ZAGREB, November 16, 2020 - The Association of Drug Manufacturers (UPL) with the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) has called for the adoption of an effective EU pharmaceutical strategy to ensure equal access to drug production and supplies for the benefit of patients and the healthcare systems both in Croatia and the EU.

The UPL on Monday sent an open letter to all relevant stakeholders, including Croatian members of the European Parliament, the Croatian Ministry of Health and the Croatian Parliament's Committee on Health and Social Policy, to make maximum efforts and support the adoption of a robust EU pharmaceutical strategy that would work for the benefit of patients and the national healthcare systems in the European Union and Croatia.

Such a strategy would also reinforce the domestic pharmaceutical industry as the most important partner to the Croatian healthcare system and the strongest manufacturing industry in the country, the UPL said in the letter.

The future pharmaceutical strategy would support innovation in the EU pharmaceutical industry and the European manufacture of drugs and active pharmaceutical substances and thus help improve and accelerate patients' access to safe and affordable medicines, it added.

The new EU pharmaceutical strategy is expected to be adopted by the European Commission by the end of this year.

With its open letter the UPL joined Medicines for Europe, the organisation representing the European generic, biosimilar and valued added pharmaceutical industries, in setting five key priorities - supply security, sustainable and affordable budgets for medicines, aligning regulation on medicines with the digital age, retaining and supporting manufacturing technologies of interest to Europe, and aligning the objectives of the industry with the objectives of public healthcare.

The UPL said that more than 60 percent of the medicines used by patients in Croatia come from its members, which is why it considers the new EU pharmaceutical strategy key for the overall stability of the healthcare system and the successful functioning of the economy as a whole.

The UPL members generate about HRK 7 billion in annual revenues, including as much as HRK 5 billion from exports, UPL chairman Mihael Furjan said. 

The Croatian pharmaceutical industry exports its products to about 60 countries round the world, including the United States and EU member states.

ZAGREB, November 16, 2020 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 1,313 new cases of coronavirus infection and there have been 33 related deaths, the national COVID-19 response team said on Monday.

The number of active cases stands at 15,699. There are 1,816 COVID patients in hospitals and 191 of whom are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when Croatia registered its first case of the infection, a total of 85,519 people have contracted the novel coronavirus, 1,082 of them have died and 68,738 have recovered, including 2,507 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 35,071 people in self-isolation.

To date, 624,393 people have been tested for coronavirus, 4,861 of whom in the last 24 hours.

November 16, 2020 – Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, when tourism and business are significantly affected industries, one Croatian island is gaining popularity in both. Lastovo is a hit.

As Slobodna Dalmacija reports, the island of Lastovo is still a corona-free zone, they had a great tourist season this year, and a baby boom. However, as if those were not compelling enough reasons, in the last two months, Lastovo has recorded the interest of several families with children who would like to settle on the island.

And not only families, but on this Dalmatian island, a few hours away from Split by ferry, several entrepreneurs are interested in starting their own business. This story is confirmed to Slobodna Dalmacija by 26-year-old Don Tonći Ante Prizmić whose arrival on the island, in his first parish, coincides with this interesting and unusual phenomenon.

Why do people want to come to Lastovo? Well, the reason is simple. Besides the favorable conditions, the Church on this island continues to lease agricultural land for ten lipas per square meter. The only condition is that you must stay on the island. In the new normal, some see it as a ticket to a better tomorrow.

Because of that, and also because of the church's million square meters of land, the sum of numerous Lastovo fields, and cheap fertile soil – Lastovo is a hit.

"I agree, Lastovo is a hit. And I am so pleasantly surprised that coming to my first parish accompanies me with such good stories," says Don Tonći, continuing with a story about a family from Imotski who first came on vacation on Lastovo, but then fell in love so much that they expressed a desire to move here and engage in agriculture.

"I asked him if he knows how far we are from the mainland and what our ferry lines are. And he said he knows everything, but that they are serious. The only problem is that it is difficult to buy or rent a house on the island due to unresolved property relations. And there are a lot of houses. But they have a solution for that as well. They say they would put a container on the ground first hand. I told them then to come," says don Tonći.

'We wanted to give people a chance'

Other people also called, mostly young families from the area of Kaštela, Split, Dubrovnik, and even from Zagreb. This was followed by several calls from those who would grow lavender, essential plants, produce oils, and open a healthy pharmacy on church land.

Don Tonći opened the door to everyone, happy that on the island from which the youth must move to the mainland to continue their education, the new youth wants to settle. Lastovo, with its 46 green islands and 46 fields, has many church plots where a lot can be grown.

"We are happy that people are calling us and want to come. The price is not commercial because we wanted to allow people to cultivate the land. It began with the blessing of the bishop, and as we now await the new one, we will acquaint him right away with this noble idea. We have vineyards, pastures, fields, forests, all in different sizes. The problem is that they are not in one plot. Some land plots are 20, 50 meters, and more apart. But it is always possible to arrange a lease with one of the owners so that consolidation can be done. This island is beautiful. The truth is, we are a little further from the mainland. To get to Split, you have to get up at three in the morning to catch the ferry. But it has its charms," Don Tonći considers.

The island of Lastovo / Sara Alduk

Don Tonći is a native of Dubrovnik, and on all of the island, as he jokingly likes to say, he is the only spiritual authority. When he got his first parish, St. Kuzma and Damjan on Lastovo, at first it was a small shock, but he adjusted very quickly. He says that the local people are very open, noble, atypical islanders. They are so strongly attached to each other that an island of 760 inhabitants seems like one big family caring for its members.

"And that's why the interest of those who would like to come here surprised me so pleasantly. I openly showed them what we have – plots of a few hundred to a few thousand square feet, vineyards just waiting for hardworking hands. There are no problems with irrigation either because the dew and nature here do the work themselves. There is a lot of lands, and the locals from Lastovo also rent it. The soil is fertile, soft, well, and gives excellent fruit. We offer you a welcome, so come," says Don Tonći.

Lastovo Statute

Don Stipe Miloš, a former Lastovo priest, explained to Slobodna Dalmacija where the Church got so much land from.

The church land is connected to the Lastovo Statute from the 14th century, according to which each family was obliged to give one-tenth of its annual income to the parish. A third of it went for the needs of the parish, another third as a salary for the pastor. And the third was used for the education of priests. In the 700 years that the Statute has been respected, a lot of lands have accumulated, but also the Lastovo youth has been ordained. And a good part of the estate came through the foundations of fraternities such as Our Lady of the Rosary, the fraternity of St. Anthony, and the fraternity of St. Peter.

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November 16, 2020 - Croatia will no longer play at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, confirmed the executive director of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), Marijan Kustic.

Index.hr reports that this is even though Dinamo started repairing the south stand, which was destroyed in the earthquake.

Recall, there was room for the national team at Maksimir in reduced capacity during the coronavirus pandemic. Still, when the spectators return to the stands, the national team will no longer play at the infamous Zagreb stadium.

"We do not want to question at all that our national team, 2018 World Cup finalists, must have an adequate stadium in the capital. Maksimir is no longer an adequate stadium for the World Cup finalists. The city of Zagreb must give answers to Dinamo and finally find a solution and take action to build a new one. It would be inappropriate for the capital and a club like GNK Dinamo to have such a dilapidated stadium," Kustic said, noting that there are many countries that are neither at the economic nor football level of Croatia, but have better stadiums.

Kustic mentioned that the spectators are a priority for HNS and that they do not have adequate conditions at Maksimir. In Rijeka, Pula, Varazdin, Osijek, and Split, the situation is different, so the national team will play there in the future until the situation in Zagreb is resolved.

According to a rough estimate, more than a billion kuna has been pumped into Maksimir so far. That is why the Croatian Football Federation launched the idea of building a national stadium.

"We want the national team to play all over Croatia, but the stadium in Zagreb is no longer comfortable, half of the stands are not working, everything is closed and depressing. After the earthquake, the situation worsened; we don't know if it is safe. My personal opinion is that the national team's time at Maksimir has passed," Miskovic said.

The national team does not want to play at the stadium either, and in October, after the match against Sweden, Zenit stopper Dejan Lovren spoke about it publicly.

"All the national teams are surprised that we were second in the world, and we have such conditions. Two or three thousand people came to the match against Sweden at the ugliest stadium in Europe. People didn't have umbrellas, they were rained on, and I wanted to shake everyone's hand. It is inadmissible for a national team like ours, which promoted Croatia in the best possible way, to come here and rightly listen to the Sweden coach's insults. Obviously, some priorities in this country are not right. Some priorities, such as the cable car, are irrelevant. I think that hospitals, kindergartens, and schools should be built first, and then maybe a stadium, but we are not looking for that for ourselves, but for the people who come to watch us. I think we will wake up only when Serbia makes a national stadium," Lovren said at the time. 

After the national team campaign in October, coach Zlatko Dalic was also clear about using Maksimir stadium for national team matches.

"I don't know what else to say about it. I've been talking for two years; others have been talking for a decade. Maybe we shouldn't talk anymore but cut and say we won't play there. We keep saying it's not a stadium for the national team, and we keep coming. Maybe HNS should say it a lot; we don't play there anymore, although it would be inconvenient to avoid a city again when hosting the national team," said Dalic.

In October, Croatia last played in Zagreb in the Nations League matches against Sweden (2:1) and France (1:2), when a third of the stadium's capacity was open. The only match in November that will be played at home, against Portugal, will be at Poljud on Tuesday.

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November 16, 2020 - The latest news for flights to Croatia as SAS plans Copenhagen - Zadar next summer. 

Croatian Aviation reports that SAS Scandinavian Airlines plans to introduce a new route to Croatia next summer.

Namely, it is a line between Copenhagen and Zadar, which was originally supposed to operate this summer, but due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the airline gave up on its launch.

SAS has now announced this new route for the summer of 2021. It should be in operation from the end of June to mid-August, very short compared to other lines of this airline that operate to Croatia mainly from April to the end of September.

The Copenhagen - Zadar route will operate twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, on CRJ900 aircraft with a capacity of 90 seats in this carrier's fleet.

Next summer, SAS plans to operate to Pula, Split, and Dubrovnik from numerous Scandinavian cities (Copenhagen, Oslo, Stavanger, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Aarhus, Bergen, and Kristiansand), but the realization of flights will primarily depend on the epidemiological situation and demand.

It is important that SAS's summer flight schedule for next year maintained all routes to Croatia from the summer season of 2019, estimating at this time that next summer season, the demand for Croatia will be significantly better than this year.

Like all other airlines, SAS also records a significant decline in passengers and revenue. The occupancy of Scandinavian Airlines aircraft was 50.6% in July, 46.7% in August, only 35.8% in September, and 37.3% in October.

This summer, SAS had reduced traffic to Pula and Split, while there were no regular lines to Dubrovnik. Pula had a direct connection with Copenhagen, while Split had four lines; to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, and Gothenburg.

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November the 16th, 2020 - The words ''Croatian credit rating'' are rarely followed by good news of late, especially as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to cause havoc with not only the domestic economy but that of the entire world. Surprisingly, however, it seems that things might just be looking up for the Croatian credit rating in the eyes of all major rating agencies.

As Novac writes, the respected credit agency Moody’s improved its outlook of the Croatian credit rating a few days ago. However, even after this improvement, Croatia still remains in the ''investment'' credit rating level in the eyes of Standard & Poor's and Fitch, and in the non-investment rating with Moody's, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) said.

After deteriorating ratings in the years dominated by various types of economic crisis, positive trends in ratings or at least outlook finally began for Croatia back at the end of 2016, when all three of the largest agencies improved their respective negative outlooks for Croatia to a very welcome stable.

The last improvement in the Croatian credit rating or at the very least its appearance was back on June the 10th, 2019, when Fitch improved its rating and thus assigned Croatia an investment rank. Previously, this was done by Standard & Poors.

The current situation in the rating or appearance movement is primarily determined by the global situation and the present pandemic, and less by internal factors. Therefore, in April, Fitch changed the outlook for Croatia from positive to stable, which was not unexpected given the estimated decline in GDP for this year of about 9 percent, as well as the accompanying growth of the budget deficit and public debt. Such a decline in GDP, of course, cannot be viewed in isolation from the global environment, because the European Union's economy, according to European Commission estimates, should fall by 7.4 percent, and the global economy by -4.4 percent.

When looking at Croatia, in the long period since way back in 1997, Moody's changed its view of the Croatian credit rating only twice until yesterday, while Fitch and S&P changed their ratings six times each within the same time period.

This is certainly good news for Croatia, and a step towards an investment rating with all three of the most important and well respected credit rating agencies, despite the current situation caused by the pandemic, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce reports.

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November the 16th, 2020 - As new measures are proposed for us in the Croatian capital of Zagreb and mass coronavirus testing is prepared for, what can we expect? A lockdown isn't on the horizon despite the concerning rise in the number of new lab confirmed infections, so what might be?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a meeting was held recently here in the Croatian capital to discuss possible new measures. One of the main proposals of the members of the Zagreb civil protection headquarters was mass coronavirus testing of the citizens of Zagreb with the use of rapid tests in order to detect as many infected people as possible in a short period of time. This is one of the more optimal ways to bring the spiralling epidemic under control, because in this way, without closing the economy and causing further damage in that sense, all infected people and all their contacts can be isolated and the probability of the further spread of the novel coronavirus can be minimised, Jutarnji list writes.

''Based on the analyses we have, we're assessing the situation. We considered the possibility of more mass coronavirus testing. Validations of antigen tests have been made and procurement has been initiated. The situation is not good,'' confirmed the head of the City Health Office, Vjekoslav Jelec. Just how many of Zagreb's citizens will be tested and in what period that will occur is still being discussed. Since the beginning of October, rapid coronavirus tests have been being used at the Zagreb Clinic for Children's Diseases (Klaiceva), and so far they have performed 256 tests on 83 patients who had symptoms, as well as 173 asymptomatic people.

Among 83 patients who had at least one symptom of SARS-CoV-2, 13 of them returned a positive result on the rapid test. All of those tested were also sent for testing by the usual, PCR test: in 12 of the 13 positives, an infection was confirmed, and in one tested person, otherwise a clinic employee, the PCR test result was negative.

All negative results returned by the rapid test were also negative when a PCR test was done after. In other words, the rapid test failed on one in 83 people, giving an efficiency of nearly 99 percent in people presenting with coronavirus symptoms.

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As Novac/Barbara Ban writes on the 15th of November, 2020, while most investors in the Croatian tourism sector have put the brakes on a bit due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the levels of uncertainty surrounding the development of the situation regarding public health and, consequently, the economic crisis, a new Istrian resort with a hotel worth about 80 million euros is emerging in Savudrija.

This new Istrian resort's construction began back in mid-October. The company Cista voda projekt (Clear water project) from Savudrija is formally investing in the project, and the co-investor is Vojislav Gajic, who is the head of the company that deals with the construction and sale of real estate in Novi Sad called Aleksandar Gradnja. His company has been known for the construction of residential and business premises over on the Serbian market for more than 25 years now. Vojislav Gajić says that this new Istrian resort will be ready for the 2022 tourist season.

''This is an investment of about 80 million euros, and we managed to solve deal with all of the documentation with building permits in just 10 months, without any problems. We completely changed the project that was supposed to be realised there. Regardless of the overall situation with the pandemic, we haven't been having any problems with our investments, including this one in Savudrija. All aspects of possible problems on the market have been taken into account and the investment has been covered,'' Gajic explained in a telephone conversation.

The land on which the project financed with Serbian capital will be realised, was bought at a public auction two years ago, and was sold in the bankruptcy process of Vila Savudrija at a starting price of one kuna. Cista voda projekt bought the land for 17.2 million kuna.

This is construction land that was owned by the Slovenian company Imos Holding from Ljubljana, which went bankrupt, and its biggest creditors are Nova ljubljanska banka, the Croatian Ministry of Finance and HEP. A large tourist project, Hotel & Resort Villa Savudrija, was planned on the land back in 2010. It would have consisted of as many as two five-star hotels with numerous villas with a total of 400 rooms, a casino, villas with swimming pools, a shopping area, swimming pools and more. Everything failed because the company, whose founder was the Slovenian builder Milan Kepic, ended up in bankruptcy after not being able to find an investor to invest for this project, which was eventually completely changed.

When the land was purchased, the public speculated that the Serbian ''king of sugar'', Miodrag Kostic, who owns real estate in the immediate vicinity, was behind everything. This regards the Kempinski Hotel and the Skiper Residence, as well as the local golf course managed by the MK Group company, owned by Kostic. He bought the Kempinski Hotel and the airport in nearby Portoroz.

When the land was purchased, the public was informed that behind the company stood the formal owner who is the founder of Vinemont Ventures, which is, in turn, registered in the British Virgin Islands. She owned companies that connected with Kostic himself, the media then wrote.

According to the court register, Cista voda projekt was divided and a new company, Beater Limited, was formed, which became the founder of the company that formally manages the project. When asked if Kostic is a partner in the project, the company denied it.

According to this project, an apart-hotel with 179 accommodation units, 55 luxury villas and three residential buildings with 18 apartments will be built on the land. In total, the new Istrian resort will have just under a thousand beds.

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