ZAGREB, July 25, 2020 - Legal amendments which will cancel the tax on property transactions could be in parliamentary procedure in the autumn, but when they could go into force remains unknown, Vecernji List daily said on Saturday.

As the ruling HDZ party promised in its parliamentary election campaign, the Andrej Plenkovic cabinet has announced that during this term it will cancel the 3% tax on property transactions, which last year brought local governments between HRK 1.1 billion and 1.2 billion, the paper said.

The tax revenue belongs to the towns and municipalities where properties are located. According to the Zagreb Institute of Economics, last year 111,000 properties in Croatia changed owners, first and foremost land and buildings whose value was HRK 40 billion.

In 2019, the year before COVID-19, property transactions accounted for 10% of the annual GDP. Most of the money (HRK 16.6 billion) was invested in the purchase of flats, buyers invested HRK 8.4 billion in building land, HRK 7.5 billion in family houses, and only HRK 1.8 billion in farmland. The average price of a flat sold was about HRK 630,000.

In the first half of this year, the value of properties sold dropped by 25% from H1 2019.

The government would not confirm if the 3% tax on property transactions will be cancelled at the beginning of 2021 or later.

According to unofficial reports, the government could put forward the relevant legal amendments in the autumn, when income tax is expected to be cut from 24% to 20% and from 36% to 30%, Vecernji List said, adding that property tax changes would depend on developments with the coronavirus.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

ZAGREB, July 25, 2020 - Severe storms that hit most of Croatia on Friday night made firefighters respond to numerous calls and one died in Zagreb after taking ill during an intervention, the Croatian Firefighting Association said on Saturday.

Heavy rains with strong winds struck the northern coastal area of Rijeka, Opatija and Crikvenica as well as the islands of Krk and Cres, with local firefighters responding to ten calls to remove fallen trees and branches, pump out water, repair roofs and clear roads.

In Zagreb County, firefighters responded to 15 calls, mostly to pump out water from buildings, but also to clean drains and remove fallen trees and branches.

In Varazdin County, firefighters responded to ten calls, also to pump out water and remove fallen trees and branches, including from power lines.

Situation worst in Zagreb

In the flooded capital, firefighters responded to over 100 calls to pump out water from numerous buildings and underpasses, clear drains and roads as well as remove fallen trees from them.

While pumping out water from one flat, firefighter Davor Kovacic (53) took ill and died despite a quick response from paramedics.

July 25, 2020 - Getting married during a pandemic - how the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community helped American Joshua and Slovenian Noemi marry in Umag. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has been littered with personal stories of tragedy, death, loss and separation. Enough misery to last a lifetime.

But there have also been some stories with happier endings, or reunification and a cementing of loving relationships, sometimes in the form of marriage. 

A marriage such as that of Noemi and Joshua in Umag yesterday, for example.  

I have never met either of them, although I have corresponded with Noemi at length via Viber messenger, but theirs is the one love story that I have followed with interest this year, right up until its happy conclusion and the exchange of rings in Istria yesterday. 

I first became aware of the couple's plight shortly after co-founding the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community a couple of months ago. An early contributor was a Slovenian lady named Noemi Jugovac from Buje, whose life plans were seriously threatened by the corona crisis, as she had been planning to marry her love, Joshua Shaquille Johnson from Philadelphia, in a ceremony in Umag on July 24. 

It quickly became obvious that Noemi was going to stop at nothing to find a way to get her American beau into Croatia for the big day, as she devoured every piece of advice and every update, asking for clarifications.  

The big day itself, of course, was destined to be a much more muted affair due to corona, with just 6 people planned in attendance. But if Noemi could not get her man to Croatia, there would be no wedding at all.  

Finally, thanks to the help of Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community co-founder Kresimir Macan, as well as great feedback from other community members who had made the journey from the USA via airports in Frankfurt, Zurich, Amsterdam, Paris and Copenhagen, Noemi and Joshua were confident enough to book the ticket and be reunited a few days before their wedding. after some two years apart.  

The flight was set for Sunday, July 12, some 12 days before their big day. 

And then, late on Friday, July 10, less than 48 hours before Joshua was due to fly - disaster! Croatia suddenly - and almost immediately - changed the rules for all non-EU/EEA/UK citizens and residents. From midnight on Friday night, less than 48 hours before he was due to depart, a sudden restriction that could potentially scupper their plans. There was no way to get a test done in time and get the results. The alternative was to arrive and have 14-days self-isolation, thereby missing the wedding.  

I will never forget that next morning as had given several staff the day off and was looking forward to a quiet Saturday, with slow, weekend traffic on the Viber community. I could not have been more wrong. The announcement was made on a Friday night and implemented at midnight, but then it was the weekend and much harder to reach officials and offices to find out what the situation was. The community was full of panicked messages from airports from Kiev to New York CIty, as passengers with all the documentation for travel painstakingly prepared found themselves with a last minute spanner in the works. Would they be allowed to travel at all?  

Thanks to the information and help obtained through the Viber community, the couple received clear instructions on what to do and what the procedures are, and within a month of contacting the team with Total Croatia Travel Info, Joshua finally arrived in Croatia. Immediately upon arrival, he went for testing to the Hrvatski zavod za javno zdravstvo, and after it was determined that the test was negative, he was released from self-isolation after waiting for the results overnight. He was then free to proceed to his fiancee's house in Buje, and from there the big day. 

The wedding took place yesterday, a very small affair with Noemi's parents and the best man in attendance, and there will be a much bigger party when all this is over.  

We wish the happy couple all the best in their new union, a love which corona could not stop, despite its best efforts. 

The wedding has already attracted the attention of the Croatian media, and it was featured last night on the national news, with both Noemi and Joshua speaking to the cameras in English.  

About the Total Croatia Travel Info Viber community

The Total Croatia Travel Info Viber community is intended for foreigners who, despite the situation with COVID-19, want to visit Croatia. Up-to-date and verified information on travel, borders and flights to Croatia is exchanged in one place through the community, and thanks to automatic translation, messages can be read in 24 languages. Communication in the community is two-way and members receive real-time information that interests them about coming to Croatia and exchange experiences with each other.

Founded in May on the initiative of Paul Bradbury, founder of the Total Croatia News portal and communication expert Krešimir Macan, this Viber community today has more than 5,000 members. It achieves more than 150,000 views on a monthly basis and, depending on the day, between 300 and 500 messages are exchanged in the community on a daily basis. Thanks to the adequate informative support, advice and experiences of other members, the community regularly receives thanks from all those who arrived in Croatia safely through Total Croatia Travel Info.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community (you will need to download the app).

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

July 25, 2020 - A severe storm hit western Croatia and Zagreb last night at around 9 pm, causing big floods in the center of the capital.

Index.hr reports that several streets were flooded, including Ilica and Miramarska, Branimirova and Strojarska, but also Britanski trg and the Importanne Center. Numerous cars were trapped underwater or entirely submerged, basements and family houses, shops, cafes were also affected.

Firefighters and emergency services were on the scene all night. They performed more than a hundred interventions, and due to thousands of calls from citizens, all lines (193) were busy during the evening. Thousands of calls from citizens were received, hundreds of buildings were flooded.

Tram traffic was interrupted along Ilica, then from Radnicka towards Zitnjak and from Drziceva, Ulica grada Vukovara to Savska cesta.

Traffic is limited on some roads today, and the underpass in Miramarska is closed to traffic.

"Throughout the night, technical teams were engaged in draining rainwater and repairing the consequences of the thunderstorm.

All preconditions for safe traffic have been created on the public city transport network and there are no difficulties on ZET lines," it was reported.

Warnings for dangerous weather conditions are still in force, reports DHMZ. But lower levels than yesterday. An orange meteorological alarm is in force for the Zagreb area.

It will be partly cloudy today, with rain or showers, mostly in the first part of the day. Wind mostly moderate north and northwest. The highest daily air temperature is around 25°C, reports DHMZ.

It will be partly sunny tomorrow, though fog is possible in the morning. There will be light winds. The lowest temperature will be around 16, and highest daily from 28 to 30°C.

To read more about news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

The luxurious Losinj hotel, Hotel Bellevue, has been nominated for a prestigious award owing to the spa and wellness facilities it offers to its guests.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of July, 2020, the Losinj Hotel Bellevue 5 * was nominated for the World Spa Awards™ in the category of Croatia's Best Hotel Spa. It is a prestigious award given to hotels with the best spa and wellness facilities and offers. The World Spa Awards have been being awarded to facilities since back in 2015, and were created as part of its sister event - World Travel Awards™. The former has been rewarding excellence in tourism for the past 27 years. The award encourages further growth and innovation in the hotel industry and provides examples of good practice globally.

Voting for Croatia’s Best Hotel Spa, for which the aforementioned Losinj hotel is nominated, is open until September the 30th, 2020, and the winners will be announced by category later on this year. The very fact that Bellevue 5 * is shortlisted for this prestigious award testifies to the exceptional effort and work of all of the hotel's employees.

Hotel Bellevue is located in the heart of a century-old pine forest in the beautiful Cikat Bay, and is famous for its famous Bellevue Spa Clinic. Gathering tourists from all over the world, it has become a popular choice and one of the favorite luxury hotels on the Croatian Adriatic.

This Losinj hotel has earned the affection and accolades of both new and regular guests with its impeccable service and the offer of the best integral health, wellness programmes and cosmetic treatments from world famous experts and brands, such as Pedi: Mani: Cure Studio by Bastien Gonzalez and exclusive cosmetics Valmont, Forlle'd, Pharmos Natur and 45 Degrees.

The Bellevue Spa Clinic also offers a cryosauna and a unique ultrasonic facelift Ultherapy, as well as the first pop-up hair salon - Aveda Hairlab salon by Ruza.

For more, follow our lifestyle page.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused issues in every way imaginable, and the long awaited Peljesac Bridge has been far from immune to the spanners thrown in the works by the virus. 

July the 25th, 2020 - The Peljesac Brisge construction site is dominated by Chinese workers, or perhaps it is better to say that that was the case before the coronavirus pandemic swept the world and changed our behaviour to such an extreme degree. The CRBC, which is no less than a Chinese company, is responsible for the carrying out of the works, and with the transport sector hit hard, issues have been abundant. It seems now, however, that a solution has been found...

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of July, 2020, the Chinese contractor on the Peljesac Bridge, China Bridge and Road Corporation (CRBC), has finally found a way to bring over the Chinese workers which are necessary for the assembly of the steel span structure of the bridge from China to the construction site in Dalmatia.

As the aforementioned company confirmed to Večernji list recently, they have arranged a charter flight from China with an airline, which will bring its workers, including all of the welders needed to enlarge the segments of the span assembly, directly to Croatia. The Croatian representative office of CRBC says that they plan to bring about 150 workers in this summer, of which 100 are welders.

''The preparation of the charter flight is going smoothly and it is predicted that it will land in Croatia at the end of July,'' CRBC reports.

As has since been learned from Croatian roads (Hrvatske ceste), that flight was planned for Monday, July the 27th. The Chinese contractor company says that given the type of aircraft their workers will come with, as well as the location of the construction site, the aircraft from China will need to land at Dubrovnik Airport (Cilipi).

However, it isn't all roses. Given the fact that the coronavirus pandemic is still raging globally, the arriving Chinese workers will not be able to simply go to the Peljesav Bridge construction site immediately, as they will first have to go into self-isolation. Thus, the CRBC says, these 150 Chinese workers, after arriving in Croatia, will be accommodated in a hotel that they have booked to carry out their fourteen days of self-isolation.

For more, follow our business page.

July the 25th, 2020 - Some mixed messages have arrived on the coronavirus-dominated tourism front recently. The Netherlands quickly placed Croatia on its orange list, advising against all but essential travel and asking Dutch nationals to return from Croatia, followed by Germany firmly keeping the country on its ''safe list''. 

Despite the Dutch Government asking its citizens to return home to begin their fourteen days of self-isolation and organising for travel agencies to secure return journeys home for those Dutch nationals using them, Dutch holidaymakers aren't that willing to listen. In fact, they've even gone as far as to launch a petition to have Croatia placed back on the Netherlands' yellow list.

As Morski writes on the 25th of July, 2020, the news that the Dutch Government has placed Croatia on the orange list of countries owing to their handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday night surprised many. Although some decided to leave Croatia, a good part of Dutch tourists decided to gather information and stay. Some went so far as to organise a petition to have the Dutch Government return Croatia to its yellow list.

Nobody knows why Croatia suddenly managed to find its place on the famous orange list and by what criteria it occurred, because the current epidemiological picture definitely is not the reason. The situation is much worse than Croatia in France or Austria, which are not included on that country's list of high-risk countries.

Apart from the fact that this news shocked all tourist workers, it also surprised the Dutch tourists themselves. Some left, but others rolled up their sleeves and decided to collect 40,000 signatures to send a message to their government that they aren't happy with the bizarre decision, with the aim of returning Croatia to the yellow list.

The petition has so far been signed by almost 6.5 thousand people and is being shared through social networks and channels. The petition can be found at this link: Kroatië terug naar geel.

For more on travel to, from and within Croatia during the coronavirus era, follow our travel page.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes on the 24th of July, 2020, the fifteenth Croatian Government, and the second one under Andrej Plenković, promised to do a lot in its programme by the end of its mandate; from creating the conditions for the bringing to life of as many as 100,000 new jobs, raising the average salary to 7,600 kuna and the minimum one to 4,250 kuna, to ten percent higher pensions and more generous social benefits.

The new-old prime minister sees the main lever for achieving these programme goals and economic recovery in the full utilisation of the now somewhat (in)famous 22 billion euros from the European Recovery Fund and the seven-year EU budget. This is obviously an important stronghold for the further tax relief that has since been announced.

Another day or two after the election victory, Plenković said that we don't have time to celebrate, and among the first moves he announced were cuts in income and profit taxes, as well as a reduction in VAT on food in some products.

In the meantime, the statements of the equally new-old Minister of Finance, Zdravko Marić, suggested that this wouldn't be a package, especially not in terms of the beginning of the application of lower rates in general.

Lowering the 36 and 24 percent income tax rate to 34 and 20 percent is likely to take place before the reduction of corporate income tax for companies with an income of up to 7.5 million kuna from 12 to 10 percent. It's also likely to happen before looking into reducing VAT in the aforementioned segment.

Some economists believe that in terms of the timing of this so-called VAT intervention, this isn't a mere matter of it being common practice to introduce such changes at the beginning of the calendar year. The coronavirus crisis has trampled all over many common practices, with as many as eleven European governments deciding to respond to the pandemic's shockwaves by temporarily lowering VAT rates over recent months, and not just in terms of more flexible collection models.

Even among those eleven nations, only Germany has resorted to indiscriminate VAT cuts. As of this month, it has lowered the general rate from 19 down to 16 percent. Most others opted for targeted selective reductions targeted at individual sectors, products and services.

The Croatian Government's package of assistance to the economy was one of the most generous in the entire EU (when measured in relation to GDP), but in the field of VAT, which in our budget carries revenue of as much as 13-14 percent of GDP, anti-crisis measures remained, allowing business owners the ability to pay VAT only after collection, and not upon issuing invoices. This eased their liquidity situation.

Numerous variants of flexibility of rules in the VAT system were also used by countries that also reduced the rate of that tax on certain products and services for a period of time. According to Avalar VATlive, a global specialist for these taxes, their focus was mainly on the hospitality and tourism sector, transport, cultural events, books, publishing and the like.

In adopting measures during the coronavirus crisis, governments have generally followed what other countries were doing very closely, so this sort of perpetual intervention in VAT rates was introduced in early July and is set to last until the end of the year.

Norway, however, which isn't an EU member state and is known for smart moves, was much quicker than most others. The non-EU Northern European nation halved VAT on public transport, hotels and cinemas from 12 percent to 6 percent in early April for a period of seven months. The Turks, who also aren't EU members, also started with their interventions in April, but they decided to almost completely give up on the idea of VAT (slashing it from 18 to 1 percent) on domestic flights and accommodation, for a period of eight months.

The Austrians halved their VAT rates on alcoholic beverages (from 20 to 10 percent), and further reduced it (from 10 to 5 percent) for restaurants, cafes, culture, and for part of the Austrian press.

Since July, the Czech Republic has reduced the levy on sports and cultural activities and accommodation services (from 15 to 10 percent), while Greece has temporarily eased the levy on taxis, ferries and other public transport, among other things. The option for the partial reduction of VAT has been being discussed in Ireland over recent days as well.

European announcements regarding reforms...

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez recently announced fiscal reforms for Spain, but in the direction of tax increases, aimed primarily at the higher taxation of large companies.

In this regard, the media especially emphasise that one of the targets could be American technology companies. Sanchez is also announcing the acceleration of the introduction of new environmental taxes. This issue will surely come to the forefront in other EU member states in the foreseeable future as well, both due to the green strategic orientation of the EU and owing to the fact that the huge "umbrella" borrowing to finance the recovery plan of the economies affected by the coronavirus crisis will need to be repaid at some point.

There are no such tax announcements in the Croatian Government's programme, so it remains to be seen whether they will be imposed during the mandate or not.

The reduction of tax revenues

At the moment, the focus lies primarily on tax relief, whenever that might actually start. Since in the first half of the year, tax revenues were reduced by between 13 and 15 percent or about 5-6 billion kuna (only in the second half was it close to 7 billion kuna), it is understandable that in the plans for further relief in the eyes of the Croatian Government, things rely heavily on the use of European Union money which should be available to Croatia in the coming years.

For more on the Croatian Government, follow our politics section.