most popular one we make at Royal India. Northern India cuisine also comes with more bread than that in the south - naan breads made plain, with meat, with onion, with garlic, and chapatis. We always use Basmati rice. Only. That is very typical of Northern India. They use long grain rice in the south. Basmati rice has the best aroma, flavour, and texture (this is true – Kitchen Editor). We use Basmati rice because it grows in the north.

We use very different spices and flavours in Northern India cuisine. In the south, they use curry leaves, coconut, things like this. We use cardamom, cumin, fresh coriander and coriander seeds, star anise, black pepper, bay leaves, cinnamon, and a lot of spice mixes. We grind spices and mix them together in known amounts. The resulting mixture is called garam masala. We make our own specific garam masala here on the premises. We buy only whole spices. They are always the best. Whole spices stay fresh for longer and give a better aroma. The garam masala can vary from region to region. Across northern India, it is almost exactly the same. Within the restaurant setting, it depends on the chef.


Marinated, grilled meats are a specialty of northern Indian cuisine © Vedran Pažin

The biggest distributors of spices are in Germany and in the Netherlands. You just can’t find what we need in Croatia. We get our spices from them and they import directly from India, Turkey and even some parts of Africa.

We’ve been open now for six years. Our most popular dishes are Murgh Tikka Butter Masala, which is made with chicken and Lamb Rogan Josh. When I first arrived here, I saw the market and it wasn’t good. There was only one restaurant in Zagreb making Indian food back then and I wasn’t impressed. When we opened Royal India, they closed.

Croatian people seem to really like our food. We make the dishes according to their tastes; they can choose mild, medium, spicy or something more authentic. We ask. Every curry we make individually, fresh to order. Because we’re on Tkalčićeva, we also usually get a lot of international visitors. They are normally already familiar with Indian cuisine. You can tell because they order different things and they usually already know what they want to order from the menu by the time the waiting staff come to the table. Croatian people who are less familiar with Indian cuisine sometimes need more guidance around the menu, explanations and, of course, we are very happy to do that.

All of our kitchen staff are from India. They are all from the north of India. At first, when I was holding interviews, most of them did not even know where Croatia was. I had to explain. In the past, it was very difficult to get working visas for such specialist chefs. Four years ago it was tough. They had a quota system and it was first come, first served. If you were not among the first to apply for that year’s quota, you had to wait for one whole year to apply again. The quota was 31 chefs for the whole of Croatia, irrespective of origin or specialty. But, now they changed the system and we no longer have any problem. It’s much more liberal now. The implications for businessmen, foreign investors in Croatia, are greatly improved because of this change alone. The change coincided with Croatia becoming a full member of the European Union. Quite a few young Croatians have left, to take advantage of job opportunities elsewhere in Europe. The deficit of manpower prompted the change. This is how the international jobs market is supposed to work.


Mango lassi (a sweet yogurt drink), curry, chapati, biryani (a rice dish) and marinated, grilled paneer cheese at Royal India © Vedran Pažin

I first came to this region because of business. I was importing textiles from Bosnia. I wanted to expand the business into Croatia, but we had difficulties. We could sell our product, no problem. The difficulty was getting people to pay their invoices. So, I decided to open a restaurant instead. Here, people pay immediately, so we don’t have that problem. I couldn’t have opened this kind of business in Bosnia because the economy is so much worse there. And the locals are much more hesitant to try foreign food. In Zagreb, the people are more openminded and more well-travelled. The import and export area I was in is now populated by a lot of Chinese and Turkish businesses. There’s a lot more competition than when I was doing it. I’m much happier doing this.

I live in the centre of Zagreb. One of the best things about living here is that it’s so safe. People are really very friendly. When I have time off from the business I enjoy sitting with friends. They are mostly Croatian. It was easy to make friends here. We usually go to coffee shops or each other's homes. I normally suggest a coffee shop on Tkalčićeva, just because it’s easy for me to get back to work if I’m needed.

We didn’t do home delivery during the restaurant lockdown. Our sales went down 80% over the year as a result. I have another restaurant in Dubrovnik, Incredible India; we didn’t even open yet this year. In the season, I usually travel constantly between Zagreb and Dubrovnik. Four or five times a month. We are currently moving the restaurant to a new site in the Old Town, so construction work is happening and I must travel to oversee that. We should be opening in the first few days of August, although I haven’t seen many tourists there this year. That’s a worry. The funds for the restaurant move are coming purely from my own pocket. I will wait until the end of the year, see the situation and maybe make some decision then.

You can visit Royal India at Tkalčićeva 26

You can read the introduction to our series on Zagreb international cuisine and the first installment here

To follow our whole series on international cuisine and to follow the Croatian restaurant and gastro scene, keep an eye on our Gourmet pages here

ZAGREB, Aug 3, 2020 - In the past 24 hours, 34 new cases of the coronavirus have been identified in Croatia and there are currently 703 active cases in the country while four people have died, the national COVID response team said on Monday.

"In the past 24 hours there have bee 34 new cases of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the current number of patients (active cases) in Croatia today stands at 703," the response team reported.

One hundred and thirty patients are being treated in hospitals, six of whom are on ventilators. Four people have died.

Since 25 February 2020 when the first case was recorded in Croatia, there have been 5,294 cases of people infected with the coronavirus, 153 who have died, and 4,4,38 who have recovered.

There are currently 2,520 people in self-isolation.

A total of 122,083 have been tested for the virus to date and of that number 763 tests have been conducted in the past 24 hours, the response team informed.

ZAGREB, Aug 3 2020 - Several human rights organisations on Monday welcomed the "positive institutional progress" made ahead of the 25th anniversary of Operation Storm, expressing hope that it would be followed up with specific solutions to ensure the exercise of long-awaited rights by civilian victims of the 1991-1995 war.

The ROSA Centre for Women Victims of War, the Centre for Civil Courage, the Banja Luka-based Centre for Democracy and Transitional Justice, the Sarajevo-based Association for Social Research and Communications, and the Women's Network of Croatia welcomed the decision by Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic, of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, to attend the commemoration of Operation Storm in Knin on August 4.

Also, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Veterans' Affairs, Tomo Medved, will be attending a commemoration in Grubori where five elderly Serbs were killed on August 25, 1995 in the wake of Operation Storm.

"We welcome the positive institutional progress made in recent days and hope that these symbolic steps will be followed up with specific solutions to ensure the exercise of long-awaited rights by civilian victims of the war," the non-governmental organisations said in a joint statement.

Citizens of Croatia were called upon "to seize the initiative because the political elites have for too long used the traumas of the war for purposes of daily politics and glorified war crimes instead of condemning them."

The NGOs noted that many people remained unaccounted-for from the war and that those responsible for ethnic cleansing and war crimes had not been brought to justice to date. In order to stop the abuse of the war and militarisation of the state, they called for promoting a culture of accountability, facing the past, and showing sincere solidarity with all war victims.

August 3, 2020 - Tourism is changing, and Croatia is in pole position to take advantage. Is it time for the digital nomad visa?

Imagine you came on holiday to a beautiful country like Croatia. You dipped your toes into the azure waters of the Adriatic, sent your Instagram photos back to your friends, who would surely be on the next plane. And, as you sipped on a cold beer, contemplating which of the 1,185 idyllic islands you would explore next with your remote working lifestyle, the perfect picture becomes tinged with sadness. 

For you are not the right type of foreigner, and your access to this paradise is time-limited. 

Never mind that you are spending heavily in the bars and restaurants. 

Never mind that your Instagram posts are bringing your high-spending friends to this Adriatic heaven - for a while at least - so that they too can enjoy, spend and inspire their friends to travel. 

All things must come to an end, for foreigners can only visit for a finite time, and then they must return whence they came. For this is Croatian bureaucracy, baby. 

Croatia is blessed with the most beautiful country in Europe, bar none. It has developed the best lifestyle in Europe, bar none. 

If it could only be blessed with common sense, the future is incredibly bright. 

Estonia has done it. 

Barbados has done it.

Georgia has done it. 

And they are all set to - or already are - benefit big time. 

A simple vision. 

A simple piece of legislation. 

The digital nomad visa. 

More and more people - wealth-creating people - are working in the same global office. It is called the Internet. There are only two variables in the office - connectivity (3G, 4G, 5G) and time zones. Apart from that, the office can be almost anywhere in the world. 

When people leave the office, they go home. Some go home to their friends and family in the village of their birth, but a growing number come home to  - and spend money in - a home which is based on lifestyle. 

Leave the office and have a swim in the Adriatic before dinner, that kind of thing. 

If Croatia has the best lifestyle in Europe, and more and more wealth- (and job) creating entrepreneurs working remotely are looking for lifestyle opportunities, has Croatia ever had a better opportunity to redefine its tourism on sustainability and a future direction based on safety, healthy living, lifestyle and authentic experiences?

A simple match made in heaven. 

So what is needed to make this work? A tiny compromise from the infamous Croatian bureaucracy. 

A digital nomad visa 

Rather than restrict a wealth-creating foreign entrepreneur with his beach time, why not encourage them to come, relax, enjoy the lifestyle, inspire the mindset... and spend? 

Estonia - with the highest number of unicorns per capita in the world - has led the way. Georgia has done it. Barbados has done it. 

Lonely Planet is featuring the cool new countries who have done it. 

Why not Croatia, and let's make Dubrovnik, the digital nomad visa lifestyle capital of Europe. 

Is it so hard?  

One successful Dutch entrepreneur living in Split, Jad de Jong, doesn't think so. He recently wrote to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, asking the Croatian leader to introduce a digital nomad visa. 

After all, as a tourism country that has no interest in limiting tourist time at the beach, why would we want to restrict tourist enjoyment of the lifestyle?

For more on the digtial nomad debate in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section. 

August 3, 2020 - Shortly after 1 pm, a fire in Split was reported on the famous Riva.

Police say a report arrived that two motorcycles were burning at the southern entrance to the basements of Diocletian's Palace. Eyewitnesses say that the electric scooter caught fire and that the fire spread to the other vehicles.

Slobodna Dalmacija reported that the thick smoke spread in all directions. Ivan Kovacevic, the commander of JVP Split, said that details will be announced later. Eyewitnesses testify that six or seven engines burned, and there is considerable damage.

Dalmacija Danas reports that flames also affected nearby palm trees, and the terrace of a nearby cafe was also damaged. JVP Split firefighters rushed to the intervention and quickly extinguished the fire. The cleaning of the Riva is in progress.

"At one point there was smoke in the air. We realized that the engines on the Riva had caught fire. The flames engulfed a dozen motorcycles and other parked motors that had already begun to melt. We moved one car so firefighters could approach to extinguish the fire. Firefighters arrived very quickly and everything was resolved in half an hour. The damage would have been much greater if we had not reacted quickly," said a man from Split who witnessed the event.

Interestingly, this fire broke out on the same date as last year’s fire at Peristyle. Recall, an apartment on the second floor caught fire, owned by the City of Split, where the Ivo Pilar Institute is located. With the quick intervention of firefighters, the fire was extinguished in no time.

Firefighters are at the scene, and the police will investigate the incident once the area is extinguished. 

More info soon...

August 3, 2020 - In July, Istria achieved 60 percent of last year's tourist traffic. According to eVisitor, 630,000 arrivals were recorded on the Peninsula last month, and in 2020 so far, the number of visitors exceeded one million.

Glas Istre reports that on average, guests spent more than seven days on holiday, and in July, there were 4.77 million tourist overnights. The number of overnights spent since the beginning of this year in Istria increased to 6.7 million.

Caution and the higher possibility of respecting social isolation measures have taken their toll, so when it comes to Istria County, so this July, the most in-demand accommodation was camps and holiday homes. These two segments of the tourist offer, when absolute numbers are in question, achieved the best results. The category listed in eVisitor as household facilities recorded more than 200,000 tourists in July, and 1.5 million tourist overnight stays. These results are thirty percent worse than those achieved last July, but given that holiday homes and villas with swimming pools, which are extremely popular this summer, are in the same category as apartments, for which the demand is still somewhat lower, it can be assumed that a large number of buildings from this first group passed this July without the slightest gaps.

Istrian hotels also had slightly better occupancy than in June, but given the specific situation with the organization of business and compliance with all prescribed epidemiological measures, most of them opened their doors only last month. Hotel accommodation in Istria recorded 114 thousand tourist arrivals in July, and almost 640 thousand overnight stays, which is about 40 percent of the result achieved last year. When it comes to far smaller numbers, there are also segments of the tourist offer on the Peninsula, which, even in these times burdened by the constant threat of COVID, managed to achieve results that surpassed those of last year. In that sense, the absolute champion of July 2020 in Istria is nautical tourism, which with 4,207 arrivals and 33,329 overnight stays in both comparative indices, exceeds last year's results by about 2 percent.

In terms of the number of guests, the first are the Germans, who in July were only about 10 percent less than last year. The Slovenes overtook the Austrians in second place, who traveled far less abroad this summer due to a solid campaign by the Austrian government and the local media. While arrivals from Germany to Istria reach 87 percent, and from Slovenia, 95 percent of last year, those from Austria were halved. Thus, in July, the number of Austrians on the Istrian coast was as much as 53 percent lower than in the comparable period last year.

When looking at individual Istrian destinations, compared to July last year, Medulin is at as much as 95 percent, and Porec and Rovinj at about 90 percent. Interestingly, near Istria, there is one town that was 2-3 percent better than July last year - Crikvenica.

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ZAGREB, Aug 3, 2020 - The number of Croatian industrial workers in June declined by 0.5% from May and by 3.3% from June 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

Compared with May, the largest decreases in the number of workers were observed in tobacco production (-19.4%), other manufacturing industries (-6.7%) and in the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (-3.0%). The largest increase was recorded in crude petroleum and natural gas extraction (+1.7%).

Year on year, the largest decreases were registered in the manufacture of refined petroleum products (-17.2%) and tobacco production (-10.1%), while the largest increases were observed in textile production (+11.8%), the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and preparations (+4.6%) and the manufacture of finished metal products (+1.8%).

In the first half of 2020, compared with the same period of 2019, the number industrial workers dropped by 3.0%, and productivity declined by 2.8%.

In June, compared with the same month of last year, industrial production fell by 1.8%, declining for eight months in a row, but at a slower rate than in May when it fell by 12.4% year on year, its largest contraction since the recession year of 2009.