ZAGREB, 20 February, 2021 - Croatia has recorded 431 new coronavirus cases and 13 related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Saturday morning.

The number of active cases currently stands at 2,421. Among them are 782 infected people receiving hospital treatment, 78 of whom are on ventilators.

A total of 12,001 people are currently in self-isolation.

So far, a total of 1,298,994 people have been tested, including 5,579 in the last 24 hours.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first coronavirus case was confirmed in Croatia, 239,685 people have contracted the novel virus, of whom 5,420 have died.

A total of 231,844 have recovered, including 310 in the last 24 hours.

ZAGREB, 20 February, 2021 - The Month of the Croatian Language starts on Sunday, and the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics has called on all primary and secondary schools students to tune in to its virtual Croatian language classes, to last until March 17.

The Month of the Croatian Language is taking place between the day marking the International Mother Language Day, 21 February, declared by UNESCO in 1999, and 17 March, the day when the Declaration on the Name and Status of the Croatian Standard Language was published in 1967.

"The Month of the Croatian Language has been marked in Croatia and everywhere else where Croatian is spoken for a number of years. One of the most important traits of the Croat national identity, the Croatian language has kept its identity and autonomy despite its less than favourable treatment, resisting all pressure, degrading and bans throughout its millennial history," the Institute says.

It recalls that in 2013 Croatian became the 24th official language of the European Union, which was one of the reasons why the Institute launched the Month of the Croatian Language to continue protecting the Croatian linguistic and national identity in the European family of nations.

This year's edition of the Month of the Croatian Language will be held online and will last until March 17.

It will include numerous lectures on digital platforms, whose schedule will be agreed with Croatian language teachers.

ZAGREB, 20 February, 2021 - Red Cross Croatia executive president Robert Markt said on Friday that the Red Cross had so far raised HRK 48.6 million (close to €6.4 million) for victims of the 29 December earthquake and that one-off allowances would be paid to all citizens whose properties were damaged. 

The citizens whose damaged properties are located in Sisak-Moslavina, Zagreb and Karlovac counties were able to submit their applications for aid by February 19. So far, 19,000 applications have been received.

In an interview with Nova TV, Markt said the Red Cross would wait for applications that had been sent by post to process them as well.

He explained that the two main criteria for aid were that the applicant had permanent or temporary residence in the earthquake-hit area on 29 December and that they had proof of the damage caused to their property.

Markt could not say how much the one-off allowance would amount to, noting that it would depend on the number of applicants. He added, however, that it would be different for single-person households and families.

Markt also said that the campaign to raise money for the earthquake victims would last until the end of March.

He stressed that donations continued arriving to the earthquake-hit area.

"We are glad that Croatian and international companies keep contacting us with offers and donations," he said.

ZAGREB, 20 February, 2021 - Humanitarian assistance to the area hit by the 29 December earthquake has been provided equitably but some aspects of public policies for the area have had ethnic undertones, shows a short survey conducted by Hina.

Over the past 30 years the region of Banija has experienced a number of waves of destruction and suffering, with some families now having to rebuild their homes for the third time. One of the accompanying phenomena have been strong ethnic divisions in the area.

Five stakeholders spoke to Hina about the fairness of humanitarian assistance in such circumstances, while the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb, the Croatian Catholic University and Caritas Croatia did not send their answers.

Red Cross Croatia spokeswoman Kristina Zorić said that the Red Cross had at no moment felt any divisions in the region.

We never made any distinctions when distributing humanitarian aid and we were never approached in that sense, she said.

The Red Cross distributed and continues to distribute aid to citizens in need, regardless of the degree of damage to their properties, Zorić said.

No ethnic bias in distribution of aid

Aneta Vladimirov of the Serb National Council (SNV) pointed to the decades-long state of neglect of Banija and its status of transition loser.

Also visible in this region, where the beauty of nature is in strong contrast to poverty, is the legacy of the 1991-95 war, difficult for all residents regardless of their ethnic background, she said.

Vladimirov noted that apart from isolated incidents, no ethnic bias could be noticed in efforts to remove the consequences of the earthquake and help the victims.

A sociologist from the Zagreb Faculty of Law, Siniša Zrinščak, said that there were no studies on possible ethnic bias in the provision of assistance and there was too little information on that in the public sphere.

"We have seen people saying that they have received aid. We have also heard Caritas say that aid has been distributed evenly to everyone, and there is too little information in the media to make a different conclusion."

Earthquake brought people together

Hrvoje Sekulić, who coordinated a volunteer unit in Petrinja, said that up to 300 people, mostly volunteers, had provided help to earthquake victims through that unit.

The earthquake did not reflect any divisions, it elicited unity. Volunteers and war veterans were glad to provide help to everyone, he said, adding that local residents were grateful for the help.

"Maybe initially it was difficult to reach all hamlets in the area, but (Red Cross executive president Robert) Markt told me they had done their best to reach everyone. I cannot speak about state services. Being part of a large system, it took some time for them to start functioning but I believe they, too, have done a good job," Sekulić said.

Serb villages in state of neglect

Vladimirov pointed to the success of the SNV's campaign "Banija is our house" and its having underlined the importance of coordination between state agencies and nongovernmental organisations.

She commended as impressive the solidarity of Croatian citizens, as well as people from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other non-EU countries.

Glina Deputy Mayor Branka Bakšić Mitić said earthquake assistance was provided evenly, and she estimated that post-war reconstruction, too, was evenly accessible to everyone who applied for it.

However, of the 72 families who still do not have housing containers, 50 are Serb families, and there are also Roma and a few Croat families, she said, warning that housing containers were not an adequate type of accommodation, especially in the current winter conditions.

Asked to comment on the assessment that the state the region was in was due to both social and ethnic factors, Bakšić Mitić said: "You can go through Croat and Serb villages and see for yourself. Serb villages lack public lighting, roads are in a poor state, waste is not being collected, not to mention water supply and sewage infrastructure. Serbs were the only ones in the area of Glina without electricity. Those who returned to their villages (after the war) have left in the meantime."

Vladimirov agrees that the origin of problems in Banija is definitely to some extent attributable to the fact that the implementation of basic infrastructure projects in villages inhabited by ethnic Serbs has been slow.

Development instead of empty words

Sociologist Zrinščak was critical about some of public references to the region's suffering in the war.

"What is the purpose of those references if you do not see how it contributes to help that area, if there are no changes in development policies? I have not seen any changes in the region's level of development in the past 30 years," he concluded.

Vladimirov believes that the success of the SNV's humanitarian campaign is also owing to the cooperation between the two deputy prime ministers heading the task force dealing with the earthquake aftermath (Boris Milošević and Tomo Medved) even though, she says, the state must learn from the example of Banija with regard to solidarity as a policy and investment in the system of civil protection.

"We did not have that until now," she says, hopeful that changes will happen in that regard.

February the 20th, 2021 - The INA-MOL saga has oulived both the Agrokor (remember that?) and the fighter jet purchase sagas, and the Hungarians are now wanting much more than Croatia has to offer in that regard.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, the Hungarian MOL confirmed recently that talks with the Croatian Government about the INA-MOL saga, more precisely on the sale of a controlling stake in INA are continuing, and Bloomberg and Hina both quoted MOL CEO Jozsef Molnar as saying that their views on the price of that stake were "quite far apart".

In a recent conversation with analysts, held after the announcement of MOL's business results for last year, it was said that MOL was never against the agreement, but that wanted to sell its stake in INA at a price that would properly compensate it for its investments in the Croatian company.

If you haven't followed the INA-MOL saga in detail, the Hungarian MOL is otherwise the largest individual shareholder of INA, as it holds 49.1 percent of INA shares (4,908,207 shares), while the Croatian state holds 44.8 percent (4,483,552 shares), and private and institutional shareholders hold 6.1 percent of shares (608,241 shares).

Back in early February this year, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Tomislav Coric said that talks were underway with MOL to buy out its stake in INA and that the whole story about the Croatian oil company should not be prolonged beyond the second half of this year.

At a press briefing held on February the 10th, he said that a series of meetings had been held to buy MOL's stake in INA and that the government had made its offer to buy MOL's stake in INA back in November last year, without providing any further details about the offer.

“Over the next few months, let's say over four to five months, we're going to have to know exactly which direction has been chosen. If the transaction is needed after that, it will all take some time,'' said Coric.

Coric also said that the direction that the Croatian Government doesn't support and which is not optimal for Croatia is to maintain the status quo, while from the beginning they've wanted an agreement to be reached between the Croatian Government and the Hungarian side on the purchase of shares in INA.

The latter direction potentially includes a third party, in the sense that the Hungarian side leaves the ownership of INA entirely and is replaced by someone else. In addition, if the Hungarian side is ready to sell its shares in INA, there is an option for Croatia to buy them itself, ie through an arrangement of legal entities from Croatia, which would certainly, at least in one sense, affect the increase of public debt, which was not the Government's wish.

As a third option, if no agreement is reached on the purchase price in the INA-MOL saga, he stated that the agreement would then in the direction of redefining the relationship between the partners within INA, in a way that would see a balanced relationship between the two shareholders, including positions in the company's management, with all of the accompanying obligations and rights implied.

It's worth mentioning that back at the end of 2016, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced that the Croatia Government had decided to buy MOL's entire stake in INA, after Croatia lost the lawsuit against MOL before the arbitration court of the United Nations  UN) Commission for International Trade Law in Geneva.

An investment advisor in that transaction, the consulting company Lazard, presented a preliminary report on the in-depth survey of INA's business and its value in June last year, and in September 2020, a final report on the assessment of INA's value was made.

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February the 20th, 2021 - Minister Bozinovic has revealed the next point Croatia needs to reach in terms of its epidemiological picture before it can look at relaxing some more measures. He also scooted around the controversial idea of a COVID passport when asked about the summer season.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Krunoslav Capak commented that this is the first time that the number of daily infections recorded is unfortunately higher when compared to what it was the week before.

''As for the 14-day incidence, the highest is in Split-Dalmatia County, and the lowest in Istria County. In the European Union, Croatia is in third place, only Finland and Denmark have a lower incidence than Croatia," Capak said at a press conference of the Civil Protection Headquarters.

In terms of the overall mortality rate, we are in 19th place out of 27 European Union countries, Capak added, noting that Croatia now has 11 confirmed cases of the so-called British strain.

''Something that is new is that the Croatian Institute for Public Health has introduced a screening test for new coronavirus patients and yesterday we tested 17 samples, of which we have 10 suspicions of a new variant, and we sent all of those samples off for confirmation to the ''Dr. Fran Mihaljevic'' Infectious Diseases Clinic. We will then get confirmation whether they are the British strain or not,'' said Capak.

How about the next set of measure relaxations?

''For us, the next point we need to reach is the end of this month and the beginning of next month. We'll certainly continue to make decisions based on reflection and based on models. We must be aware that caution must absolutely continue to be maintained and that the measures must continue to be implemented in a disciplined manner,'' explained Minister Bozinovic.

"This mustn't be a gamble" he added.

Minister Bozinovic also commented on the introduction of COVID passports, which has been a hot topic of debate for many, emphasising that the Croatian Government intends to do absolutely everything in its power to ensure we have a successful tourist season.

"This is a sensitive matter because in Europe it is considered that there should be no discrimination, so we're going to be acting practically. Surely these talks will intensify and we'll see how we can do everything to get tourism started, to record a more successful tourist season than we had last year. We achieved about 50 percent of the results from our record year of 2019, and in that respect we are ahead of all our friends from Europe,'' concluded Minister Bozinovic.

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February the 20th, 2021 - Could tourism in the extreme Croatian south grow despite the ongoing issues with leisure travel and the lack of flights? The extreme Croatian south remains, until Peljesac bridge is completed, cut off from the rest of the country by Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina's only coastline, and as such has always been, primarily, a flight destination.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, when it comes to tourist accommodation in super-luxury villas, after almost experiencing none of the coronavirus crisis last year, the forecasts are now even better, and the Zadar agency Croatia Luxury Rent (CLR), one of the strongest players in the market with about 420 villas across the Adriatic, is predicting further growth the number of arrivals of guests with higher purchasing power.

This started happening last summer: such guests could not travel to their usual more distant destinations, so they decided to spend their summer holidays in various destinations across Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia.

A kind of acceleration in the number of reservations is expected during the spring, and guests are still being cautious, according to the owner and director of CLR Josip Stulic, in waiting for travel conditions and border regimes to be more clearly defined, ie an improvement in the overall epidemiological situation. He believes that the best filled accommodation and holiday homes will be in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Istria counties, then Zadar, Sibenik-Knin County and finally Split-Dalmatia County.

"The extreme Croatian south, at least within the context of the total number of arrivals in the coming season, should gradually grow and certainly will not fail at the level of private accommodation, although it is evident that destinations like Dubrovnik have attracted guests who arrive by air for years now, and their numbers will be significantly less in the coming years.

Private accommodation, along with nautical tourism and camps, is the foundation that should be the backbone of success in the coming seasons in terms of income and the number of arrivals. Unfortunately, for some time yet, we won't be enriched all that much by the arrival of airline tourists, which will be present in the form of stagnation not only in our country but also globally, but because of that, the number of places hosting guests who drive here along our coast will grow,'' explained Stulic.

With last year's occupancy rate of 86 percent of CLR and following 2020's realisation of any domestic tourism at all, it is predicted that the tourist season for 2021 should be more successful than expected.

Croatia's great advantage as a destination is its geographical position, which, as he pointed out, should lead to good results in the future, assuming that the situation with the coronavirus will stabilise in the coming months, primarily due to the ongoing vaccination process across the globe.

"Looking at the aforementioned fact that Croatia is brilliantly positioned and extremely well connected with emitting markets within the region, it is to be expected that this information will become crucial. All of the above should happen if there are no unforeseen geopolitical events that could change it,'' stated Josip Stulic.

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February the 20th, 2021 - Could Croatian smart villages do the same as smart cities have to Croatian cities, but for smaller, more rural areas? Digitalisation is something Croatia requires a significant amount of help with, and this could be precisely the move that needs to be made in that direction for less populated areas of the country.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, after the concept of a smart city came to be, which is already very widely known and applied to a greater or lesser extent in many cities across Croatia, the focus is now being placed on the concept of Croatian smart villages, which will not only help rural areas to develop further, but also enable them to withdraw money from European Union (EU) funds.

The huge potential that opens up in this segment of rural development has been recognised by the young team working at Revent Smart, which therefore launched the Smart Villages of Croatia initiative last summer. Behind them is already a reference in Zadar County, and keen interest was shown by municipalities from the areas of ​​Northern and Southern Dalmatia, Istria and Medjimurje, revealed the project manager, Tea Kurfürst.

"Over more recent years, and especially last year, the trend of returning to rural areas has increased, and recently the trend of digital nomads coming to Croatia has received a lot of attention. The more rural areas of Croatia are rich in natural beauty, and by applying the Croatian smart villages concept to them, which will create a modern infrastructure, can significantly raise the quality of life and increase the attractiveness of rural areas. The ultimate goal of our project is to increase the quality of life for rural residents, provide more content for visitors and strengthen the economy,'' explained Kurfürst.

The Smart Villages of Croatia initiative is intended for municipalities, and in order for a certain environment to become “smart”, a planning approach is needed that differs significantly from the classic general development strategies.

''The strategy for the development of Croatian smart villages as a smart living environment implies a smaller number of activities and measures that are primarily realistic, concrete and achievable in relation to the possibilities of a particular municipality,'' pointed out Kurfürst. In Croatian smart villages, traditional and new services will be enhanced by digital telecommunications technologies, innovation and the overall better use of knowledge for the benefit of local people.

For the needs of creating a smart environment, Revent has prepared its own database with more than 300 digital solutions that are often supplemented and updated, and can be applied in all sectors of the agro-processing industry, the provision of public and social services, tourism, the environment and mobility.

Digital technologies and innovations can improve the quality of life, contribute to creating a higher standard of living, improving public services for residents, enable the better use of resources, reduce the negative impact on the environment and create new opportunities for economic development.

In addition to the above, the allocation of at least 5 percent of funds for the development of the Croatian smart villages concept is the responsibility of all EU member states respectively in the programming period for 2021-2027. Croatia hasn't yet announced how this will be implemented here, but it is certain that there will be tenders, and this has already been announced by Dubrovnik-Neretva County.

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