ZAGREB, June 22, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said during a visit to Montenegro on Monday he did not see any reason to postpone the July 5 election for the Croatian Parliament.

After meeting with his Montenegrin counterpart, Milo Djukanovic, Milanovic addressed reporters who were interested in the possibility of postponing the election due to the spike in coronavirus cases in Croatia.

"The election in Croatia is set for July 5. I called the election for that date and I do not know how that can be changed in a democratic country," said Milanovic.

"Now that Parliament has been dissolved, we have to go to the polls," he added.

Speaking in a TV interview on May 21, Milanovic said that he did not think this was the best time for the election, but that the decision was made and he respected it.

Speaking in Cetinje, Milanovic said he was prepared to listen to anyone who considered that there were material and health reasons to postpone the election, but that that won't change anything.

"The election is set for July 5 and without any cynicism, you got what you asked for. I do not see any reason not to continue with the election," he added.

Earlier on Monday, the head of the national coronavirus crisis management team, Davor Bozinovic, told a special press conference convened due to the emergence of the coronavirus among tennis players at the Adria Tour tournament in Zadar over the weekend, that there were no indications for the issue of postponing the election to be considered.

In the past 24 hours 19 new cases of the novel coronavirus have been identified in Croatia, the crisis management team said on Monday.

ZAGREB, June 22, 2020 - Croatian President Zoran Milanovic has cancelled his visit to Russia due to a fault on the government plane and will not be able to attend the Victory Day parade in Moscow on June 24, his office said on Monday.

"President Milanovic has cancelled his trip to Moscow because of a fault on the government plane which cannot be repaired by the planned date, and there are still no commercial flights to Russia," presidential spokesman Nikola Jelic told Hina.

Milanovic is currently on an official visit to Montenegro, after which he was due to travel to Moscow for the Victory Day parade. The parade was to have taken place on May 9, but was cancelled over the coronavirus pandemic and rescheduled for June 24.

On the margins of his visit to Moscow, Milanovic was due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

ZAGREB, June 22, 2020 - The epidemiological situation in the coastal city of Zadar has not deteriorated significantly but what happened at the tennis tournament is a big warning, Health Minister Vili Beros said after visiting Zadar General Hospital on Monday.

He said he had come to express his support to the hospital staff who had promptly responded to the emergence of new cases of coronavirus infection at the Adria Tour tennis tournament. He called on organisers of similar events to be aware of their responsibility, saying that what happened at the tournament was a big warning.

"This situation was not unexpected, and the response by the epidemiological service was of crucial importance. What happened is the normality of the new normal, and our healthcare and epidemiological system is prepared. We expected such occurrences and we have a host of possible responses," Beros told the press, adding that no additional epidemiological measures were needed at the moment.

He said that the epidemiological service is well organised and that 47 people have been placed in self-isolation so far.

Twenty-nine people attending the tournament were tested on Sunday and three of them have turned out to be positive for the novel COVID-19 coronavirus. More testing was done on Monday - 13 people tested in the morning have returned negative results, results for a group of 14 people tested are expected at 3 pm and results for another 40 people should be completed by 7 pm,

Beros stressed that "the virus is still around us", underlining the need for keeping a physical distance, avoiding contacts, and maintaining hygiene.

"That wasn't done in this particular case, so I call on organisers of such events to strictly adhere to the measures in place. This is no longer a recommendation but an obligation," the health minister said.

June 22, 2020 - The new Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community passes 100,000 visits in its first month - thank you!

It is just over a month since I visited the main Bregana border crossing between Croatia and Slovenia with PR guru, Kresimir Macan. It was certainly an educational trip, which showed the realities on the ground. 

On the way back to Zagreb, I asked Macan why Croatia did not have a Viber group for the latest travel information, as it did for corona updates. The corona Viber updates have been an invaluable service in keeping about half a million subscribers fully informed. With so much confusion regarding travel in these uncertain times, why did the Ministry of Tourism not follow the Ministry of Health's excellent example?

"Let's do it ourselves and create our own Viber community. Come to the office on Tuesday, and we will do it."

And with the help of these two Manjgura interns initially, Macan of course, and several other members from the TCN and Manjgura teams (huge thanks to all), our little Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community became quite a fascinating project, and one which I have learned a lot from in the last month. 

Yes, we were giving out lots of free information, but the community was also giving us gold - real-life experiences of border crossings (successful and unsuccessful), of flights boarded and flights where boarding was denied. 

It is, I believe the place where the most accurate information in this very uncertain time can be found about travel to Croatia, and I am immensely proud of the whole team involved for what we have achieved. 

Especially since I got word from Viber today that our little community has been visited 100,000 times in its first month. Many thanks to all of you who have joined the community and shared your experiences, so that we could build a more comprehensive and accurate picture for tourists who are yet to arrive. 

If you would like to join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community and have your question answered in real time, you can join here (you will need to download the Viber 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

ZAGREB, June 22, 2020 - Despite Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic meeting with tennis players in Zadar, according to epidemiological classification, he is not at risk of catching the coronavirus because he was not in contact with any of the people diagnosed with the virus, the Croatian Institute for Public Health (HZJZ) said on Monday.

"The epidemiological classification of persons at risk of catching COVID-19, are those who were in the vicinity or in contact with persons diagnosed or suffering from the disease as the disease is transferred through close contact. In determining who was and who wasn't in close contact one needs to know the scientific basis of how a close contact is defined," HZJZ said in a response to Hina, noting that Croatia has taken that definition from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

That definition determines, and in this case which is relevant to Plenkovic's visit to the Zadar tournament, that the coronavirus can be transferred if a person has been in contact with an infected person face to face at a distance of fewer than 2 meters for more than 15 minutes, and if a person has spent time with an infected person in closed premises (e.g. household, classroom, meeting room, hospital waiting room, etc.) for more than 15 minutes, HZJZ said.

"In this specific case it needs to taken into account that Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic, whom the prime minister greeted briefly without shaking hands and with whom he spoke (3 minutes) were not positive to COVID-19 but (for now) they were in contact with (Grigor) Dimitrov who is positive and contact with contact is not considered as a close contact unless that contact becomes positive within 48 hours of the said contact, which in this case is irrelevant because there was no close contact between the prime minister and the tennis players," HZJZ explained.

June 22, 2020 - Three young Split citizens have taken matters into their own hands to keep the bays of the city waste-free.

Dalmacija Danas writes that in the city of Split, we often witness ugly scenes of accumulated and unsorted waste every day, which can be found equally in all city districts. Numerous containers are overcrowded, and many citizens do not know how to dispose of their waste, which results in piles of rubbish in the same places for days. To make matters worse, certain weather conditions make the accumulated waste even greater, because it eventually ends up on streets, promenades and roads.

The irresponsibility of the city services and the citizens themselves is evidenced by visiting the port of Zenta, in front of the club of the same name, where every weekend, hardworking volunteers Dino Buljan, Lucija Guić and Nina Šeparović clean the waste that careless citizens leave behind.

"Honestly, I am very embarrassed when my friends from Zagreb visit me, when I see foreigners walking along Zenta and pass by the piled up plastic packaging," the 18-year-old volunteer Dino testified.

He adds that there is a lot of rubbish in the area, which hosts many people who bathe and sunbathe with their families in the summer. "We found plastic packaging, glass, clothing - everything," he said in disgust.

"We have been cleaning the area of Zenta for two years now and I think we will have to clean it much more often this year. My friends and I want the area around the harbor and the beach to be clean and tidy, as it should be," he said, and added that every time, they clean the waste for more than five hours and collect it in large plastic bags which is then disposed in containers. Dino says that there are enough containers, but regardless, huge waste ends up on the streets.

Private Album

"We are angry with irresponsible citizens, but also with the services that should dispose of this waste in time, which has been piling for days, polluting the environment and thus, to the shame of all of us, insulting Zenta Bay," Dino adds. 

This deserves a big Bravo!

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

Coronavirus has been wreaking havoc left, right and centre with just about everything. From travel and tourism and the hospitality industry to the delaying and cancelling of major investments. The infrastructure and construction sector hasn't been immune to the effects of the global pandemic, but despite difficulties, some Croatian projects are still going full steam ahead. The project to upgrade Cres Port is just one of them.

As Morski writes on the 22nd of June, 2020, on Tuesday, June the 23rd, the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, will visit the works on the project which involves the full reconstruction and upgrading of the western part of Cres port, after which he will participate in the opening ceremony of the Cres solar power plant.

When it comes to the significant project which involves the reconstruction and extension of the western part of Cres Port, more than half of the planned works were successfully performed, and the activities on the construction site are still continuing in full swing.

The main goal of the project is to improve the infrastructure in the belt of the port basin of Cres port by building a safer and properly arranged pier. This project also marks a continuation of the arrangement of the waterfront on the gorgeous island of Cres, with which it will form a unique spatial and functional unit.

The reconstruction and extension of the western part of Cres Port, worth a massive 34.6 million kuna in total, is a project funded by the Competitiveness and Cohesion Operational Programme 2014-2020, as well as being within the project entitled "Renaissance on the Croatian coast" within which the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure has so far invested almost 900 million kuna (with the help of EU funds) in the reconstruction of small ports connecting various Croatian islands.

As stated previously, after touring the works being carried out on Cres Port, Minister Butkovic, together with the Minister of Tourism, Gari Cappelli, will participate in the opening ceremony of the works on the construction of the Cres solar power plant.

For more, follow our lifestyle page.

June 22, 2020 — The coronavirus's resurgence may jeopardize Croatia's parliamentary elections, slated for July 5, according to one of the ruling HDZ's top officials. The statement came before a tennis tournament in Zadar opened a pandora's box of potential infections and bad press.

HDZ's Vice President Ivan Anušić threw doubt over the parliamentary elections scheduled in just two weeks, claiming the rash of COVID-19 infections emerging over the last five days could postpone the vote or alter the election's turnout.

"There is a possibility that the parliamentary elections will be postponed," Anusic told Zadarski List. "I think that's an option too. In any case, a consensus should be reached on that in Croatia beforehand. No one can cancel the elections by force."

The government and Civil Protection Directorate have both assured the public the vote will be held as scheduled, though that's based on current new infection trends holding.

Croatia's constitution has no explicit procedure for postponing an already-announced parliamentary election. The decision on the election date was made by President Zoran Milanovic, but he cannot just revoke it. Scholars suggest if the situation with the coronavirus were to devolve quickly, the existing Parliament should declare a state of emergency by a two-thirds majority. Or perhaps the Constitutional Court would be in a position to conclude that not all the conditions for holding elections have been met.

Regardless, Anušić casual speculation the election may somehow be postponed coincided with his party suspending all election activities in Osijek-Baranja County, where a second rash of infections includes self-isolation for two of HDZ's candidates — Josip Škoirć and Ivan Radić.

Anušić does not think that the escalation of the virus will significantly change the mood of voters, but believes that it could still affect the outcome of the election by keeping some people at home.

"Unfortunately, there will be more infections," he said. "However, we know much more about the virus than three months ago. We know what and whom we must pay the most attention to and there will be no closure or quarantine."

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković declared victory against the coronavirus, using the falling numbers to justify dissolving parliament and holding elections well ahead of their late-autumn due date.

Plenkovic has argued only his party can see through the difficulties left behind by the pandemic, both economic and public health. COVID-19's return may damage a central plank of his re-election platform.

Or, it could keep vital voters at home, Anušič said.

"It seems to me that the turnout could be lower than it seemed," he said. "Who would benefit from that? Well, probably strong, organized parties, whose voters are more persistent."

The rival Social Dems have not analyzed who would benefit from a possible lower turnout, but they are in a hurry to prepare arguments to prove that the epidemic disqualifies the Government of Andrej Plenković.

"HDZ, because they concluded that it would benefit them, decided to endanger the health of the nation, with the message that they defeated the coronavirus," said the president of SDP's MPs club, Arsen Bauk. "Now it turns out that the claim of victory is a lie. Anything that would happen in terms of an outbreak of the epidemic would be entirely the responsibility of the Government, the HDZ leadership and the HDZ Civil Protection Directorate, who gambled with the health of the nation."