ZAGREB, 6 May 2021 2021 - The HEP Group, the national energy company specialized in the generation, distribution and supply of electricity, recorded the consolidated net profit of HRK 1.46 billion in 2020, a rise by HRK 61.1 million compared to 2019, according to the group's annual consolidated financial statement.

"The business operations of HEP Group were affected by the epidemiological measures implemented to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19), which lead to stopping a portion of economic activities and subsequently to reducing electricity demand by business customers and changing the structure of demand," the HEP group says on its web site.

According to the financial statement, the operating income was HRK 14.37 billion, which was lower by HRK 1.14 billion (7.4%) compared to 2019, primarily as the result of income decrease from the sale of electricity by HRK 1.04 billion (8.3%) due to reduced income generated abroad and domestically.

In 2020, "total electricity demand in Croatia of 15,384 GWh was characterized by 45 GWh less billed electricity for household customers and by 889 GWh less billed electricity for businesses."

HEP suppliers cover 90.4% of Croatia's market

Compared to 2019, the total sale by HEP Group suppliers in Croatia decreased by 1.0 TWh (6.8%) reaching 13,904 GWh (90.4% of the market), reads the financial statement.

The HEP hydro power plants generated 5.3 TWh (29% of required demand), which is by 511 GWh less than in2019 (8.7%).

Thermal power plant production accounted for 4,073 GWh of electricity, an increase by 364 GWh.

Krško nuclear power plant supplied 3,020 GWh, which accounted for 16.2% of available HEP Group electricity, ie 254 GWh more compared to 2019 as no regular 18-month period overhaul was conducted.

HEP's Korlat Windfarm generated 52 GWh.

Solar and biopower plants generated 26 GWh.

In 2020, the group's investment totalled HRK 4.3 billion

HEP Group continued to be one of the biggest investors in Croatia in 2020 with its investments of HRK 4.3 billion.

Those investments include the HRK 920.6 m investment by LNG Hrvatska d.o.o.

(€1 = HRK 7.534594)

For more about business in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 6 May 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Thursday condemned hate speech used by a group of football fans in Borovo Selo near the eastern town of Vukovar, underscoring that there is no justification for last Sunday's incident and that there is no room for intolerance in Croatian society.

The incident occurred on the day of commemorations of the 30th anniversary of the killing of 12 Croatian policemen who lost their lives at the start of the Homeland War, and also coincided with this year's Easter celebrated by Orthodox believers according to the Julian calendar.

"There is no room for intolerance in Croatian society against the Serb minority or anyone else. We will always be strongly opposed to that and clearly condemn hate speech against anyone of our compatriots because we advocate a society in which everyone feels good and experience Croatia as their home," said Plenković opening Thursday's cabinet meeting.

He added that the 2 May incident was contrary to Croatia's interests and certainly was not a patriotic act, but just the opposite.

It is not hard to imagine that in such incidents there will be some people that will try maliciously to equate the victim and aggressor, finding some sort of abortive justification for their atrocities 30 years ago. That is all the more reason for clear condemnation, he added.

In an effort to appropriately punish those responsible, the police reacted immediately and arrested the participants involved in that provocative and impermissible incident, he added.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, May 6, 2021 - In the last 24 hours, 9,069 tests have been conducted for coronavirus, and 18% of them, that 1,640, have turned out to be positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Thursday.

In the last 24 hours, the COVID-related death toll has increased by 40 to 7,355.

There are currently, 11,942 active cases, and of them 2,106 are hospitalised patients, including 236 patients placed on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when Croatia confirmed its first case of the infection with the novel virus, there have been 341,052 cases of the COVID infection, and of them 321,755 have recovered to date, including 1,793 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

More than 1.85 million tests have been conducted to date.

There are now 30,067 people in self-isolation.

Under its vaccine rollout plan, Croatia has so far administered 979,181 doses of the vaccination. Over 760,000 people have been given at least one shot, and 218,376 of them have received both doses of the two-dose vaccine.

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page

May 6, 2021 - Ivo Pilar Social Research Institute celebrates its 30th birthday in 2021, and they recently opened a branch office on Vis Island.

The end of April saw the Ivo Pilar Social Research Institute, named after Ivo Pilar, a researcher and a publicist whose work immensely influenced social and humanistic science scenes in Croatia- open a branch office in the City of Vis on Vis Island.

Head of the Institute dr. Željko Holjevac, the head of the new Center Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan, and Vis mayor Ivo Radica were the speakers at the official opening.

„I'm glad that, after Vern University left Vis, that the academic community is back to the City of Vis, to the Island of Vis, our most distant habituated island. We hope that through the Institute we will be able to use all the benefits of the Institute especially in the demographic development of the city and that we as politician try to take a better direction to put our most distant island on the position it deserves“, said mayor Radica on the opening ceremony.

He added that the negotiations for opening the research centre were practically concluded in five minutes.

Dr. Željko Holjevac stated that the idea of establishing the Centre was years in the making, but the position of science and other problems and crisis blocked the idea from turning to reality. However, Vis was once a very good place for science in Croatia.

„Every two years we hosted a science conference on Mediterranian here on Vis, and it received worldwide attention. From every continent, there was a scientist with interest in Mediterranean attending“, said Holjevac referring to the Mediterranean Islands Conference, whose last event took place on September 2020.

With Zagreb, Split, Osijek, and Rijeka being known as the centers of both science and education, Holjevac added that bringing science to smaller communities is vital for the country.

„When we talk about development, sustainable development, or an island development, that is unimaginable without science. If we want the society of knowledge, we need to bring science closer and not work on the distance“, concluded Holjevac.

The new Centre is located at the address Šetalište Viški Boj 13 next to the Memorial Collection of a famous Croatian writer Ranko Marinković.

30 Years of Ivo Pilar Insitute

As the Institute's website reports, the Institute was established on November 26, 1991. Going through some legal changes which renamed him from the Institute For Applied Social Research of Zagreb Universit to the current name, and also shifting it from the University of Zagreb to the foundation of the Republic of Croatia – the Institute turns 30 years of existence in 2021.
In that honour, the Institute announced to do several actions:

-To publish the first edition of critical translation for the book „South Slavic (Yugoslav) Question“ by Ivo Pilar from 1918.
-Make and publish Pilar's Kaleidoskop of Croatian society.
-Organise themed lectures in branch offices of the Institute.
-Promote projects, scientific and professional activities of employees.
-Organise Sabbatical journeys (pending on epidemiological situation).
-Publish jubilee issue of „Social Research And Pilar“ magazine.
-Visit the grave of dr. Ivo pilar on Mirogoj cemetery (on Pilar's 88th death anniversary on September 3, 2021).
-Organise scientific conference in Vukovar in early November

And last but not least, to have a celebratory meeting on November 26, the exact date of the 30th birthday of the Institute.

If you also have an interest in social questions, you can learn more about religion, politics, education & diversity in Croatia on our TC page.

For more about science in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 6, 2021 - The City Office of Education based its proposal for Zagreb Students to return to schools next week on the number of vaccinated students and teachers, and now awaits a decision from the Zagreb Civil Protection Headquarters.

According to 24sata.hr, the Zagreb Civil Protection Headquarters should decide today whether all Zagreb students will return to school next week after they received a proposal from the City Office for Education that from Monday both primary and secondary schools will have classes according to model A.

Ivica Lovrić from the City Office for Education bases the request on the fact that a quarter of the citizens in Zagreb were vaccinated, but also that half of the educators were vaccinated and the epidemiological situation is more favorable.

This would mean, if the proposal is accepted, that all high school classes will go to school along with high school graduates.

Credits: Pixsell

Head Ivica Lovrić bases his proposal on a more favorable epidemiological situation and the fact that about 25 percent of the population in Zagreb has already been vaccinated. They also vaccinated half of the total of 8,000 educators, and the rest should be vaccinated next week.

Lovrić reminded that currently in Zagreb according to model C, i.e., online classes from Easter are attended only by students of the first, second, and third grades of high school, while Zagreb students of all grades of primary school and high school attend classes according to model A, ie live, writes N1.

Zvonimir Šostar from NZJZ Andrija Štampar also commented on the issue of opening schools last night in RTL Direkt. He said that school is also one of the ways of socialization and normal life and that he thinks that I can slowly release high school next week, but that he will watch and follow the numbers.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centres across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section.

May 6, 2021 – The Split-Dalmatia County Prefect was recently observed delivering an unusual anecdote in which he boasts defending the feelings of the religious by helping to stop a horror film from being shot.

The bizarre video clip shows Split-Dalmatia County Prefect Blazenko Boban bragging to the Minister of Tourism about helping to thwart the filming of a horror movie Omen 666 back in 2005. He thought was telling a funny anecdote while touring the Roman ruins of Salona. But he may have said too much.

Horror movies and religious feelings

Solin and Split were some of the filming locations for a remake of the horror classic - Omen. By December of 2005, the production attained all the necessary permits by the Ministry of Culture to shoot in historical locations of Salona and Split. However, after the details of the movie became known, the local Catholic Church officials became raising their voices against the film. Omen 666 is a story of the Antichrist being born and adopted by an unsuspecting family. It relies heavily on biblical themes. According to Boban himself, the scene with the Antichrist rising up from a grave in Salona caused the most controversy. The Split-Makarska Arch-bishop’s Office made an official appeal to have the filming permit withdrawn. Boban began pressuring the Minister of Culture about it, but with no luck. Eventually, he organised a few people “to stage” a fire on the set. When the news of the fire reached the Minister, he revoked the filming permits. The production left Salona and Croatia.

In the movie clip where County Prefect Boban is seen telling the story, as published by Slobodna Dalmacija, the face masks are not enough to hide nervous smiles on everyone’s faces. Even though he told the story jokingly, the fact remains there actually was a fire. Not only that, but the movie director John Moore has since stated in an interview with Irish Times how the set had been vandalised and burned down. A subsequent move to a different filming location supposedly cost the film company around half a million US dollars.

Will there be a sequel?

It is incredible that such a story would come out to the public the way it did. In his careless attempt at comedy, County Prefect Boban might have bitten off more than he could chew. This story first came out almost a week ago and it was fairly quickly put to rest. The original police report was for a crime of “destroying and damaging private property”. There is an expiry deadline for this type of crime in Croatia during which it needs to get to court. This deadline has passed. However, Telegram.hr reports State Attorney’s Office in Split is still looking into the case in light of new information. Because of the amount of incurred damages and the description of the event, it is apparently still possible to change the charge into a more serious one with a longer expiry deadline. While unlikely, if this case does ever get to court, it will be one of the more unusual stories from the wild world of Croatian politics.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 6, 2021 - The 30th anniversary of Croatia Airlines first passenger flight was celebrated at Split Airport on Wednesday. 

Croatian Aviation reports that Wednesday marked the 30th anniversary of Croatia Airlines first passenger flight. The first commercial flight under the designation of the Croatian national airline was performed on May 5, 1991, on the route Zagreb - Split and established regular air traffic within Croatia and the dream of a Croatian airline.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the first flight, all passengers on yesterday's afternoon Croatia Airlines OU652 Zagreb - Split flight were awarded a free domestic return ticket of their choice.

After the Dash 8-Q400 aircraft (registration number 9A-CQB) landed at Split Airport, a ceremony was held at which Slaven Žabo, Director of Commercial Affairs of Croatia Airlines, thanked all passengers for the trust over the past thirty years and pointed out how service quality and flight safety will continue to be priorities in the company's business.

At the place where the first passengers of the company arrived three decades ago, the importance of the Croatian national carrier in terms of traffic and economy was emphasized:

"Croatia Airlines has been providing continuous domestic connections of Croatian cities and regions with regular domestic flights for 30 years, and at the same time, we provide passengers with a year-round connection to the world through a network of international flights. Even in these extraordinary circumstances, the company never stopped flying, which further confirmed that it represents a strategic part of the Croatian transport infrastructure and that it strongly contributes to the quality of the Croatian tourist product," said Slaven Žabo.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the first commercial flight, Croatia Airlines is conducting a special campaign from May 6 to Wednesday, May 12, in which passengers will be offered a 30 percent discount for flights to all domestic and international destinations of the company. The 30 percent discount can be realized when buying tickets and applies to trips in June, while the return can be realized by the end of this year. The condition for obtaining a 30 percent discount is entering a special promo code during the booking and purchase of airline tickets, which will be available today. The discount applies to the fare, while airport taxes and other fees remain the same.

The company said in a statement: "It is important to emphasize that Croatia Airlines plans to further expand its network of flights from Zagreb and Adriatic destinations to European capitals during the summer months, following which passengers would be offered trips to 18 European and 7 Croatian destinations.

From Zagreb, regular international flights are planned to 14 European destinations - Amsterdam, Athens, Vienna, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London, Munich, Paris, Rome (via Split), Sarajevo, Skopje, and Zurich.

Split Airport should be connected to a total of 12 foreign destinations during the summer season. A novelty is a seasonal flight between Split - Prague, on Saturdays, from the end of June to the middle of September. Return airline tickets on this route are available at a promotional price of 139 euros. In addition to Prague, Croatia Airlines aircraft should connect Split with Vienna, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London, Lyon, Munich, Paris, Rome, and Zurich.

Also, direct flights from Dubrovnik to Athens, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Rome, and Zurich and from Rijeka to Munich are planned.

To ensure connectivity and strongly support the tourism product of the Republic of Croatia, Croatia Airlines plans to offer more than 80,000 seats per month on flights from European destinations to Croatia during the summer season. In cooperation with many tour operators, more than 200 charter (extraordinary) flights are planned. Austria, Italy, Ireland, Israel, and Scandinavia.

Air connections within Croatia will continue to be provided by flights in domestic scheduled traffic between the airports of Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Osijek, Zadar, Brač, and Pula, at all times and on all flights taking maximum care of passenger safety and adhering to current epidemiological measures, concludes the press release of the Croatian national airline.

Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 6, 2021 - Croatian innovation was in the spotlight on Wednesday as a new startup platform Digitalna Dalmacija and many new startups were presented in Split.

Organized by the GrowIT project of ICT County, which aims to consolidate and encourage the IT startup scene in Split and the county, a TeamUP LIVE event for networking startups was held on Wednesday in PICS @ FESB at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FESB) in Split. Dalmatinski Portal reports that at the event, the new startup platform digitalnadalmacija.hr was presented, and an innovative electric bicycle and tourist guide by Ljubičić Technology from Runović.

Damir Brčić, the ICT County project manager, spoke about the Digitalna Dalmacija portal, saying that the initial idea was to present the startup community to the general public so that all institutions, financiers, or anyone who can, would help build that story. Also, the mission is to connect startups, encourage their cooperation, and unite all the news that is of interest to startups, for example, about incentive tenders, i.e., to keep everything concentrated in one place.

"We in the ICT County project, which is part of Digitalna Dalmacija, have decided to support startups in our county vertically. For the second year in a row in cooperation with Lean Startup Croatia, we are working on an 8-week StartIT academy. Of the 15 teams, seven founded companies and were given space at the SPINIT center. The next project is GrowIT with a budget of almost one million kuna to help startups in two categories - young startups (first prize of 70,000 kuna and 7 prizes of 50,000 kuna) and startups up to 5 years old (prizes of 250,000, 200,000, and 100,000 kuna)," explained Brčić added that valuable training was organized as part of the GrowIT project.

The most dynamic part of the event was the premiere presentation of the electric bicycle 'Guide-B,' an innovative product of the young inventor and entrepreneur from Runović / Imotski Mario Ljubičić and his technology startup Ljubičić Technology for which he twice won the Grand Prix at the international innovation fair Arka in Zagreb.

"It all started with an attempt to develop our own electric car in the yard of our house in Imotski in 2017, almost without tools, and ended with an electric bicycle, which is also a tourist guide. Last year, we developed our third, latest final model of the ‘Guide-B’ bike that perfectly fits all terrains with its looks, performance, and comfort. We have several models of that bike, and the price ranges from 2,400 to 3,000 euros. Everything is done in Runovići and our development center in Imotski, and the processing center in Posušje (BiH). One Swiss and one Italian company invested in our production. The bike reaches a speed of 25 km / h, which is a legal limit and can be ridden from 60 to 160 km, depending on the terrain, has a versatile application of routes, locations, and domestic indigenous offer of Imotski in several languages," pointed out the 23-year-old Ljubičić, a student in Dubrovnik, adding that the bicycle has a built-in alarm system that will work for up to 20 days in case of theft.

Ljubičić Technology came on the market in March this year, already has over 100 orders and today employs up to 12 people at three locations, depending on the need, while the owner and director Ljubičić has, as he says, the lowest salary of all.

As part of the networking of members of the digitalnadalmacija.hr platform through TeamUP, four Croatian startups were presented. Petar Starčević from Clastr, Mario Mrkša from grabAhome, Ivan Voras from Equinox Vision, and Zlatko Kovačić from DotYourSpot spoke about their IT projects.

Zlatko Kovačić, director of the company DotYourSpot, which develops new digital solutions for its customers, told the caterers that their goal is to create a system that will solve all the problems of reservations in catering facilities and their management systems. The waiter can have information about what you are allergic to and what to offer you through the app.

"We deal with QR price lists used by over 70 restaurants. When booking, we have developed the 'emergency' option that, in bad weather, the application arranges tables within the facility and cancels some reservations. The mobile application provides an overview of all restaurants, nightclubs, and events for buying tickets in Croatia. We are trying to expand this service to the whole of Europe and beyond," said Kovačić. He added that this whole success story started in his grandparents' apartment, then the impetus of the ICT County arrived, and today they have business premises.

Petar Starčević is from the startup Clastr, an application intended for gamers who do not have good enough hardware. They provide support directly with a ‘peer-to-peer connection, and gaming computer owners are paid for their rent.

"People don't know that 80% of gamers don't have access to the latest games because their hardware isn't good enough. We connect them to an external server that gives them that capability. What is our advantage over the competition is that we reduce the distance between the server that is a gaming computer and the user and thus create a better user experience," said Starčević and added that their users are mostly 'casual' gamers.

Twenty-five-year-old Mario Mrkša, founder and director of grabAhome, a company with eight employees, works on an online platform for booking accommodation in Croatia for accommodation longer than 30 days for those who go to study or work in other areas.

"The problem with current agencies and online platforms is that the prices of such rentals are high, and renters are uneducated. Our platform is the solution, everything is online, and we offer landlords to check accommodation through our agents or professional photos or video tours. We also offer online signing of contracts through the platform, a guarantee that the accommodation is as advertised," Mrkša explained, adding that their most promising clients are students and digital nomads who work online from anywhere in the world.

Ivan Voras of Equinox Vision works on an interactive gamified content platform in augmented reality.

"It is about putting virtual 3D content in physical locations, for business purposes. For a start, we focused on hotels, travel agencies, and creative marketing agencies, although it can be applied to various other industries. The thing with us works so that those interested put the content on the platform, and we do the technical details. The platform is global, and the idea is that anyone with ideas and capabilities can create augmented reality content without dealing with the technical details that we solve. It can also be various shops," said Voras, adding that the younger generations are already demanding such an augmented reality.

For more news about everything made in Croatia, be sure to follow TCN’s dedicated page.