News

ZAGREB, 14 July 2022 - The adoption of the law on the ratification of the protocol for the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO is Croatia's contribution to the further strengthening of the alliance and collective defence, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said in the parliament on Thursday. The foreign minister said in his address he hoped that the Sabor would be among the first ones to give its approval for this "historic enlargement". On behalf of the government, the pertaining protocol adopted in Brussels on 5 July, was signed by Croatia's permanent representative to NATO, Mario Nobilo. "Croatia actively participates in all…

ZAGREB, 14 July 2022 - The director of the Museum of Arts and Crafts (MUO), Miroslav Gašparović, and art collector Dinko Podrug, on Thursday signed a donation agreement for the Madonna and Child painting, transferring the ownership of the masterpiece by Croatian-Italian master Andrija Medulić Schiavone to the MUO. During the signing ceremony, Gašparović thanked Croatian American Podrug, an art collector and psychiatrist from New York, for this extremely important initiative for Croatian cultural and art history, "which shows the connection between Croatian culture and Croats all over the world." He said that this masterpiece by the great late Renaissance painter Andrija Medulić,…

ZAGREB, 14 July 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday he was confident that as the new minister of finance, Marko Primorac would contribute to the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and to maintaining macroeconomic stability, among other things. Plenković was speaking at the start of a session of the parliamentary Finance and State Budget Committee on the government's nomination of Primorac for minister of finance. Plenković said he was also confident that Primorac "will continue the good trajectories that are already visible, namely that we are again rapidly reducing the public debt after meeting all the criteria for euro…

ZAGREB, 14 July 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković had been in the government the longest and that he was more than competent to assume the role of a deputy prime minister. Presenting Butković at the parliamentary Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System Committee as a candidate for deputy prime minister, Plenković said he had extensive political experience, knew well how the government worked and would need no major adjustment. Butković is a vice president of the HDZ party, the president of its Primorje-Gorski Kotar branch and runs a ministry in…

ZAGREB, 14 July 2022 - Fitch Ratings on Wednesday upgraded Croatia's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating to 'BBB+ from 'BBB', with a stable outlook, after the European Council's Economic and Financial Affairs Council approved on 12 July Croatia's application to join the euro on 1 January 2023. The next scheduled review date for Fitch's sovereign rating on Croatia will be 28 October "but Fitch believes that developments in the country warrant such a deviation from the calendar." "Fitch believes that euro adoption is positive for the rating, as it would provide the sovereign with reserve-currency status, reduce transaction costs and limit exchange-rate risk…

July 14, 2022 - Croatia will play Poland, Switzerland, and Austria in the EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers next month.  After the Croatia national basketball team registered only one victory in the World Cup qualifiers, it became clear that the path to EuroBasket 2025 would be anything but easy.  That path brings pre-qualifications, or qualifications before the actual qualifications, and today, Croatia learned who they will play against in that stage of the competition, which starts next month. Namely, it is just before this year's EuroBasket, in which Croatia will play the group stage in Italy. Croatia is in the first pot…

ZAGREB, 14 July 2022 - In the past 24 hours, 1,763 coronavirus cases, out of 4,617 tests and five related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Thursday. There are 9,587 active cases, including 471 hospitalised patients, 17 of whom are on ventilators, while 4,389 persons are self-isolating. To date, Croatia has registered 1,163,824 coronavirus cases, the death toll is 16,135 and 70.83% of the adult population has been vaccinated.   For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

July the 14th, 2022 - The strange, moonlike island of Pag is famous for its salt production, not to mention its cheese, and after the island's salt museum opened its doors to visitors from at home and abroad, the Pag salt flats themselves are set to be made open to the public who are curious to see part of the production process. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a morning spent on the Pag salt flats as part of the famous Pag Saltworks is a totally new and authentic experience for visitors to this rather bizarre looking island, reports HRT. "We've finally…

July the 14th, 2022 - From all the way up in Rijeka to all the way down to Dubrovnik, let's look at the list of the most popular Croatian ports during the first half of this year as tourism returns to normal in the post-pandemic period. As Morski writes, the State Bureau of Statistics has published a report on cruise ship arrivals in Croatian ports in the first five months of this year. The most visited port in the last half a year has of course been Dubrovnik. In the period from January to May 2022, 48 foreign cruise ships…

July the 4th, 2022 - The remarkable Vodnjan company Infobip, otherwise Croatia's very first unicorn, is now taking over the Netokracija magazine in yet another step forward for its business. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, Infobip, the first Croatian unicorn, is taking over the business and technology magazine Netokracija, with which it has been cooperating for a long time, with the aim of strengthening the developer community and providing it with content intended for it, as well as further raising the value of IT in society as a whole. Netokracija's team, headed by founder Ivan Brezak Brkan, will become part of…