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ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that net wages had risen by 32% since 2016 when he became Prime Minister, increasing from HRK 5,642 to HRK 7,352. Commenting on Tuesday's meeting with trade unions, Plenković emphasised the government's commitment to social dialogue and recalled that the base pay in the public sector had not been raised from 2012 to 2016. The increase is a consistent policy of our cabinet, Plenković said during today's meeting of the government. Thus, the base pay has been increased on several occasions during the terms of his cabinets, or 18.31% on the aggregate.…

ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Amendments to the Preschool Education Act on Wednesday provoked strong criticism by the opposition, which claims that they are detrimental to children, while the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) points out they will provide higher quality preschool education and better access to it. Presenting the bill, State Secretary at the Ministry of Science and Education, Tomislav Paljak, said that the goal was to allow each child to attend early and preschool education from the age of six months to when they start school. Due to the lack of space, it is not possible to allow…

ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Bosniak members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's upper house of parliament on Wednesday blocked a vote on amendments to the electoral law put forward by the Croat HDZ BihH party, scuppering the last chance of changing the law before general elections are called for October. "We declare this proposal harmful to the vital national interests of the Bosniak people," said MP Asim Sarajlić of the Democratic Action Party (SDA). He said that the proposal was completely unacceptable, unilateral and unconstitutional because relevant parliament committees did not have a chance to discuss it. The parliamentary rules of…

ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday after a meeting of the parliamentary majority that he would nominate Anja Šimpraga as a new deputy prime minister, Davor Filipović as the new labour minister and Marin Piletić as the new economy minister. Speaking to the press after presenting the candidates to the coalition partners, Plenković said all three had known for 20 days that they would be nominated, but the announcement was postponed until after the Easter holidays and the completion of negotiations with trade unions led by Labour Minister Josip Aladrović. "They are the new generation, they are very…

ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Human rights in Croatia are stagnating and last year they were not high among the government's priorities again, which is a serious problem in the context of new social challenges, it was said on Wednesday at a presentation of a Human Rights House Zagreb report on human rights in Croatia in 2021. The annual report was presented by programme director Ivan Novosel, who said the state of human rights should be viewed in the context of the 2020 earthquakes in Zagreb and Banija as well as the epidemic. "Reconstruction was slowed down, de facto there wasn't any.…

ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Income tax refunds for 2021 will be paid as of 2 May and 664,000 citizens will receive HRK 1.7 billion in total, while 91,000 citizens have to pay HRK 316 million into the state budget in due taxes, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Wednesday. Speaking to the press, he said 146,000 of those eligible for a refund were young people and that they would receive HRK 640 million in total. Marić said the 7.8% inflation the government forecast for this year was the highest in Croatia's recent history. Earlier today, the government adopted Croatia's convergence programme for…

April 27, 2022 - Croatia fans can apply for 2022 World Cup tickets until Thursday, April 28 at 11:00 am! After more than 800,000 World Cup tickets were sold in the first phase, the ticket sales period opened on the website https://www.fifa.com/tickets (with a random draw if there is a higher number of entries than the number of available tickets), which runs until Thursday, April 28 at 11:00 Central European Time, reports HNS. Until that deadline, it is possible to apply for tickets for the Croatia national team matches. Croatia will play in Group F against Morocco (November 23), Canada (November…

April 27, 2022 - Last year, foreign citizens bought 9,514 properties of real estate in Croatia, which is a high increase of 50 percent compared to 2020. According to research done by Jutarnji List with information from the Croatian Tax Administration, the highest year-on-year growth in the purchase of real estate in Croatia among foreigners was achieved by citizens of Germany, Austria, and Slovenia, reports tportal.hr. Last year, German citizens bought 2,637 properties in Croatia, which is an increase of 1,089 sales or even 70 percent compared to 2020, Austrians made 1,109 purchases (472 more properties or an increase of 74…

April 27, 2022 - Nineteen rowers from the Ukrainian rowing team will be preparing in Zagreb for the 2022 World Rowing Cup in Belgrade. Croatia continues to show a big heart and desire to help the Ukrainian people, and this time the athletes are helping. As a result of the war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Rowing Federation sent a request to the Croatian Rowing Federation for help in organizing and financing the Ukrainian Rowing Team in Croatia. The HVS undertook all possible preliminary work on realizing their request and, in cooperation with the Croatian Olympic Committee, the Zagreb Sports Facilities…

April 27, 2022 - Economist Damir Novotny was a guest on N1 Television's ''Novom Danu'', and commented on how certain is it that Russia will suspend gas to Croatia based on recent threats to Bulgaria and Poland. Novotny said Russia's threat to stop supplying gas to Poland and Bulgaria is in some ways a warning to the entire European Union, as the Polish and Russian governments clash most verbally, reports Index.hr. The economic analyst pointed out that he did not think that Russia would make a decision to stop supplying gas to Croatia. "It is possible that Russia will suspend gas to…