ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Tuesday that today's meeting with drug wholesalers was a clear sign that the government wanted to solve the debt problem, while Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said additional payments might be made so that drug supply ran smoothly.

"Today's meeting is a clear signal that we wish to solve this problem through joint effort. The meeting was constructive and Minister Marić left open the possibility of additional funds to make sure that drug wholesalers supply the health system regularly," Beroš told the press, reiterating that increasing health contributions was not being considered.

The meeting focused on short-term solutions and the debt repayment schedule, but the government is discussing healthcare reforms that will lead to long-term solutions, Beroš said.

"We presented to drug wholesalers our determination to embark on reforms and our willingness to settle the debt," he said, but added that the Croatian Health Insurance Fund had to redirect HRK 2.5 billion for the treatment of COVID-19 patients instead of regular healthcare.

"This government will do everything so that not one citizen remains without the medicines they need. Last week we found a way through direct payment for medicines necessary for life-threatening conditions, including for cancer patients."

The HRK 900 million ensured for drug wholesalers last week is part of the search for a solution, Beroš said.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down its growth forecast for the Croatian economy for this year from 6.0% to 4.7%, expecting a pickup in economic activity and a return to the pre-pandemic level in 2022.

The Croatian economy contracted by 9.0% in 2020, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, reaffirming its forecast from last autumn. The national economy is expected to grow by 5.0% in 2022 and thus exceed the pre-pandemic growth level.

The IMF included Croatia among the emerging European economies that are expected to record the highest growth rates this year and the next.

This year, only Turkey and Romania are projected to achieve higher growth rates, of 6%, and the Serbian economy is expected to grow at a rate of 5.0%. Next year, a higher rate is forecast only for the Hungarian economy, of 5.7%.

The economic activity of the emerging European economies should rise by 4.4% this year, half a percentage point higher than projected last autumn, while next year it is expected to slow down to 3.9%.

Projections of current account deficit and unemployment revised down

Croatia's current account deficit is forecast at 2.3% of GDP this year, which is 0.8 percentage points lower than in the October report.

In 2020 the current account deficit was 3.5%, up by 0.3 percentage points from the autumn report, while in 2022 it is projected to drop to 1.6%.

The unemployment rate for this year is forecast at 9.4%, down from 10.3% projected last autumn. In 2020, the rate was 9.2% and in 2022 it should slide to 9.0%.

In 2021, consumer prices are expected to increase by 0.7%, compared to 0.8% projected in October. In 2020, the inflation rate was 0.3% as forecast in October, while in 2022 consumer prices are expected to pick up to 1.2%.

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ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The Minister of Family and Social Policy, Josip Aladrović, on Tuesday announced amendments to the Foster Care Act to facilitate foster care for children.

The minister made the announcement after meeting with representatives of the "We Have Something to Tell You" initiative Marta Divjak and Antonija Skender. Divjak and Skender were also received by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Aladrović said that the two representatives presented a good initiative to address several key issues to relax adoption and foster care procedures.

Aladrović said that the duration of adoption or foster care cases showed how difficult it was to adopt or foster a child in Croatia. He said that he would initiate amendments to the 2019 Foster Care Act to promote deinstitutionalisation and make it easier for children staying in care homes to be taken into foster care.

As for the adoption of children by same-sex couples, Aladrović said that this issue would be put to public consultation. "The child's interest comes first and that's how it will be with the social care system."

Aladrović said that the meeting also focused on possible legislative and procedural changes concerning the social care system, as well as future cooperation on legislative amendments and ideas.

Divjak said that she herself had been adopted and her colleague Skender had been raised in a foster family. They had launched this initiative to raise public awareness of problems faced by fostered and adopted children.

Divjak said that they raised nine issues and that Prime Minister Plenković said that Minister Aladrović would take a position on them within the next three weeks. Among the issues raised, she cited the need to speed up the adoption procedure, establish a family court to deal with the interests of children, and promote foster care.

"We are leaving this meeting with a lot of expectations and hope that this will be the first government that will manage to fully reform the social care system," Skender said. 

Speaking of the case of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl from Nova Gradiška who had died from severe head and bodily injuries inflicted by her mother, Skender said that they could not speculate what had gone wrong because they did not have the information on the criteria the biological family had to fulfil.

"It is certainly not encouraging to take a child from a foster family in which it feels good and send it back to the medium-risk biological family," she added.

Aladrović condemned the graffiti on the wall of the Social Welfare Centre in Nova Gradiška calling social workers "murderers". He said that such calls for a lynching were inappropriate and would not help improve the system.

"The system needs reforming, but reforms will not happen by lynching and violence. Reforms will not be successful unless all social stakeholders are satisfied," the minister said.

The adoption support organisation Adopta issued a statement on Tuesday emphasising the need for a comprehensive reform of the social care system that would include regular annual reports on its work, civil oversight and amending the 2015 Family Act.

"Croatia needs a comprehensive reform of the system so that any child without adequate family care can get maximum government support in seeking a family," Adopta said.

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April 6, 2021 - It has never before been more important to put physical activity on the timetable - and that is precisely the plan of the Norwegian Erik Brandt, when he starts a well-functioning activity program based on a Norwegian model, with a documented effect from over 1400 schools in Scandinavia. Meet Voditelj Aktivnosti.

Putting one hour of daily physical activity on the agenda is more important than ever. Children and young people are becoming more and more inactive, as more and more time is spent in front of a screen. In Croatia, just under 2/10 of girls and just over 3/10 of boys between the ages of 10-15 fulfill the World Health Organization's recommendation of one hour of daily physical activity. Brandt wants to do something about this, when he starts up Voditelj Aktivnosti this autumn (Original Norwegian name "Trivselsleder").

During three hours of activity courses, the Activity leaders learn 12-15 new games and activities, while focusing on what it means to be inclusive, friendly and respectfully

"I was involved in developing the program that has existed in Norway since 2008 and I have seen the effects the program has. This is not just an activity program, but a program based on a model where friendly, respectful, and inclusive students are those who will invite to and lead the activities. Physical activity is something I am really passionate about, while being involved in shaping children and young people's everyday school life in this way, where you can clearly see how the activity leaders themselves grow on the task, while more students make both more and better friends, is really rewarding. I am looking forward to implementing the program in collaboration with the schools here in Croatia", Brandt says.

Rock-paper-scissor-battle is a fun way of making a traditional activity even more active

Voditelj Aktivnosti will start already next school year, where the program will build experiences in collaboration with pilot schools.

"At the moment we are working on translating program manuals, activity booklets, presentations, information sheets, and building a website, so that everything is ready and accessible for a start-up. We are already seeking cooperation with various sports federations, education agencies, school management both locally and politically. The larger the network we can work with, the better effects we can have within what all of us wants to achieve, namely increased physical activity and better public health, better psychosocial learning environment and learning outcomes, reduced level of conflict and good friendships", Brandt summarizes, as an invitation to those who are in a position to work towards the same goals as the program has.

Students having fun with one of the many games that can be played with Kin-Ball

If you want to know more about the program, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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April 6, 2021 - Despite the epidemiological situation that has put the tourism sector on a hold, the Istrian County Tourist Board is satisfied with the number of guests that arrived in Istria for Easter over the last week.

‘‘On a daily basis, Istria has had approximately 16,000 guests every day these days, which means that we will realize slightly less than 50,000 overnight stays, led by Germans and locals’’, says the director of the Istrian County Tourist Board Denis Ivošević, commenting on tourist results in Istria over the past Easter holidays in a report made by Glas Istre.

‘‘If we compare it with an average year, say 2018, we can say that this year we are at some 50 percent of that. If we compare this year's results with the record year 2019 when Easter fell on a much later date, then we are at some 30 percent’’, Ivošević explains and confirms that, regardless of that result, ‘‘we can still be extremely satisfied’’.

‘‘Namely, we were afraid - he continues - that many Germans would return to their homes because their authorities put us on the red list. However, fortunately, this did not happen so we can be satisfied with the numbers’’.

Ivošević adds that even though they’re aware that several German tourists decided to stay home or choose nearer options, the numbers were still good considering the current situation.

Credit: PIXSELL

Around 50 hotels opened for the Easter holidays in Istria, and among them were both large hotel houses and small family hotels. Also, about 25 camps received guests, and so did a large number of private family apartments in the interior of Istria and on the coast.

Regarding the structure of guest arrivals, there were six and a half thousand German tourists that arrived in Istria. This was followed by about five thousand local tourists. Unfortunately, the number of Slovenes, Austrians, and Italian tourists was considerably low in comparison to previous years.

‘‘Approximately 35 percent of all tourists stayed in hotels this weekend, 35 percent in private accommodation or apartments, while 25 percent of guests decided to camp’’, says Ivošević, and adds that the most visited Istrian destinations for the Easter holidays have always been Poreč and Rovinj, and so they were this year again.

‘‘About 4,000 overnight stays were realized in Pula this Easter, which is satisfactory considering the epidemiological situation in the world’’, says the director of the Pula Tourist Board Sanja Cinkopan Korotaj, adding that 40 percent of guests chose private accommodation, 24 percent of them chose hotels and 18 percent decided for camping.

''The structure of guests in Pula seems to be a copy of the situation in the whole of Istria, so we had 40 percent of Germans, 34 percent of domestic guests, and 12 percent of all Austrians, Italians, and Slovenes''.

Credit: Aminea Maravea Camping Resort (Novigrad)

‘‘This year's figures are above our expectations, so we can be satisfied. The number of arrivals this year is an indication that people want to travel and no longer want to be locked in their homes, cities, or states. People want freedom. Seven hotels were opened in Poreč and about 10,000 overnight stays were realized in four days, which is satisfactory considering the conditions in which we operate’’, says the director of the local tourist board, Nenad Velenik. ‘‘However, we see that the structure of guests here is a bit different, so in Poreč the locals are in the lead’’.

‘‘The occupancy by markets is interesting. Namely, in the first place are guests from Croatia, followed by Germans, and in third place are tourists from the Czech Republic, followed by Austrians and Swiss. Therefore, traditional markets such as Italian or Slovenian have been completely absent this Easter, explains Velenik and hopes for a more favorable epidemiological situation and greater vaccination of the population, especially tourist workers, as the May Day holidays are getting closer. Thus, we can once again come to the green list of countries in our major markets’’, concludes Velenik.

Ivošević ends by saying that they were unable to get information on the specific numbers of many other tourist boards since they did not answer the official phone numbers. Thus, these Easter holidays will remain short of the tourist figures of Umag, Labin, Medulin, Rovinj, and Fažana.

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April 6, 2021 – About 40,000 tourists vacationed in Croatia for the Easter holidays. Among them, the legendary Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve visited Brijuni National Park!

As the Brijuni National Park reported today, they had a special guest last weekend as the Canadian sports car driver, former world champion in Formula 1 Jacques Villeneuve stayed with his family in Istria for the Easter holidays.

Villeneuve and his family spent one day of their vacation in the Brijuni National Park, where they toured with expert guidance the natural and cultural-historical sights of the largest island of the Brijuni archipelago, Veliki Brijun.

Brijuni left a very positive impression on Villeneuve – the 1997 World Champion in Formula 1 with Williams Renault, winner of the 1995 Indianapolis 500, second in 24 Hours of Le Mans, namely the legend of motorsport.

As reported by the Brijuni National Park, Villeneuve was delighted with the many specialties of the archipelago. He especially liked the Boat House (Kuća za brodice) Education and Interpretation Center in the port of Brijuni. He also enjoyed the gastronomic delicacies of the Galija restaurant.

He praised the beauty of Istria, where he also visited the cities of Pula, Rovinj, and Motovun. Croatian Auto and Karting Association's president Davorin Štetner boasted on Facebook of dinner and wine with Jacques Villeneuve in Motovun, noting that such great world champions are thus promoting our country.

He also brought Villeneuve on the off-road track in the small Istrian settlement of Gambetići!

Villeneuve, who is currently driving for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, was supposed to come to Croatia back in November 2020 and drive the NASCAR GP on the Grobnik runway near Rijeka. However, although he didn't manage to visit Croatia last year due to his commitments in the Formula 1 race in Turkey, he enjoyed Croatia's tracks and beauty this year in Istria.

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ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The SSSH trade union federation has joined a global union drive to declare COVID-19 vaccines a common good on which private profit should not be made.

The appeal was signed by more than 110 unions, social movements and civil society organisations on the occasion of World Health Day, 7 April.

Huge public funds have been invested in developing the COVID-19 vaccine, so it is a political and moral obligation to ensure vaccination for all of the world population without discrimination on the grounds of income or nationality.

The serious health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic is destroying millions of jobs while making others precarious, which results in an increase in poverty and deprivation and economic and social inequality around the world. The global crisis requires and calls for saving lives and protecting jobs, reads the appeal.

The signatories call for mobilising workers around the globe on World Health Day and demand from governments and agencies to take action based on the "vaccine for all" criterion by guaranteeing universal and urgent access to vaccines for all people around the world.

They seek implementation of international law based on global justice, right to health and prevention of vaccine nationalism.

They also demand programmes and financial resources for the transfer of technologies and knowledge necessary to manufacture the vaccine in all regions and states as well as access to medicines, supplies, programmes and equipment necessary to treat COVID-19 patients.

The signatories to the appeal believe that financial support should be secured for all workers, farmers, family businesses and families who live and work in an informal economy and who have lost their income, in the form of minimum pay, and that a comprehensive emergency investment plan should be implemented for the recovery of millions of lost jobs and job preservation.

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April 6, 2021 - The first Croatian scientific book on hospitality (Excellence as a Standard in Hospitality Business) backed by the experiences of two respected authors in the business has been released! 

As Turizmoteka reports, the book published by the Aspira school (original title: Izvrsnost kao standard u ugostiteljskom poslovanju) has four chapters and 24 subchapters which will help further develop the business to the experience and allow unexperienced to set up the optimal business concept“.

The book covers specifics of the hospitality business, criteria for hiring new workers, explores questions of discipline and offers interesting findings on why some bars and restaurants fail and others remain successful. Scientific research of the book is accompanied by the experiences of the authors who are very experienced in the hospitality business.

The leading author Igor Pavel previously published a manual on managing in the field, which inspired the writing of the book. He is in the hospitality business for the past 16 years, where he gained experience in various aspects and from multiple positions and is currently hired as a manager in one of the largest American cruise ship companies. He closely worked with top managers and CEOs of various big international tourism and hospitality companies. He also trains management and workers with his educational material helping them to increase the quality of their standard.

The second author, Alen Jerkunica, is a dean and one of the founders of Aspira private school, which has international courses on hotel management and tourism as well as gastronomy in Split and Zagreb. Continuously cooperating with experts from hotel management, he also participates in research projects with scientists specialized in marketing and management in sport and tourism.

The book is so far available only in Croatian, and you can buy it here.

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