ZAGREB, Nov 13, 2020 - Explaining the non-final judgment in the Fimi Media case on Friday, presiding judge Irena Kvaternik said that former prime minister and HDZ leader Ivo Sanader had abused his office and power to the detriment of all citizens because of his insatiable needs.

"Sanader grossly abused his position and power. He enjoyed the privileges, but because of his insatiable needs he did that to the detriment of all citizens, including those who elected him. He created a narrative that political corruption was a rule rather than an exception," the judge said.

She said that Sanader had used his position as prime minister to obtain money for his party from an illegal source, adding that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party is responsible, as a legal entity, for the crimes committed by its then-president Sanader and former party accountant Branka Pavosevic.

She said that Sanader had organised this corruption operation by linking former party treasurer Mladen Barisic, Pavosevic and the late owner of the Fimi Media marketing agency, Nevenka Jurak.

"Each member had their specific role assigned to them by Sanader and each of them acted on his orders. They agreed that the HDZ would be financed from the profits made by Fimi Media via a so-called slush fund," Judge Kvaternik said.

She said that the evidence presented only partly proved that Barisic had handed over HRK 15 million to Sanader on two occasions, but that the only proof of that was Barisic's statement.

"Complying with the standards of the European Court of Human Rights, it was not possible to prove Sanader's responsibility for this crime based on this statement alone," the judge said.

She said that the charge was dropped that the HDZ had derived undue financial benefits from donations, adding that donations were a legal way of financing political parties. "This could possibly qualify as a minor offence in fundraising. The amount in question exceeds HRK 9 million."

Speaking of financing, Judge Kvaterinik said that it was found that money from the slush fund was used to finance pop singer Marko Perkovic Thompson and the purchase of equipment for Osijek Television and Hrvatski List newspaper. However, no evidence was presented to prove that the slush fund money was used to buy two BMW cars and to pay singers Mate Miso Kovac and Nina Badric for their performances at party rallies in 2007.

"Since this was claimed only by Barisic, the court could not base its judgment only on that. It is possible that Barisic made the payments, but that does not mean that they were paid with money from Fimi Media," the judge explained.

Kvaternik said that the money provided by Fimi Media could not be considered donations because it was obtained illegally. Sanader received about HRK 250,000 from the company's profits, while the HDZ received more than HRK 14 million, and Nevenka Jurak and others also benefited, she added.

The judge noted that Sanader had wielded great influence both in his party and in the country.

"The court does not dispute that Sanader used his position as prime minister to secure money for his party from an illegal source. It was he who decided how that money was to be used by the party, although this should have been decided by the party's presidency. We have heard from witness testimonies that the party could not buy even a single CD without Sanader's permission," Kvaternik said.

She said that the court did not believe Sanader's statement that during his stay in Austria he had saved more than €2 million. She cited data from the Austrian Ministry of Finance showing that Sanader had not earned any income or paid taxes in Austria.

The judge said that the HDZ was ordered to pay back the HRK 14.6 million which it was found to have acquired unlawfully. HRK 2.5 million unlawfully acquired by Nevenka Jurak, who had died during the trial and her Fimi Media company had filed for bankruptcy, and deposited in the court's account would also be seized.

The charge against former government spokesman Ratko Macek, for conspiring to commit crime, was dropped and he was also acquitted of abuse of office.

None of the defendants attended the sentencing hearing, and counsel for the defence and the prosecution announced they would appeal.

ZAGREB, Nov 13, 2020 - The Trogir City Council held a special session on Friday on the occasion of the city's day which was attended by President Zoran Milanovic, who said few cities had such a rich history.

The president said he could see that work was under way in Trogir. "I told them how much money to take from the European Union. That's the measure of success... to absorb as much as possible... For now, we are among the weakest in Europe, that is the last, but it will be better."

Responding to questions from the press, Mayor Ante Bilic said Trogir had increased EU fund absorption by over 400% over the past two years, so that HRK 20 million of this year's HRK 80 million budget would be from EU funds.

November 13, 2020 - The Times names Croatia among the world's top three destinations!

HTZ announced that esteemed British newspaper The Times & The Sunday Times has awarded the world's best countries for many years. This time, Croatia was among the top three.

Namely, Croatia won third place among the world's best destinations in the "Best Country award 2020" category. Given the current epidemiological situation, the award ceremony was held virtually and attended by the Croatian National Tourist Board Director in the United Kingdom, Darija Reić.

"With its fantastic tourist offer and tireless promotion, Croatia unquestionably deserves the title of one of the best countries, and we are extremely pleased that the British public has recognized our quality. A visit to Croatian destinations is something that Brits like to brag about, to the extent that even going into isolation did not sway some of them to travel and enjoy our Mediterranean wealth. This success has strengthened the position of Croatia as a destination of beautiful landscape and diverse, high-quality tourist offer, and we will continue to maintain our reputation in the market through further promotional activities," said Reić.

The news of the award delighted the Croatian National Tourist Board, too

"According to Eurostat data, we took the leading position in the Mediterranean this season, and this is additional confirmation of the safe and stable position that our country enjoys on the international market. The United Kingdom is one of the most important markets for Croatian tourism. I believe that by stabilizing the situation, our loyal British guests will return in greater numbers," the director of the CNTB, Kristjan Staničić, said.

In this category, Italy was declared the best country globally, while second place went to New Zealand. The shortlist, which was awarded for the eighth time, also included some of the world's best destinations such as France, Turkey, the United States, Dubai, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Thailand.

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November 13, 2020 - Tesla and Us – TAU will be held in Gospić next August for young people interested in entrepreneurship and technology innovation.

The city of Gospić will organize an international camp for young people interested in entrepreneurship and technology innovation. The city of Gospić and Association Enterprising signed a contract on October 5 in the Technical Museum Nikola Tesla to organize an international educative project by a bequest from Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest minds in human history.

The camp will be held in August 2021 under the name “Tesla and Us – TAU”. The camp will be intended primarily for smaller children and for children in primary and secondary schools. University students are also welcome to join to broaden their knowledge not only in the STEM field but also in various aspects of entrepreneurship.

The project found support and is encouraged by many partners: Zagreb University of Applied Sciences, European Business School Zagreb, European Franchise Institute, First Technical School of Zagreb Tesla and Private secondary school of economics Katarina Zrinski have all come together to support the camp. 

Gospić is proud of the international collaboration and describes the project as an educational project, whose goal is to encourage and support young scientists and entrepreneurs to develop their potential even further. Gospić decided to engage in the whole process of supporting young people with groundbreaking ideas since the prominent and renowned scientist Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, a small village near Gospić in the mountainous region of Lika, and since Tesla spent his first years of education exactly in Gospić. 

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ZAGREB, Nov 13, 2020 - Chief epidemiologist Krunoslav Capak said on Friday Croatia had a high COVID-19 incidence with significant regional differences, the highest being in Varazdin County and the lowest in Istria County.

At national level, the 14-day incidence is 781.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, which places Croatia 20th in the EU rankings, the head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health said at a press conference of the national COVID response team.

Incidence highest in northern counties

Broken down by region, incidence is highest in Varazdin County (1,623.5) and Medjimurje County (a little over 1,400), according to Capak.

The average age of patients remains 43 and the younger persons who died of COVID-19 this week did not have serious underlying conditions, he added.

500 beds available in Zagreb's KB Dubrava hospital

Speaking of the burden on hospitals, Health Minister Vili Beros said the Rijeka University Hospital was at 56% of capacity, the Split University Hospital at 83.7%, with 22% of patients on ventilators, the Osijek University Hospital at 80.11% of capacity, and Zagreb's KB Dubrava at 35.8%.

"We have 303 patients at Dubrava, seven more than yesterday. The capacity is 845 beds. At this moment we have about 500 beds available. About 55% of patients are on ventilators. Of 78 ventilators, half are in use," said Beros.

Speaking of next week's annual remembrance procession in Vukovar, Capak reiterated that all participants must adhere to the epidemiological framework. He said a maximum 500 people were allowed in the procession, keeping a 1.5-metre distance and walking in groups of 25 at a distance of 50 metres. Everything will be overseen by 350 COVID security and civil protection staff.

Fewer people in government's delegation

Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said the government still had not decided who would be in its delegation in Vukovar, but that it would be smaller than usual.

He reiterated that the COVID response team's decision on the procession was responsible and that recommendations for the Christmas and New Year's holidays would "inform citizens of the risk of the epidemic spreading in indoor spaces."

ZAGREB, Nov 13, 2020 - The head of the Vukovar-Srijem County Public Health Institute, Kata Kresic, has warned members of the public against going to Vukovar on Vukovar Remembrance Day, November 18, due to the deteriorated epidemiological situation, calling on them to mark that holiday by lighting a candle at home.

Kresic said that the epidemiological situation in the county was serious and noted that the number of positive coronavirus cases in the total number of tests had been 30% on average in the last 14 days, but that what was worrying was the share of positive cases, which in the past seven days had risen to 36% from 28% the week before.

She underlined that over the past week the epidemiological situation in the area of Vukovar had deteriorated significantly and that in the last 14 days alone more than 220 new cases had been registered in the city alone, with more than 140 new cases registered in the last seven days, which is 25% of persons infected in Vukovar-Srijem County in that period.

"Many of the new patients do not know where they have contracted the disease, which indicates horizontal transmission and that the virus is transmitted very easily, notably in places of gathering... as for Vukovar Remembrance Day, we are asking citizens to stay home, light candles and put them in their windows and pay tribute in a dignified way to our fallen defenders and victims of Vukovar," Kresic said.

The national coronavirus response team last Monday amended the decision on epidemiological measures regarding public gatherings, under which public gatherings marking events under the Holidays, Remembrance Days and Non-Working Days Act would be exempt from restrictions on public gatherings until November 30. Such gatherings can be held only if they comply with the epidemiological framework designed by the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ).

HZJZ head Krunoslav Capak said on Tuesday that the number of participants in the commemorative walk in Vukovar for Vukovar Remembrance Day was capped at 500.

The decision by the coronavirus response team to allow the commemoration in Vukovar in the current epidemiological situation has been criticised by the Croatian Association of Hospital Doctors and Croatian scientist Ivan Djikic.

ZAGREB, Nov 13, 2020 - If the government persists in imposing Brussels' policies blindly and attempts to introduce the euro, the Croatian Sovereignists will launch a referendum initiative so that the electorate gives its opinion, the party said on Friday, describing that decision as detrimental to Croatia's economy.

Addressing a press conference, the party's whip, MP Hrvoje Zekanovic, said that the party was opposed to that policy and called on other parties, civil society organisations and anyone who disagrees with "undemocratic behaviour by Andrej Plenkovic" to join the initiative.

"We believe that introducing the euro is an economically detrimental political decision that will not have a positive impact on Croatia's economy and that prices will rise at the expense of citizens who have been affected with this last crisis and poor governance by all the previous governments, which will additionally affect the already poor standard of living and lead to further emigration," said Zekanovic.

He added that the government should be dealing with the pandemic and economic crisis, the huge deficit, the problems in the health system, which is facing the danger of caving in, and resolving enforcement orders, which have driven tens of thousands of citizens into despair.

He warned that even though supporters of introducing the euro claim that Croatians decided on that when they decided by referendum to join the European Union, the Sovereignists nevertheless want a referendum on euro introduction because they believe that ordinary people understand the situation better than the government which blindly implements policies from Brussels and makes thoughtless decisions.

Zekanovic's party colleague, MP Marko Milanovic Litre said that only those countries with an above average economy like Germany and the Netherlands had profited from introducing the euro. He added that PM Plenkovic had omitted to mention the one-off cost of introducing the euro of 0.5 to 0.8 percent of GDP, adding that there was a chance that cost could be even higher.

Plenkovic is also ignoring the fact that countries like the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, as key examples of economic success all these years, have managed to achieve economic growth at what for Croatia have been unattainable rates without introducing the euro, added Milanovic Litre.

November 13, 2020 - TCN is delighted to welcome Dubrovnik native and tour guide par excellence Bozidar Jukic. Here is his first piece on rethinking Dubrovnik tourism.  

My number one favourite mundane item is a blank sheet of paper. Ever since I was a child I loved drawing and sketching. Later on this turned into a passion for graphic design and writing. To this day written word is something I find to be incredibly important in my life. All of these creative activities have one thing in common – they each start off with you staring at a blank sheet of paper. This pristine white rectangle has the potential of being turned into an important piece of art or text with enough power to change the world.

It doesn't take much imagination for a tourism professional to translate this metaphor to currently empty streets of Dubrovnik's historical centre. It is the start of November and I can’t help feeling sad looking back at what should have been a successful 2020 tourism season. For well-known reasons, most people decided against travelling internationally this year and Dubrovnik’s tourism, based mostly on guests flying into the destination, took a big hit. Usually, early autumn is my favourite time of the year. Those who visit Dubrovnik during this time usually leave feeling very happy they've decided to skip summer months which have recently been offering too few benefits to efficiently counter the downside of crowded streets and beaches. In 2020 October saw Dubrovnik streets almost completely empty and many local businesses closing for the year in anticipation of a very uncertain 2021. These empty, stone-cobbled streets are a blank piece of paper of sorts as well. They may represent emptiness at the moment, but they also provide endless opportunity.

I’ve had a chance to talk to Mr. Ryan Pyle who’s filming what promises to be a very cool travel series for Amazon Prime called “Nomad”. He was visiting Dubrovnik last week and we did a short interview. One of the questions he asked me was about the opportunity of rebranding Dubrovnik post Covid-19 induced disruption in business. It got me thinking about what we should do and more importantly, whether we will have the will to do it.

I've written a few times about sustainability in Dubrovnik's tourism or lack-there-of. It would be too repetitive for me to once again lament over what overtourism is doing to this city in the long run. Let’s just boil it down to four major problems: pollution, overcrowded city, degradation of tourism offer as it panders to short visit guests, loss of local culture as the costs of running a small business in the city skyrocket. It seems like such a simple problem to define, but somehow we make it seem impossible to solve, year after year.

Summer of 2020 brought no problems with overcrowding, traffic jams, or overcrowded city streets. Instead, we’ve lived through what seems to have been the eye of the storm in a global pandemic whose real effects we are still to discover, but are already dreading. For most local business owners thinking about the positive side to this crisis is difficult. Still, it is imperative to look forward and try to imagine what comes next and how to make the most out of this difficult situation.

Truth is, Dubrovnik can be anything we make it out to be. Main thing to understand is that a choice needs to be made. So far, we’ve been pumping up numbers and exploring all the avenues that ensured money coming in. Good, we’ve made it. Money is coming in. Now, we need to see how not to destroy what makes this place so wonderful to live in and visit. I hope we steer our city in the direction of a new breed of tourism. One that is sustainable and will not only be less destructive, but one that will see local community wanting to be a part of it. For this, the key is to attract guests looking for longer stays. We need to strategically lessen the number of people coming to Dubrovnik for one day trips or for a single night stays. When guests are spending multiple days in Dubrovnik, it gets much easier to interest them in exploring the city’s offer in more depth. They get to see the other parts of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, most of which are grossly undervalued by travel businesses. They get to be introduced to the local culture and way of life. They also get to discover authentic products and services that often cannot be found in the main touristy areas. Longer stay means more immersion into “Dubrovnik the Community”, not just a brief visit to “Theme Park Dubrovnik”. It means creating stronger ties between the guest and local community and this in turn creates less market for tourist traps and more demand for quality.

Every crisis is an opportunity. It is time for re-shuffling of cards and re-evaluating our positions. With a long winter and perhaps even a new lockdown upon us, it is a perfect time to have this conversation. What do we do next, my neighbours from the “Pearl of the Adriatic”? What is the Dubrovnik our kids will know?

You can learn more about Bozidar's tours on his official website, Insider Holidays - Wine & Food Tours to Discover Croatia.