April the 2nd, 2021 - Croatian Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic has spoken out publicly about the continued government efforts to help companies keep their heads above water as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. This state aid includes economic help and so-called job preservation measures. Aladrovic stated that they can't simply go on forever.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic was a recent guest on Dnevnik N1, where he spoke about the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and what it means for the country as the pandemic continues.

To begin with, he said the plan envisions 54 percent of the funds going to the domestic economy.

"This is the segment in which we expect the most job creation and the highest quality jobs, and that means that most investments will go to the real sector. 100,000 seems ambitious, but it's also realistic. I must mention that in the last four years, we've created a little less than 110,000 jobs,'' he said and added:

"At the end of the term, we only had 110,000 more jobs than we did at the beginning of the term, so these numbers we want to compare stand at 100,000 more than today, and I'm sure we'llsucceed and we want to reach 70% employment."

New workplaces

"It's up to the state to create the preconditions for jobs to be created. We have several chapters here that show where these investments will be directed. The economy will use these funds to create new jobs. We hope that it will be in industries that are more advanced, that are more technologically aware and of course that these will be jobs that will create more added value. In other areas as well, we've allocated more than a billion kuna precisely in the aspect of the green and digital sectors, where we expect not only to generate 100,000 new jobs but we expect them to better quality jobs,'' noted Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic.

He also explained that they have another month to better set goals, after which the approval of the European Commission (EC) is to be awaited, and after which the implementation of the plan will actually concretely begin.

Reform salaries by the end of the term

Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic also referred to the reform of salaries in the state and public sector.

"The salary reform in the state and public administration is something we've been talking about for a long time now. Last year, which was entirely marked by the pandemic, wasn't the one in which we tackled that reform, but we applied for funding so we could implement that reform and listed it as a priority and a goal.

We'll certainly implement the salary reform in both the state and public administration in two to three years. We've committed ourselves to implement this within these deadlines. It is important to state that a significant aspect of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan are these goals. It's important that these reforms are implemented in parallel with investments. I'm sure that this mix of reforms and investments will be positive for us," he said.

Government measures and state aid cannot be infinite

Aladrovic also said that higher expenditures from salaries for healthcare weren't a topic of conversation. "What the healthcare system is facing is an increase in costs in the middle of a pandemic, but also a multi-year accumulation of liabilities. I must mention that, as far as I know, the increase in contributions wasn't a topic,'' he said.

He also said that government aid measures cannot last indefinitely.

"That isn't going to simply be infinite and we're all aware that can't be the case, given that part of the funds are financed from the state budget. Now we have a challenging epidemiological situation, I want to emphasise that while there are problems in the economy, and when certain segments can't operate at their pre-pandemic levels, we're going to be here to help, but it simply isn't possible for this sort of help to last indefinitely," he warned.

"Our first projections were that we would need help for January or February, now we're already in April, I'm sure that in the second part of April we'll see what the epidemiological and economic situation is and determine possible help for May accordingly. As long as there is a need, we'll do everything to help out workers and employers as much as possible,'' Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic concluded.

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April the 2nd, 2021 - Following hopeful announcements of German motorhomes on Croatian roads and Istria being promoted by Die Welt for eager German tourists, things have taken a dramatic downhill turn as the German authorities place Croatia on the high coronavirus risk list.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, on Thursday, Germany included the counties of Istria and Bjelovar-Bilogora in the list of regions with a high risk of coronavirus infection, and things have only become worse as the German Government place Croatia as a country in that unfortunate category.

Due to the growing number of newly infected people, the Robert Koch State Epidemiological Institute has declared the last two Croatian counties that were not on the list as risk areas.

A negative coronavirus test and ten days of mandatory quarantine

The above decision to place Croatia on the high risk list takes effect on Saturday, April the 3rd, and means that all people coming to Germany from Croatia will have to present a negative test for coronavirus no older than 48 hours and be quarantined for ten days after returning regardless of the result.

Self-isolation can be terminated after five days with if another negative test result is obtained after the fifth day.

Along with the Balearic islands, Istria has so far been one of the rare tourist destinations for German citizens that was not on the list of high risk areas.

Numerous Germans travelled for the Easter holidays despite appeals from the authorities not to

Despite appeals from politicians, many Germans travelled abroad for the Easter holidays this week.

Due to the large number of tourists traveling to Mallorca, the German Government passed a decree on Tuesday requiring travellers returning from that Spanish island to show a negative coronavirus test, even though Mallorca isn't currently on the list of risk regions. The interior ministry explained this by saying that those people could have easily had contact with tourists from other countries which are on the list.

The German Government also considered banning travel abroad entirely, as the United Kingdom has done unless that travel is for necessary purposes, but dropped it for both constitutional and legal reasons.

For all current information on coronavirus specific to Croatia, including border and travel rules, as well as testing centres up and down the country, make sure to bookmark this page.

April the 2nd, 2021 - Nanobit founder Alan Sumina has made no effort to hide his disgust and frustration with the state of Croatia's draconian love of red tape and slowing down progress, taking to Facebook to voice his feelings.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Nanobit founder Alan Sumina has commented on the slowness of Croatian bureaucracy and a system which appears to seek to actively prevent progress being made in business in this country. He posted a status on Facebook in which he described the process of opening a new company in Croatia. He spent as long as two weeks on the process and still hasn’t solved everything yet. He had to personally go to the counters at various offices, to the notary, to the bank, etc. An endless and mind numbing process those of us who live here know only too well.

Here is Nanobit founder Alan Sumina's Facebook status translated and delivered in full:

"It seems to me that twelve years ago it was easier to open a company here than it is today.

It's truly frightening to what extent the bureaucracy has destroyed this country and the extent to which it continues to destroy it. I'm just trying to open a new company, of course I naively thought that a power of attorney could be given to sort it all out on my behalf, but no, no. One must make a personal pilgrimage to the public notary, to the bank, to FINA, to the office for statistics… Then, ah, you don't need a stamp, but you do still need it, so don't end up just not making a stamp [because you'll still end up needing it], I was told that by the public notary).

Then comes the register of real owners. So, the sole founder needs to be entered into the court register, the matter couldn't be simpler than it is, but that needs to be entered into the register of beneficial owners which is dealt with by no more and no less than that fictional agency called FINA.

Great, I gave the power of attorney to my accountant to do it - but no, no, he can't do that. It has to be done in person. Or go and notarise the power of attorney at the public notary.

And so, as I have been for two weeks now, I'm still touring various counters just to start up a new company.

What's wrong here? Where is the abolition of those stamps? I've opened companies in the United Kingdom, Hungary and Romania. I've never had to stamp anything anywhere. I never had to go around the counters anywhere. This really is ab absolute horror, and it's not that we haven't moved forward, it's that we're actually going backwards!''

For more on Croatian entrepreneurs, doing business in Croatia and more, follow our business section.

April the 2nd, 2021 - The number of Croatian emigrants in Germany has doubled since Croatia joined the European Union (EU) back in July 2013 and freedom of movement laws became applicable to the country.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, there were 426,845 Croatian emigrants in Germany last year, which means that the number of Croatian citizens in that country almost doubled after Croatia's accession to the EU because there were 224,971 of them registered there back in 2012, Vecernji list reports.

According to the National Statistics Office in Wiesbaden, Croatian emigrants in Germany are in 6th place when it comes to foreign immigrants after the citizens of Turkey, Poland, Syria, Romania and Italy. Last year, 26,335 Croatian citizens immigrated from Croatia to Germany.

In the pandemic dominated year, Germany had the lowest influx of foreigners, but the question is how comforting it is that fewer Croatian citizens emigrated last year, especially compared to the worst years of exodus in 2018, 2017, and 2016 when, according to the precise German statistics, more than 50,000 Croatian citizens arrived in Germany.

Political scientist and historian Tado Juric from the Croatian Catholic University predicts that due to the change in the way of working brought about by the pandemic, which will increasingly lead to more and more remote work, the emigration of Croats to Germany could stop within around five years, and some of those previous Croatian emigrants in Germany could also return.

"The West won't give up on importing labour for some time to come as a key measure in rebuilding its population. But even that will not last forever. Under the influence of the fourth industrial revolution, which gained unprecedented acceleration with the appearance of the coronavirus crisis, a completely new form of economy was created.

Teleworking will replace many jobs in such a way that after the socialisation of workers and students, which we're only just witnessing, many occupations will move into the field of teleworking. That means that a worker from Moldova, for example, will do from his apartment what a Croat is doing now in Stuttgart. My assessment is that in five years, due to this complete transformation of the way of working that teleworking brings, emigration from Croatia will stop, but there will also be a bigger return of former emigrants home,'' said Juric.

For more on Croatian demographic issues, follow our politics page.

April 2, 2021 - "Tailored travel products and an airline for the globetrotters!" New Croatian start-up carrier Pragusa.One revealed its plans for launching premium economy long-haul flights from Dubrovnik to North America, Africa, and Asia.

Will there be flights from Dubrovnik to New York, Beijing, and more international destinations in the near future? According to Pragusa.One there will be, as the new Croatian start-up is looking to serve the United States, China, Japan, and more from bases in Dubrovnik and Prague.

You may recall us announcing the news at the beginning of March, and now, Ex Yu Aviation has even more details on the Pragusa.One network, fleet, and plans 

“We are going to start as a travel agency but in the next three years, we will make the transition towards becoming an airline, since AOC [Air Operator’s Certificate] certification will take some time. In Croatia, we are going to apply for an AOC which will take ten to twelve months. Until then, we will operate with our partner on a full charter basis. We expect to sign an agreement with them in the next couple of days. We will convert the wet-lease into a dry-lease by 2024. We expect to launch our booking and reservation system by the end of April, but the start of operations will depend on travel restrictions," said the Pragusa.One CEO, Krešimir Budinski.

Namely, Pragusa.One will sell seven and fourteen-day tour packages to Dubrovnik and Prague, while offering point-to-point flights through a wet-lease arrangement with a partner.

“We have hired a former CEO from one big airline. We will be releasing more information on that soon. We will initially start operations with wet-leased A330s and A350s. We are in advanced talks with Airbus to get brand new A350s in a single class all premium economy configuration by 2024. The A330s will be used for medium-haul destinations and the A350s will be utilized for long-haul flights. We decided to launch an all premium economy airline because there is a team of aviation and travel professionals behind Pragusa.One who have studied how airlines used this configuration in the past. We saw an opportunity, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, to offer point-to-point flights for premium passengers, which is why the A350s will have an all-economy layout”, Budinski said.

Fights from New York and Los Angeles to Dubrovnik could be the first to launch. 

“New York and LA to Croatia may be launched first. There is big demand from South Africa and China too. We also have partners in China supporting this project, among which are tour operators and the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority. At this point, fifteen people, mostly aviation and travel professionals, have been working on this project since last summer. It is backed by private investors from the aviation industry. Our investors have over twenty years of experience in aviation investments. We also conducted market research and saw a small niche of travelers who are keen to pay more to get premium service, which is what we are aiming to offer. We will provide seven and fourteen-day trips to Prague and Dubrovnik, which will be our main source of revenue, but we will also sell long-haul flights which will be available in major GDS systems," Budinski concluded.

You can follow Pragusa.One HERE.

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For the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia, CLICK HERE.

Flying to Dubrovnik or want to learn more about the Adriatic Pearl? CLICK HERE.

April 2, 2021 - Second-seeds Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić will play in the Miami Open doubles final on Friday for their fifth ATP Tour final of the year!

Croatian doubles team Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić advanced to the doubles finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami, defeating American Rajeev Ram and Briton Joe Salisbury 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Mektić and Pavić solved the first set after a break in the fourth game and the second after a tie-break in which they made it 5:3.

Croatian tennis players Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić will play in the Miami Open doubles final against British duo Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski. Evans and Skupski defeated Croatian Ivan Dodig and Slovak Filip Polašek 7-6 (4), 1-6, 10-8 in a dramatic duel, which was decided by one point in the end.

Dodig and Polašek did not lose their service during the match, but the defeat cost them worse than the start of the decisive set - Evans and Skupski took an early lead with 5:1, and the Croatian-Slovak duo did not manage to return.

Mektić and Mate Pavić have 24 victories and only three defeats this season, and they have won three tournaments so far (Antalya, Melbourne, Rotterdam).

After three victories, Marin Čilić finished his performance at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami earlier this week.

In the round of 16, the 8th-best tennis player in the world, Russian Andrej Rublev, was too strong for Čilić (6:4, 6: 4). Marin lost his serve once in each set (both times in the fifth game) and did not reach a single break during the match. He recorded six aces and a first-serve percentage of 54 percent.

It was their fifth meeting and Rublev's fourth consecutive victory. Čilić's next appearance will be at the Masters 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo, which starts on April 11.

Source: HTS

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April 2, 2021 - Mljet National Park opens for a new season, allowing all visitors to enjoy the outdoors while following all prescribed COVID-19 measures. 

Mljet National Park opened its doors for a new season on March 26, 2021!

At any time of the year, visiting Mljet National Park is a special and unique experience for every lover of nature, culture, and old customs, especially during this pandemic time, when it is recommended to stay outdoors.

Enjoying the natural and cultural values of the Mljet National Park is possible at promotional prices until April 5, 2021, namely 50 kuna for adults and 30 kuna for children and students. By purchasing a ticket through the webshop, visitors receive an additional discount on tickets, which amount to 40 kuna for adults and 20 kuna for children. Admission for children under 7 is still free.

The ticket also includes a boat ride and a visit to the island of Sveta Marija in the heart of the Great Lakes. You can visit the Mljet National Park every day from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm, and you can buy tickets on the webshop www.np-mljet.hr or at the Pomena and Info point sales points at the Great Lake.

Mljet National Park offers many opportunities to enjoy nature, and in it, every visitor has a corner just for themselves. When it is necessary to maintain physical distance, get closer to nature and explore it with numerous hiking and biking trails within the Mljet National Park, sail on the Great Lake, and breathe in the clean air surrounded by untouched nature.

"To preserve your health, as well as the health of the employees of the National Park, please bring a face mask that needs to be worn at the Mljet National Park sales points, in contact with NP employees, as well as when using boats to tour the lake and the island of Sv. Marija. Regularly disinfect your hands, take care of the physical distance when touring the park and when waiting to board the boat, and purchase tickets following the markings. We look forward to your arrival and are at your disposal for any additional information by calling tel. 020 744041 and e-mailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.," says the National Park.

Source: Dalmatinski Portal

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For the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia, CLICK HERE.

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April 1, 2021 - Adria Business Network #15, organized by entrepreneurs Željka Barišić, owner of Forca Digital Agency (www.forcadigitalagency.com), and Kristina Krstinić, owner of MIKRIS Project Management (www.mikris.eu), was held for the first time at Aspira High School.

The goal of the event is business networking in Croatia and the region, creating business opportunities, and encouraging continuous education. The event offers the opportunity for all participants to get to know each other better and network in a more targeted way.

The guest lecturer was Matija Žulj, owner and director of Agrivi, who spoke about digitalization in agriculture. The lecture was extremely interactive and with many questions from the audience.

After the lecture, all those present had the opportunity to taste the products of the Croatian Choco Concept and taste selected wines from the Vinoteka Bornstein.
The organizers and hosts said the following about the atmosphere at the event:

"Given the whole situation with the pandemic and having to limit socializing to 25 people, I can say that the atmosphere was a little different from what we are used to and that the social part this time had the impression of a family gathering. There were fewer of us so the audience could participate more often in the discussion with their questions. A really nice interaction was created between the guest lecturer and everyone present. The new location where we held our event for the first time last night, Aspira High School, brought new energy to the whole story and we are happy about that," Željka Barišić, owner of Forca Digital Agency and one of the founders of Adria Business Network, said after the event.

“Behind us is another great lecture, which was extremely instructive. Matija Žulj not only presented his entrepreneurial path but also educated us about food and its method of production. The atmosphere at our new location at Aspira High School was relaxed and pleasant, with questions from participants and interaction a great discussion developed. This was followed by relaxed networking with great drinks from the Bornstein wine shop," said Kristina Krstinić, owner of MIKRIS Project Management in Zagreb and also the founder of Adria Business Network, after the event.

The diamond partner of the event is A1. The silver sponsor is ManpowerGroup. The event is sponsored by the Bagatin Polyclinic and the Aspira High School.

Partners are Vladimir Abicic Photography, Aero Print, Vinoteka Bornstein, Kupovinp Wine - Kupilek, Planet Art Theater, and Croatian Choco Concept.

Media partners of the event are magazine and portal Poduzetnik, magazine and portal Zaposlena, Netokracija, She.hr, Zagrebonline.hr, Rep.hr, Glas Istre, Flash.hr, Moja Domovina, Total Croatia News, Fama, ZgExpress, Akademija Art and Radio 92 FM.

Follow on Facebook and Instagram to find out all the details about the next event!

For more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.