March 20, 2022 - Croatian athlete Filip Mihaljević took fourth place in the shot put final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, throwing a distance of 21.83 meters.

The 27-year-old from Livno threw 21.51 in the first series, 21.05 in the second, made an error in the third but went on to throw 21.83 meters in the fourth attempt. In the last series, Mihaljević reached 21.81 meters.

Filip threw a centimeter shorter than his record which was not enough for a medal, because the three medal winners threw over 22 meters.

A big surprise was made by the Brazilian Darlan Romani (22.53), who broke the 26-victory winning streak of the ruler of this discipline, American Ryan Crouser (22.44), and took the gold. The bronze medalist was New Zealander Tom Walsh (22.31).

Mihaljević entered the competition with the third-best result this season and the indoor record (21.84). The Croatian shot put record holder won the last Croatian medal at the indoor World Championships - he was bronze in 2016 in Portland at his very first senior world championships and threw 20.87 meters, which was his personal best.

Croatian athlete Ivana Lončarek did not manage to place among the 24 hurdlers who will compete in the 60m hurdles semifinals. Lončarek was fourth in the second qualifying group with a time of 8.19 seconds, and for direct placement, she should have been among the top three.

After the competitions in all six qualifying groups were over, it turned out that Lončarek's result was the 28th time in total, which was not enough to be among the semifinalists. She missed the semifinals by two hundredths.

If she had managed to repeat her best result from this season (8.11), Lončarek would have qualified for the semifinals without any difficulties.

The World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade were held from March 18 to 20, 2022, at the Štark Arena. 

Source: HRT

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March the 20th, 2022 - The WRC Croatia Rally is expecting a huge 350,000 viewers as we rapidly approach the start date, which is set to occur in just over one month.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the organisers of the WRC Croatia Rally, which will take place from the 21st to the 24th of April this year at 20 attractive stages through five Croatian counties - Zagreb, Karlovac, Krapina-Zagorje, Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Varazdin, presented a study on the socio-economic impact of the WRC (World Rally Championship) on the host countries.

"The WRC Croatia Rally is much more than a sporting competition. All of us who participate in its organisation, driven by passion, are committed to ideas and goals that outgrow the very popularisation of motorsport. We want to focus on Croatia, we want to create new contacts and partnerships and enable the presentation of Croatia to the world in the most beautiful light that this beautiful country truly deserves.

Of course, there is also a direct socio-economic benefit that we'll present and prove in partnership with the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zagreb. Last but not least, we want to attract the attention of young people and direct them to responsible behaviour when they drive and lean them more towards environmental protection. For all this, we need help and close cooperation with the media, with whom we'd like to exploit the WRC Croatia Rally and motorsport as a whole through several segments, including STEM, IT, tourism, security, responsibility and promotion,'' said Daniel Saskin, President of the WRC Croatia Rally.

Scientists from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zagreb presented the results of the WRC Vodafone Portugal Rally 2019 Impact Study at a briefing, which looked at the image of the destination, tourism, the local economy and the environment, which was done after the last season with spectators and before the coronavirus pandemic.

A study by researchers at the Centre for Research, Development and Innovation in Tourism at the Algarve University looked into the impact on destination image, environmental impact and economic effects (the sociodemographic profile of the spectators, their opinion on the organisation of the events, and the assessment of both direct and indirect effects).

"There's no doubt that large sporting events like this are an ideal tool for building national identity, creating a recognisable image and promoting tourist destinations. WRC competitions are very popular and strongly covered by the media around the world, which puts them in a group of very influential events that directly and indirectly generate significant socio-economic effects on the destinations in which they take place. In economic terms, this is primarily recognised in the significant inflow of money in the form of the direct spending of participants and investments by the organisers and hosts, but also should take into account the indirect economic activities such as strengthening value chains, creating new jobs and generous media rights. In the social context, largr sporting events are primarily a means of entertainment and socialising among people, but also a source of pride for local communities that are able to host such large competitions.

We're very much looking forward to conducting more research and preparing a study on the assessment of the impact of the WRC Croatia Rally on the area of ​​Central Croatia. We expect a good response from all of our foreseen target groups, as well as interesting data and a quality basis for drawing conclusions. We believe that we'll succeed in setting up a quality system for the continuous monitoring of the effects of this valuable event,'' said Oliver Kesar, a full professor at the Department of Tourism at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb.

This year, the WRC Croatia Rally expects a record number of spectators, namely, according to the organisers in special fan zones and along the track, the competition will be attended by more than 350,000 people from across the rest of Europe and many other countries around the world.

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March the 20th, 2022 - The Batizele development project, which will put around 28 hectares of land into operation in the very centre of the historic Dalmatian city of Sibenik, recently saw a binding international tender announced.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, the much talked about Batizele development project, which will put the aforementioned stretch of central land into function only 500 metres as the crow flies from the old town and the Cathedral of St. James (Sveti Jakov), is moving forward.

On the site of the former Electrodes and Ferroalloys Factory, after twenty long years of legal entanglements and an estimated investment of around several hundred million euros, it has been confirmed that the project is now finally entering a higher phase. The very welcome help of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and in the timetable that lead to the recent announcement of a binding international tender, will bring Batizele, more precisely the City of Sibenik and the Republic of Croatia, a partner in the project.

The interest of investors will hardly be lacking, as was showcased through the conducted so-called ''light'' tender, during which three strong international investors expressed their interest. Now, after the successful completion of phase 1, the Batizele development project is moving forward rapidly based on the cooperation of the EBRD, an international financial institution with extensive experience in providing advisory services in countries where it operates, including Croatia, with the aid of the City of Sibenik and the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property.

To speak more precisely, the EBRD will provide advisory support over the next phase of project development - this will enable the start of specific construction activities at the location of Batizele, and with its help will prepare a tender for the selection of consultants. In addition to that, the EBRD will finance the work of advisers on the provision of technical support services in terms of tender preparation, implementation and selection, estimated at around 290,000 euros.

The new phase envisages the start of activities on June the 1st, 2022, as a key step towards finding investors, and it is estimated that it will last a maximum of 36 weeks in total, so according to the plan, the entire tender documentation should be prepared by the end of 2022. With such a schedule, it has been estimated that an international tender will be announced by the end of the year, which will result in a decision on who will be a partner to the City of Sibenik and the Republic of Croatia in the Batizele development project, which is very important for all generations of Sibenik residents.

According to the job description for the future consultant, integrated strategic, technical, legal, financial and project management services will be provided in the implementation of the market offer for the first phase of development, and they will be a global leader in advisory services and public and private infrastructure. They will have extensive experience in providing consulting services for the design, support, financing and implementation of concessions or similarly structured projects in the property and infrastructure sector, as well as experience in working with multiple stakeholders and property owners from both public and private sector organisations.

The local Sibenik authorities expect that through advisory services to be provided in phase 2 of the Batizele development project, it will attract highly creditworthy investors or an investment consortium, ie that the market offer, which will be finally accepted, will meet the needs of Batizele d.o.o. and its founders, Sibenik's locals and the investor themselves/

According to them, such an outcome is the optimal path for long-term development of Batizele, Sibenik and the wider region as a whole, while the EBRD support emphasises the joint intention of the City of Sibenik and the Republic of Croatia to "implement the project in accordance with best practices, environmental and social benefits and provide significant added value for the life of Sibenik's residents.''

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March the 20th, 2022 - Pogarcic auto, a Rijeka-based car showroom and service centre, is more than ready to take on Ukrainian workers and provide them with a steady and stable income, as well as a permanent job.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Vedran Pogarcic, the owner of Pogarcic auto, says he is more than ready to immediately hire a few professionals needed to work in his centre who were forced into exile by the war troubles in Ukraine.

''Of course, with the help of the competent services that will issue them work permits, I'm willing to offer a good salary for Croatian conditions, as well as permanent employment,'' Vedran assured.

According to Novi list, this is the clear position expressed a few days ago by Vedran Pogarcic after several inquiries for the employment of mechanics with extensive experience in Ukrainian service workshops appeared on social media within groups formed to help refugees fleeing from war torn Ukraine.

With that offer of stability and work, without it really being his primary  intention at all, he kicked off talks on an interesting topic that is being widely discussed, but is still outside the public sphere. Even for lay people, it's clear that without the significant immigration of young families that will bring employment opportunities to Croatia, there will be absolutely no significant demographic recovery. Banally speaking, the Croatian path to total depopulation can be prevented only by mechanical immigration. Pogarcic's offer fits into such thinking, and it's one of those that can be welcome for the country's survival.

“What do we even think we're talking about a lot of the time? We Croats are really two faced. We don't want foreigners, but... there are no locals here either. We went through a very strict procedure to get our service centre up and running, which specialises in maintaining a whole range of car brands, from Ford to Jaguar, and we're a reference point for conducting student internships. You know what we got for that? Next to nothing! The profile of occupations we need enrolls very few students, and if we look at the age structure of Rijeka, less and less are going to be enrolling as time goes on. And yet, there is work to be had, there is certainly work. However, when you honestly expose the current Croatian present and the future in public, you're classed as just being a negative person,'' the owner of Pogarcic auto explained.

With all the regret and deep sadness over the tragedy that recently befell Ukraine at the hands of Russia, it's clear that the permanent settlement of thousands of Ukrainians can be something that will be very welcome for Croatia. These are people with a similar culture and mentality as people in Croatia and they are people who are typically quick to learn the Croatian language.

In addition, tens of thousands of workers are lacking in a whole range of occupations, from highly skilled ones such as those in medicine, all the way to those who are needed to work in tourism, Croatia's most lucrative economic activity. As it usually happens, even the best intentions are criticised by the public, and Vedran Pogarcic also experienced them.

"As soon as I announced that I was offering a job to workers from Ukrbaine, Facebook warriors without an identity came forward and started calling me names. Their thesis is that local people must get a job first. I agree with that, but as hard as it is to have unemployed people in your country, it's even harder and sadder not having people in your country at all. I'm looking in every way to hire local workers, professional people who are needed in this job profile. But they're gone. They been gone for years. There are a lot of jobs to be had and salaries to be earned in my service, but there aren't enough workers to do the job here in Croatia,'' said Pogarcic auto's owner for Novi list.

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March the 20th, 2022 - The Gallup Institute conducts research and American scientists have now published its list of the ''happiest countries'', but just how does the Republic of Croatia rank compared to the others?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the report, which looked at the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic and the unprecedented crisis it caused over the past couple of years on general human well-being, is compiled each year by American scientists based on research from the Gallup Institute.

According to this report, the happiest country, Finland, is closely followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel and then a very distant country - New Zealand.

When it comes to Croatia and countries in the immediate vicinity, we're in 47th place, neighbouring Slovenia came in 22nd place and Serbia in 43rd place, while Bosnia and Herzegovina is in an unenviable 67th place. Austria took an impressive 11th place, Germany came in 14th, Canada took 15th place, and the United States came in 16th place.

At the bottom of the list of more than 150 countries which were looked into by the Gallup Institute are Afghanistan, Lebanon and Venezuela. The European countries of Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, on the other hand, have made the most progress.

The report is compiled by the aforementioned institute is otherwise based on data spanning the last three years.

The American scientists who looked into the research and compiled the list have noticed a significant increase in so-called acts of kindness during the coronavirus pandemic. "Helping others, volunteering and donations in 2021 rose sharply in all parts of the world, reaching levels almost 25 percent higher than before the pandemic," they said.

"This rush of benevolence, which has been particularly great in helping others, provides strong evidence that people do respond to help others in need, they want to create more happiness for those recipients, be good examples for others and live a better life for themselves," the report said.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - US economist Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001, has said that Croatia should take some more time before the changeover to the euro, assessing that disadvantages could be higher than benefits due to the ongoing geopolitical risks.

This is an open issue, said this 79-year-old researcher in his address to Croatian reporters in Brussels where he attended the 8th Cohesion Forum.

The 8th Cohesion forum is a large-scale political event held every three years, bringing together high-level representatives from European institutions, central governments, regional and local representatives, economic and social partners, NGOs and academics to focus on the major challenges of European cohesion policy.

Commenting on Croatia's plans to adopt the euro as sole legal tender, Stiglitz said on Friday that from the economic point of view, potential benefits are more restricted than potential costs.

There are arguments in favour of taking some more time before the country's entry into the eurozone. However, it is a political decision, he said.

Croatia is making preparations for the changeover to the euro in 2023, and the country's top officials, including Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, highlight Croatia's readiness to adopt the euro.

Stiglitz, who is the author of the book entitled "The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe" said during the European Forum Alpbach  in 2020 that the euro, as sole legal tender, deprived a country of two important instruments which the researcher deems to be essential in adjusting a national economy to shocks. One of those instruments is the possibility of adjusting the exchange arrangements, that is its capacity of using monetary policies and consequently changing interest rates, he explained then.

The euro area currently has 19 members. All EU countries, except Denmark, have the obligation to introduce the euro. Denmark participates in ERM II.

In July 2020, Croatia and Bulgaria entered the the Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II), the key step to entry into the euro area. Until then Croatia had met all criteria to join the euro area except for membership in ERM II.

Upon Croatia's admission to ERM II, Prime Minister Plenković said that the admission to the ERM II meant a lot for the country's financial stability and strengthened its reputation, and also pointed out a high euroisation in Croatia.

For instance, 71% of household savings have been kept in the euro in the last eight years. Also more a than a half of loans are pegged to the euro. Foreign visitors coming from the euro area's member-states generate as many as three fifths of overnight stays in Croatia, and 57% of the value of the commodity exports are to those countries.

ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - The Croatian government hopes that the European Commission will approve its operational programmes in June or July, after which all interested parties in Croatia will be able to apply for co-financing of their projects with money from EU funds in the period from 2021 to 2027.

"These are the shortest deadlines. We are going in that direction. However, the European Commission will have the final say," said Croatian Minister for Regional Development and EU Funds Nataša Tramišak, who had participated in the 8th Cohesion Forum in Brussels on Thursday.

With its cohesion policy, the European Commission is trying to reduce inequalities between parts of the European Union, and has set aside €14.4 billion for Croatia, Tramišak told Croatian reporters.

A European Commission source has told Hina that it is more likely that Croatia's operational programmes will be approved in September. It will be a document including Croatia's co-financing priorities for the coming period.

All EU member states need to submit such documents to the Commission and only after these have been approved can they draw money. The Commission has so far signed such a document only with Greece, in July 2021. Croatia sent in its first draft in June 2021 and it has been sent back for improvement.

"We have submitted our operational programmes twice already. The programming cycle is such that we are in ongoing negotiations, talks and improvements. This is the case with Croatia and all other countries," Tramišak said.

"We expect to have draft documents ready by the end of March and then try to finalise negotiations in early April. Our interest is to programme them as soon as possible and to have quality documents," the minister said.

Tramišak met with Commissioner for Cohesion Policy Elisa Ferreira earlier this month.

Germany is expected to sign its agreement with the European Commission in April, after which agreements with Austria and Lithuania are expected to be signed.

Once Croatia wraps up its negotiations with the Commission and is given the green light, a deadline of two to three months begins before final approval of the programmes. Croatia hopes that this could happen in July, while the Commission thinks it will be in September. After that, Croatia will invite applications for projects eligible for EU co-financing.

"We are not waiting for the completion, but are already preparing other acts and strategic documents at the national, regional and local levels so that we can invite applications as soon the programmes are approved," Tramišak said.

The Commission will contribute 85% of funding for projects and member states the remaining 15%. To qualify for co-financing, projects will have to meet one of the five goals set in EU regulations, namely "a smarter Europe", "a greener Europe", "a more connected Europe", "a more social and inclusive Europe" and "a Europe closer to citizens".

In the previous period 2014-2020, the largest project implemented in Croatia was the construction of Pelješac Bridge, worth a total of €418 million. In the present period,the bulk of funding might go towards the modernisation of railways.

Speaking at the Cohesion Forum on Thursday, Tramišak said that Croatia wanted to use the funding for the development of its poorest areas from which people are emigrating in search of work.

ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - The Žmergo association on Saturday called for the deletion of all unnecessary files, apps, photos and videos so that we can reduce our digital footprint and consequently negative consequences for the environment.

The appeal is issued on the occasion of Digital Cleanup Day, observed on 19 March.

This Opatija-based association says that in the last two years, the global population has produced more data than all the civilisations, and that "each year the internet and its supporting systems produce 900 million tons of CO2." 

In the digital world, similar to the environment, there is a huge amount of trash. Unnecessary emails, files, apps, duplicates of photos and videos are all digital waste. This digital trash creates digital pollution that continues to consume energy.

The global action for cleaning digital trash is organised by the Let's Do It World (LDIW) association.

This world-changing idea began in Estonia in 2008.

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