EMS Workers' Unions to Prepare Their Proposal for Emergency Medical Aid Law
ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Trade unions of emergency medical services workers on Tuesday held a working meting with Health Minister Vili Beroš on their demand to adopt a single law on emergency medical aid which will stipulate an accelerated retirement plan for paramedics.
The unionists expressed satisfaction with the meeting and said that they would present their proposal for an emergency medical aid bill in two weeks' time.
Unionist Danijel Šota said that a new meeting would be convened in two weeks' time to discuss the proposed drafts for this legislation that will regulate a reduced working life for EMS workers, the expansion of teams of emergency medical services, and paramedic helicopter services.
Five days ago, a few hundred protesters requested a meeting in the government on the reintroduction of an accelerated retirement plan, which was abolished during Andrija Hebrang's ministerial term of office.
They insist on a single law, following the example of relevant legislation for the police and firefighting services.
Zagreb-Based Company Returns 95% of Processed Hazardous Waste Into Production
ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Economy Minister Tomislav Ćorić on Tuesday visited the Premifab company in Zagreb which recycles and processes hazardous waste and returns 95% of it into production.
Premifab cofounder Igor Podravac said the company used hazardous waste to make a solvent and that it was totally CO2 neutral, without any harmful emissions.
In Croatia, the company mostly covers the pharmaceutical and automobile industries as well as the production of food packaging. It generates 35% of its revenue in the region, cooperating with the car industries of Serbia and Slovenia, the Slovenian pharmaceutical industry, and several companies in Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ćorić said the company was a good example of the circular economy Croatia needed, notably in the processing of hazardous as well as other types of waste.
He said 1,600 tonnes of solvent waste from various companies arrived in Premifab every year, where it was processed so that 95% was returned to senders in the form of a solvent that could be reused.
"In this way, Premifab participates in Croatia's waste management system in the best possible way," he said, adding that it also reduces the import of solvent waste.
Premifab will next invest HRK 80 million in a new, much bigger plant in Ivanić Grad, Ćorić said, adding that it is the only company in Croatia regenerating solvent waste.
He went on to say that incentives for electric cars could be increased this year and that he was sorry the transfer to a circular economy and renewables was not more dynamic in the years when it could be done without major shocks.
Ćorić is confident the energy crisis will cement the orientation to green energy in Croatia and elsewhere in the EU in the long term, and that incentives will be increased next year for including renewables in industrial production as well as among private clients.
WRC Croatia Rally Kicks Off on 21 April
ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - WRC Croatia Rally, which will bring together the world's best rally drivers, will be held on 21-24 April with speed tests through five Croatian counties -- Zagreb, Karlovac, Krapina-Zagorje, Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Varaždin -- while the ceremonial start and finish will be in Zagreb.
The World Rally Championship will be held for the second time in Croatia.
A record number of spectators is expected at the FIA World Rally Championship in Croatia. The organisers estimate that there may be over 350,000 spectators in special fan zones and along the track, and they are expected to arrive from Europe and from overseas.
This year the WRC is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the 2022 season was launched in Monte Carlo in January.
The Croatian government has recognised the importance and value of this competition, which is covered by over 250 television stations and followed by around 836 million people worldwide, and has co-funded the WRC with HRK 7.5 million (€1m). Thanks to this support and the hard-working organisers, Croatia has been included in the World Championship programme for the next two or three years, Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac said earlier this month.
Bosnian Serb Entity Building Family Homes for Croatian Serb Quake Victims
ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Croatian MP Milorad Pupovac and the director of the Bosnian Serb entity's secretariat for the displaced and migration, Davor Čordaš, on Tuesday signed an agreement on the construction of houses for Serb families whose homes were destroyed in the 2020 earthquake in Croatia's Banovina region.
The agreement is worth HRK 6 million and envisages the construction of ten prefab houses, to be made by the Steco factory in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The agreement was signed in the Bosnian Serb entity's capital of Banja Luka.
Prior to that, Pupovac held talks with the entity's prime minister, Radovan Višković, telling the press he expected the houses to be delivered by the end of the summer.
Croatia Reports 116 New Coronavirus Cases, 10 Deaths
ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - In the past 24 hours, 116 coronavirus cases, out of 2,015 tests, and ten related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Tuesday.
There are 3,463 active cases, including 505 hospitalised patients, of whom 22 are on ventilators, while 1,843 persons are self-isolating.
To date, Croatia has registered 1,113,663 coronavirus cases and the death toll is 15,752, while 59.46% of the population, or 70.73% of adults, has been vaccinated, including 68.64% of adults fully.
The Reason Behind the Slow Revitalization of Šibenik Old Town
April 19, 2022 - Šibenik Old Town, once hailed the most beautiful on the Croatian Adriatic coast by the former director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Niko Bulić, today faces a complicated reality with many buildings on the verge of danger and numerous lawsuits in order to restore them. The reason? Abandonment by their own owners.
''Don't talk about it in the press, because of my function and Dubrovnik origin, but my impression is that Šibenik's old town is the most beautiful on the Croatian Adriatic coast. And I think that Krešimir's city will experience a real tourist boom when the right way to value that part of Šibenik begins. I am especially fascinated by the combination of Gorica and Doc at the foot of the fortress of St. Michael.'', told the then director of the Croatian Tourist Board, Mr. Niko Bulić to Slobodna Dalmacija ten years ago in a pleasant walk through the streets, squares and thighs of Šibenik.
At that time, Šibenik already had great momentum in the reconstruction of its four fascinating fortresses, which have always defended the city from the sea and land, for which, according to objective observers, the Society for the Preservation of Šibenik Heritage "Juraj Dalmatinac" is especially responsible, reports Slobdona Dalmacija. Hence the interesting explanation of the director of the hotel complex Amadriapark for a high donation (90 thousand kuna) to the company:
''No, I don't think the donation is too high because we don't need to invest so much in the promotion of our hotels anymore. Our best advertisement is the decorated Šibenik Old Town, for which the company "Juraj Dalmatinac" is especially responsible.'', Goran Zrilić, director of Amadriapark, told SD three years ago.
The enthusiasm of ''Jurjevci''
Frequent praises did not diminish the enthusiasm of the "Jurjevci", as they are colloquially called in Šibenik. On the contrary, it seems that the restoration of some valuable details in the historical core of Šibenik has gained new momentum.
''In the last ten months, we have restored five details of the Šibenik Old Town architecture, and the sixth is in progress. We are talking about staircases, reliefs, vaults… Finally, we use our funds to -arrange the space for our activities, which were given to us by the city "government" as a sign of gratitude for our activity.'', said Nikola Grubić, president of "Juraj Dalmatinac".
The transfer of space to the mentioned society is only a part of the efforts that the city government is investing in the renovation of houses, or rather roofs and facades in the old town.
In the last tender for subsidizing the arrangement of (private) houses in the old town, the City of Šibenik offered more than 750 thousand grants. And not only that.
Unofficially, the people of Šibenik are at the forefront of the European consortium, which consists of six European cities, called the Kairos project, which facilitates the lives of residents in the old town.
''We are convinced that our project has a positive effect. Of course, with the help of other city factors.'', in unison are the head Petar Mišura and Ines Sarić, who in the Office of Economy directly take care of the project.
However, some residents of private buildings made sure that the considerable momentum in Šibenik did not go as smoothly as planned, who, just like passers-by in the city center, witnessed the collapse of their buildings, but did nothing. These are old buildings, which are beginning to pose a danger to walkers, and where external "interventions" are not enough to solve the problem.
They returned the facilities...
''It has become an extremely current city topic. At the same time, I am especially angry with those owners, to whom we returned the long-nationalized buildings, and who, obviously, do not move a finger about their renovation, let alone move in potential tenants. There are also buildings that have already turned into typical ruins. Without roofs, windows, or hung shutters, and whose owners "disappeared" as if those buildings had fallen into the ground'', Mayor Dr. Željko Burić told SD in an informal conversation.
The problem is not only in the negligence of the owners of old buildings. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that Croatia, unlike some other Western European countries, does not have a law that, in such cases, would allow automatic urban "intervention". Therefore, only (private) lawsuits remain, which, as it were, have been dragging on in our courts for years.
Perhaps the most glaring examples are two particular neglected buildings on the city's busiest tourist route, across the stairs of St. Luca to the fortress of St. Michael. At the top of the stairs are two shamefully neglected buildings. For a tourist amazed by Šibenik Old Town, it is enough to look at their long-torn roofs, to turn his head to the other side, with disbelief that this is possible in a city which, as one of the last consultations said, "should be a model on how to value the city's heritage in parallel with tourism development".
For more, check out our politics section.
Revenues of Camping Businesses On Rise From 2016 to 2019 to Fall in 2020
ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Revenues and the number of people on the payroll of camping businesses and campsite service providers rose on the year from 2016 to 2019, however, they dropped in the pandemic 2020, show the data collected by the Croatian Financial Agency (FINA).
However, the number of businesses in this sub-sector of outdoor tourism has increased from year to year: in 2016, there were 146 camping businesses in Croatia to grow to 165 in 2017, 177 in 2018, 187 in 2019 and 197 in 2020.
They employed as many as 1,354 workers in 2019, to see a drop to 1,169 in 2020, while in 2017 there were 1,226 employees and 1,224 workers were in those businesses in 2018.
Revenues according to annual financial statements
The revenues kept rising from nearly HRK 600 million in 2016, to HRK 662.5 million in 2017 and 855 million in 2018 to reach a record high 874 million in 2019 and in the pandemic 2020 it dropped to 585 million.
Five businesses earn 50% of total revenues in this sub-sector
In 2020, in terms of the volume of revenues and the number of employees, the top performer was the Rovinj-based Valalta.
Its revenues came to HRK 192.3 million, making up 33% of total revenues in this tourism business activity. There were 333 employees on its payroll, and their average monthly salary was HRK 6,237.
The second-ranking business was Industrial Projects from Fažana, with the revenues of HRK 30 million and 31 employees.
The Zagreb-based Proficio ranked third, with the revenues of HRK 25.6 million and 74 employees.
The remaining top five included the Zagreb-based Noa with HRK 21.4 million in revenues in 2020 and 22 employees, and the Lošinjska Plovidba, based in Mali Lošinj, with 41.4 million kuna in revenues and 52 employees.
These five businesses realised a half of the total revenues of all camping businesses in 2020.
Also, Proficio ended the year in the red and its loss was HRK 18.1 million.
In 2020, 64% of businesses registered in the camping sub-sector registered losses, and 36% wrapped up the year in the black.
(€1 = HRK 7.5)
€1.6m To Be Granted to Civil Society Projects for Development of Local Communities
ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Over 12 million kuna (€1.6 million) will be allocated for projects which civil society associations are going to implement for the development of local communities, the Croatian government's Office for Cooperation with NGOs reported on Tuesday.
The office announced that the ceremony at which the grants will be awarded will be held at 1400 hours today. The grants will be given to 20 associations.
The office recalls that the government has launched a HRK 120 million (€16 million) scheme called "Strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations to respond to the needs of the local community" for projects designed to contribute to the even regional development and to the economic and democratic development of the country.
Specifically, the scheme "seeks to strengthen the capacity of CSOs active in local communities to implement activities tailored to local problems and to work directly in areas funded by the European Social Fund (employment, education, social inclusion, good governance) at the local level, but also improve the capacity of civil society organizations to provide an effective response to the needs of the local community in crisis situations."
PM Says Croatia Will Provide Ukraine With Additional Assistance
ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Croatia will provide Ukraine with additional assistance, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković wrote on his Twitter account after his telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday.
"I have expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian people and condolences on all the victims of the Russian military aggression. Croatia will provide additional assistance to Ukraine," PM Plenković twitted. He did not specify what kind of help would be offered.
The Ukrainian president twitted that he had "informed about the course of countering Russian aggression. Discussed the importance of increasing sanctions pressure on Russia. Thanked for supporting Ukraine's movement to the European Union and for the important defensive assistance."
The Croatian PM also twitted that Zagreb strongly supported the intensification of process of bringing Ukraine closer to the EU, "in line with our declaration adopted in Kyiv in December 2021," when the two countries signed the joint declaration on Ukraine's European perspective.
Earlier on Monday, Zelenskyy handed to the EU envoy the completed questionnaire which will form a starting point for the European Union to decide on membership for Kyiv.
During the ceremony at which he formally submitted the completed questionnaire on European Union membership, the Ukrainian president said he believed this step would lead to his country gaining candidate status within weeks.
Seasonal Jadrolinija Zadar-Ancona Ferry Line Returning to Function
April the 19th, 2022 - The seasonal Jadrolinija Zadar-Ancona ferry line is set to return to function, connecting that Dalmatian city with the Italian port city and the capital of the Marche region across the Adriatic Sea.
As Morski writes, the Coastal and Liner Transport Agency has given Jadrolinija consent to maintain the international line between Zadar and Ancona during 2022's season.
The timetable between the nearest part of the Croatian and Italian coasts across the Adriatic Sea will be made available to use for passengers from June the 23rd to September the 9th, with three different traffic dynamics of the "Marco Polo" ferry. Over these 80 days, the Jadrolinija Zadar-Ancona ferry line be transporting passengers back and forth from these two cities, according to local portal Zadarski.hr.
In the period from June the 23rd to July the 17th, and then from September the 1st to the 9th, the Jadrolinija Zadar-Ancona line will operate once a week. The ferry will depart from Ancona (Italy) on Thursday at 22:00, and will arrive in Zadar (Croatia) on Friday at 07:00. On the same day, more precisely at 10:00, the ferry will return to Ancona from Zadar (17:00).
In the period from July the 18th to August the 18th, when the most traffic associated with the very height of the summer tourist season is expected, the Jadrolinija Zadar-Ancona line will operate twice a week. It will depart from Zadar for Ancona on Mondays at 22:00 (arriving in Ancona on Tuesday at 07:00) and on Fridays at 10:00 (arrival in Ancona at 17:00). Departures from Ancona to Zadar are scheduled for Monday at 10:00 (arriving in Zadar at 18:00), and Thursday at 22:00 (arriving in Zadar at 07:00).
The third version of the timetable refers to the period from the 19th to the 26th of August, when two lines per week are also planned. The ferry's departure from Zadar will take place on Mondays and Fridays at 22:00 (arriving in Ancona on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 07:00), while the ferry will depart for Zadar from Ancona on Mondays and Fridays at 18:00 (arriving in Zadar on Mondays and Fridays at 10:00).
The hydrofoil line last sailed back in 2020, and was discontinued due to low passenger interest and the coronavirus pandemic causing said effect. Its re-establishment, at least during the two and a half months of this year's main summer tourist season, is interpreted as a result of pressure from local politics and State Secretary in the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Josip Bilaver, on Jadrolinija's overall management.
For more, check out our travel section.
