Croatian Pig Farming Industry Threatened With Collapse?
As Novac/Jozo Vrdoljak writes on the 18th of September, 2020, the market disruption in Germany caused by the outbreak of African swine fever and the disorder of the agricultural market is more than likely to cause more damage to Croatian pig farming than it would if this disease had appeared here.
The damage that may occur to the Croatian pig farming industry this time is estimated at over 100 million euros. Due to the alarming situation on the market, the Croatian Association of Pork Producers is seeking the urgent involvement of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, and is also ready to offer solutions that could mitigate the consequences of this new situation, said Kresimir Kuterovac, president of the Croatian Association of Pork Producers.
The members of the Association are the largest producers of piglets, fatteners of Croatian piglets and producers of genetic material in Croatia, which annually produce about 700,000 pigs and keep 30,000 sows.
''Today, 70 percent of Croatia's pork needs are covered by imports from other EU countries. We want better market organisation to encourage the development of Croatian pig farming and reduce the import deficit, reduce the dependence of the meat industry on imports of raw materials, and to further valorize domestic quality (born-bred-slaughtered, following the example of developed EU countries). In Croatian stores, we must ensure the representation of Croatian products by implementing the EU regulation on market organisation, and it should be noted that Croatia is the only EU country that applies this regulation in practice in part, which allows the domestic market to be protected as much as possible from unfair import competition,'' they stated from the Croatian Association of Pork Producers.
The Croatian Association of Pork Producers stated that last week the worst possible scenario for Croatian pig farming happened, as the African swine fever disease appeared in Germany, which caused proverbial earthquakes on the German market. This caused the price of certain pork cuts to fall by as much as 20 cents or 13 percent in just one week. As Germany doesn't have the possibility of placing its produce on the markets of China and Asian countries an export ban was introduced for a certain period, and huge quantities of pork from Germany will find its sales channel here in Croatia. The price won't be important and retail chains will either stop buying meat from Croatian producers or there will be a horrendous drop in prices, which will further destroy domestic production and bring Croatian pork producers to the brink of financial profitability.
''We estimate that the prices in Croatia under the pressure of imported meat to fall to 7.5 kuna per kilogram of live weight, which will increase the loss per fattened animal to 100 kuna. This will result in a weekly loss of 1.3 million kuna on a total of 13,000 pigs produced per week. Since Croatian pig farmers aren't to blame for this situation, and the result could be worse than the appearance of African swine fever in Croatia, the Association is seeking the urgent involvement of the Croatian Government,'' said Kresimir Kuterovac.
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Applications for New Croatian Job Preservation Grants Begin
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of September, 2020, at its recent session, the Croatian Employment Service's Governing Board made a decision on changes and amendments to the conditions and manner of using funds for the implementation of active employment policy measures in 2020. Applications for Croatian job preservation grants for September have begun and will run until October the 15th, 2020.
Applications for Croatian job preservation grants for economic activities affected by the coronavirus pandemic and those for micro-enterprises will continue in the period from September to December this year, the statement said.
Croatian job preservation grants for those affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic includes all of the same economic activities which were listed before, such as passenger transport, accommodation, food and beverage preparation, the event industry, etc., which will continue to be allowed to use of the support up to 4,000 kuna per worker if they can prove a drop in income of at least 60 percent.
As for support for micro-enterprises, these Croatian job preservation grants continue to include the amount of up to 2,000 per worker kuna for employers who employ up to 10 workers, provided that their income has fallen by at least 50 percent.
The Croatian job preservation grants can also be used by those facilities which are closed due to the measures implemented by the National Civil Protection Headquarters.
The CES emphasised that all employers, regardless of their activity, who cannot operate or whose work is restricted in any way, will be able to use these measures in accordance with the decisions of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, provided that those who have had their work restricted owing to a decision made by the headquarters (such as reduced working hours, a reduced number of visitors, etc.) if necessary, they'll have to prove that they are having difficulties in doing business (such as proving a recorded drop in revenue by 60 and 50 percent, respectively).
Last week, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced that the CES would make decisions on the continuation of measures to help the economy due to the coronavirus crisis, meaning that the measure of co-financing part-time work of a maximum of 2,000 kuna per worker will continue until December. The measure for micro-enterprises, which also amounts to 2,000 per worker kuna will also continue if the enterprise had a drop in turnover of more than 50 percent. This measure applies to all sectors of the economy and includes the write-off of all related contributions.
For activities that are particularly vulnerable, the support of 4,000 kuna per worker will also continue until December the 31st this year, with Plenkovic listing the sectors of passenger transport, catering and hospitality, tour operators and enterprises working in the field of recreation, cultural, business and sporting events, and in the event that they had a drop in turnover of more than 60 per cent. These Croatian job preservation grants also include the write-off of all contributions.
According to Plenkovic, all of these Croatian job preservation grants and similar measures will cost around 800 million kuna by the end of the year and will be financed from the state budget, but part of the funds will be compensated from European Union (EU) funds.
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German Media: VW, Bugatti and Rimac - A Dream Marriage
As Novac writes on the 18th of September, 2020, the German media are speculating about the possibility that Volkswagen will leave its Bugatti brand to the company owned by Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac. That could be an ideal combination - even for Porsche, writes Deutsche Welle.
Speculations that the Volkswagen Group could sell its luxury sports car brand Bugatti have been going on for some time now: Manager Magazine has already written about it, and this week the British Car Magazine announced that the new owner would be the Croatian company Rimac Automobili.
However, German media such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is skeptical: "We're not declaring the future of the brand," read a statement from Bugatti's Molsheim headquarters which are located near Strasbourg. Similar things are being heard from VW's headquarters. There have already been rumours about the possible sale of other luxury brands such as Bentley and Lamborghini or the Ducati motorcycle manufacturer, recalls the German media outlet.
"Bugatti has announced that it is focusing on current affairs, there's no reason why a new owner of this brand of very expensive sports cars with 1,500 horsepower would come along. According to the latest data, the brand is operating positively, 82 vehicles were sold in 2019. (...) Bugatti is also going through the crisis relatively well this year. The coronavirus pandemic hasn't hit the luxury goods business as hard as the business of mass-produced ones has been hit, even though there is less demand there,'' the German media portal writes.
However, the Süddeutsche Zeitung is much more specific: "VW wants to sell Bugatti" it claims, and immediately in the subtitle we can read the sentence "The brand should become Croatian. Porsche has a decisive role in this business." Because the author of the Munich newspaper Georg Kacher writes that "according to unanimous sources, at least for Bugatti, the deadline has expired. VW must concentrate its resources to succeed in its ambitious investment programme with a focus on electric mobility, digitalisation and autonomous driving."
Süddeutsche Zeitung explains that Volkswagen's plan is to sell Bugatti - but to actually keep it because through its brand Porsche, it would increase its stake in the Croatian company Rimac Automobili: "According to SZ, Porsche will, in turn, increase its stake in Rimac Automobili to 49 percent. The company from Stuttgart took over ten percent of Rimac Automobili back in 2018 and later increased that share to 15.5 percent. The company, founded by Croat Mate Rimac, is one of the world's leading specialists in electromobility, battery technology and demanding electronics. A model for technical expertise is the second supersport car called the C-Two, a so-called hypercar with a 1914 horsepower powerful electric motor and unrivaled driving characteristics that is almost ready for its series production.''
The Munich-based paper speculates that this could be a "dream marriage": the price for the Bugatti would be "somewhere in the three-digit million-dollar amount for a medium size" that would come to Rimac Automobili through Porsche, and in return this German company could benefit from Rimac's know-how. "Rimac, who is only just 21 years old, for his part, could get a perfect market presence with Bugatti, along with the appropriate infrastructure for his all-electric supercars that run in minimal series,'' the German media publication writes.
The German media outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung also writes in its issue from this Friday that the management of the Volkswagen Group actually decided to accept the job last week and the only thing missing is the approval of the supervisory board of the Volkswagen Group. However, the publication adds that this "along with the probability bordering on certainty" will also mean the departure of the current head of the Bugatti brand, Stephan Winkelmann, but that neither Winkelmann nor Porsche's boss Oliver Blume wanted to comment on this.
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Google Trends: Search Interest in Croatia Since 2004 - Interesting!
September 18, 2020 - A look at historic search history in Croatia through Google Trends, with some rather surprising findings.
I must say that I am more than a little surprised.
With the huge rise in tourism numbers over the last few years, I was curious to see how that interest in Croatia was reflected in people's Internet searching habits. And if we are looking for data, there is no better place than the Google god, and its rather useful Google Trends tool in particular.
Google Trends has information on search data dating back to 2004 (just in case you were wondering when people started taking an interest in your online habits), some 16 years ago. It is a very useful tool to track interest in a certain topic, and so, just for fun, I entered the keyword 'Croatia' into the system.
No prizes for guessing what the big spike is in July, 2018... the World Cup in Russia of course, a time when Brand Croatia was one of the hottest things on the planet due to the marvellous performances of the team on the pitch and the fans off it, as well as THAT shirt. Croatia was HOT, and never was there such global interest in the tiny country which dared to dream.
I have written about Google Trends before, and the spikes every two years reflect Croatia's participation and success in the Euros or World Cup, but the first major surprise for me was that it seems that - football aside - search interest in Croatia was bigger back in 2004 than it is today.
And then an even bigger surprise.
Google Trends stores information on different sections of interest - this is how search interest in Croatia looks over time for travel since 2004. Apart from the brief (and it was brief) tourism interest dividend after the World Cup, it seems that interest in Croatian travel has been declining over the years. If the source was not the Google god, I would be a little skeptical of the data.
Some individual country charts of overall interest - the UK for travel.
And the UK in general.
The United States.
I was expecting a large increase in interest from countries such as Norway, which has discovered Croatia in a big way in the last few years... but not really.
Not all the trends were downward. German interest in Croatia peaked to its highest ever level after the World Cup.
Although, and again surprisingly...
That surge of interest was not reflected in travel.
Surprising trends. Feel free to play with the tool yourself here.
There are lessons to be learned in there somewhere, and one of them is not a surprise at all. Football sells, and there is perhaps no better medium to get widespread global exposure. Just ask Rwanda. Despite never having been to the World Cup or had a player play in the Premier League, the Visit Rwanda logo is seen 35 million times a day on Arsenal shirts around the world. Learn more in Lessons from Rwanda: Promoting Tourism Through Football, African-Style.
Never Watched Football at the Bottom of a Lake? Imotski. Sunday.
September 18, 2020 - What is the most unusual football match you have been to? Can you beat a game between elves and werewolves at the bottom of a lake? Welcome to Imotski!
I have heard of some quite unusual sports and sporting venues on my travels over the years, but nothing quite like this.
A football match at the bottom of a lake.
The location is the gorgeous Blue Lake of Imotski in inland Dalmatia, about 30 minutes by car from the Makarska coast. Ordinarily, the Red and Blue Lakes are the town's star attractions due to their undoubted beauty, but this Sunday, attention will turn to the Blue Lake for a totally different - and very bizarre - reason.
A football match at the bottom of the lake.
For the Blue Lake is no longer blue, at least for now.
In fact, the Blue Lake currently does not exist.
Depending on the time of year you visit, the level of the Blue Lake will be at a different level. It is at its fullest after the melting of snow on the nearby mountains, and its level is lowest after the hot summer season. And some years, when the summer has been particularly hot and rainfall particularly scarce, the unthinkable happens.
The Blue Lake disappears completely, leaving only a dry muddy bottom.
This used to happen about twice a century, but it has now happened four times in the last 30 year, including right now. And what happens when a lake dries up?
That's right - the elves and werewolves come out to play.
In what must surely be one of the most bizarre football matches and traditions on the planet, two teams known as the Vukodlaci (Werewolves) & Vilenjaci (Elves) take advantage of the dryness of this most unusual football pitch to battle for local bragging rights.
The match last took place in October, 2017, and you can watch an excellent video report of that occasion in the video above.
This year's match will take place this Sunday, September 20, with kick-off at 15:00.
The funny thing is, however, that Imotski regularly features in global lists of the top 10 strangest football stadiums in the world, but for quite another football pitch.
That honour goes to the Gospin Dolac stadium, which is built into the Imotski rock, less than a football kick away from the Blue Lake - this is how it looks in more normal times.
If only the compilers of these lists knew the true secrets of Imotski's truly bizarre football pitch heritage.
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Plenkovic: Arrests Proof of Govt's Active Policy of Zero Tolerance to Corruption
ZAGREB, September 18, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday that the latest arrests in the Janaf graft affair were proof of the government's active policy of zero tolerance to corruption, regardless of names and surnames, position or party.
"It is this government's policy, my own personally and that of the HDZ, that our independent judicial bodies, the State Prosecutor's Office, USKOK, PNUSKOK and the police are independent, unbiased in their work. No one tells them what to do or not to do. That is the fundamental principle of our functioning," Plenkovic told reporters after a meeting with county prefects and mayors.
There is no "magic box", DORH and police have to do their job
It is important that everyone understands that there is no "magic box" which can help someone know what someone else is doing, he said and added that the only way, if suspicion of corruption is justified, for the State Prosecutor's office (DORH) and the police to do their job.
"This is the best proof of the active policy of zero tolerance to corruption. Regardless of someone's name and surname, position and party. There is no other way, that is the only proper way. And cases like these will act as a deterrent, that is the whole point There can never be any fatigue in the fight against corruption," underscored the prime minister.
If someone is proven guilty in legal proceedings, we expect them to answer for that, Plenkovic said and claimed that regardless of HDZ MP Drazen Barisic being arrested, the government and the parliamentary majority are stable.
Asked how was it possible for Pozega mayor Darko Puljasic to end up on HDZ's slate, even though he was indicted in January, and was stripped of parliamentary immunity yesterday, Plenkovic claimed that this was not a problem.
"That is not a problem because everything that is related to him is not related to his seat in parliament. In this case his immunity was stripped only because he became a member of parliament. As I understand it, he is looking forward to a trial so he can prove that the charges against him are not true," said Plenkovic.
Asked whether mayors that have been indicted should resign, Plenkovic said there was no need if they have only been charged.
"If it is proven, or if they cannot to conduct their duties, then there are deputies to replace them so that the city can function," he said.
Elektrocentar Petek is not a large HDZ donor
Plenkovic denied allegations that Elektrocentar Petek, a company connected to Thursday's arrest, was a large donor to the HDZ.
"Not really. First of all, I have never heard of that company and as far as I have seen, during my term as HDZ leader, the company donated HRK 10,000 four years ago, and I checked, (Kreso Petek) isn't even a member of the HDZ," claimed Plenkovic.
He also dismissed speculation that the arrested Janaf CEO Dragan Kovacevic was supposed to have been replaced a year ago, and said such stories are now being made up for the sake of blackmail.
We live in a world of rumours. I've read some of the ridiculous theories by some MPs, caucuses, particularly those from the Homeland Movement and Bridge, two parties that ran in the parliamentary election so they could have the ability to blackmail, as that was the only reach of their platforms and stances, said Plenkovic.
They have turned into "frustrated blackmailers who are coming up with theories that the prime minister knew something or that someone told him something," added Plenkovic.
"All those things need to be removed, the police and DORH are doing their job independently, and they do these things secretly. If something is secret, then it is not public, then only the people dealing with that are in the know and no one else, not even the prime minister," he underscored.
Replacement of Kovacevic will be looked into
Asked whether he would replace Janaf CEO Kovacevic, Pleknovic said that he would look into the entire situation because Janaf is listed on the stock exchange and the state is not its only owner.
Asked whether a system to vet people who are to take up management positions exists, Plenkovic said there was no such system. "There is no way to notice something like this, that is simply impossible," he said.
As far as information leaks are concerned with regard to yesterday's arrests, Plenkovic said that the leaks need to be identified.
"There are three possibilities - the police, DORH or the court. Let them speak up, that would also be in the interest of their credibility," he concluded.
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PM: Digitisation and Green Deal Centrepiece of Economic Recovery
ZAGREB, September 18, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who on Friday presented an economic recovery plan to county prefects and representatives of cities and municipalities, said that digitisation and the Green Deal were the centrepiece of Croatia's economic recovery.
"Digitisation and the Green Deal are the centrepiece and framework for projects that will be financed," Plenkovic told the press in the city of Gospic after meeting with county heads and representatives of the associations of cities and municipalities.
Plenkovic added that participants in the meeting were also informed about the allocation for Croatia within the Multiannual Financial Framework of the European Union.
The government is consulting prefects and mayors on more than 5,000 projects submitted to the Ministry of EU Funds and Regional Development, and the consultations will help step up the absorption of funds as of 2021, he said.
This will enable the return of the country's GDP to the pre-coronacrisis levels, which is the point of the government's programme, Plenkovic said.
Finance Minister Zdravko Maric informed the prefects and mayors who attended the Gospic meeting about plans for the tax reform and fiscal decentralisation.
Public Administration and Justice Minister Ivan Malenica outlined a plan for the overhaul of the system of cities and municipalities.
Malenica told the press that preparations were underway for amending the law on local self-government, legislation on local elections and on the City of Zagreb, noting that those changes would be undertaken for cost-cutting purposes.
He said the number of office-holders would be reduced and the remuneration for county and city assembly councilors would be cut.
Malenica said that the aim would be to achieve the functional merger of some of the municipalities and to digitise local authorities, rather than reducing the number of cities and municipalities.
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1.53 mn Persons Employed at End of August
ZAGREB, September 18, 2020 - At the end of August 2020, there were 1.53 million persons in employment in Croatia, up 0.4% on the month but down 4% on the year, while the registered unemployment rate stayed at 9%, the national statistical office said on Friday.
In August 2020, the number of persons in employment was 1,534,912. Their number in legal entities was 1,315,534, up 0.5% on the month but down 3.9% on the year.
At the end of August 2020, there were 200,202 persons in employment in crafts and trades and freelancing, down 0.2% on the month and 4.9% on the year.
Registered unemployment 9%
At the end of August 2020, 151,368 persons were registered with the Croatian Employment Service, 65 fewer on the month. Year on year, their number jumped 32.2%.
The unemployment rate was 9% in both July and August. In August, it went up 2.2 percentage points on the year.
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PM Presents Development Priorities to County Prefects and Mayors
ZAGREB, September 18, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic met with county prefects and mayors in the central town of Gospic on Friday to present the government's economic recovery plan, tax reform, local government reform, possibilities of using EU funding, and five development priorities.
Plenkovic said that the government's aim for the next six months was to develop programmes and documents for the long-term strategic development of Croatia in five priority areas: social security, a prosperous future for the enterprise sector with emphasis on new technologies and job creation, self-sufficiency in food production, promoting solidarity in society and strengthening Croatia's global position.
This is the government's eighth meeting with county prefects and representatives of the associations of towns and municipalities. Its purpose is to coordinate the multi-level management and partnership of the counties, towns and municipalities and to ensure balanced regional development of Croatia. The previous meetings were held in Zagreb, Pozega, Sibenik Varazdin, Rijeka, Zadar and Koprivnica.
Plenkovic and other participants are expected to address the press after the working part of the meeting which is closed to the public.
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Majority of MPs Support CoE Convention on Safety, Security and Service in Sport
ZAGREB, September 18, 2020 - Members of the Croatian Parliament on Friday supported the Council of Europe's Convention on an Integrated Approach to Safety, Security and Service at Football Matches and Other Sports Events.
Presenting the document, the interior ministry's State-Secretary, Zarko Katic, said that incidents occurred too frequently at football matches as a consequence of poor security management at stadiums.
"Violence is on the rise both inside stadiums and outside as well as in city centres," Katic said.
The purpose of the Convention is to ensure that football and other sports events provide a safe, secure and welcoming environment for all individuals through the implementation of an integrated approach on safety, security and service at sports events by a plurality of actors working in a partnership amid an ethos of co-operation.
However, Marko Milanovic Litre of the Homeland Movement (DP) bench said that he saw the adoption of the Convention as the continuation of rigorous, unjust and discriminatory policies towards a social minority (football fan groups), who he said, demonstrated fairness and integrity and well as unselfish commitment at local and national levels. This DP deputy criticised the practice of keeping records of citizens who attend football events at stadiums as something that can undermine individual rights and freedoms.
the Council of Europe's Convention on an Integrated Approach to Safety, Security and Service at Football Matches and Other Sports Events, which was adopted in Saint-Denis on 3 July 2016, took effect on 1 November 2017.
To date 33 members of the Council of Europe have signed the document, and 16 of them have ratified it.
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