ZAGREB, 18 May 2022 - The Bosnian Croat HDZ BiH party has been strongly criticised over the fact that ministers from that party on Tuesday blocked the adoption of a decision on election financing, with the leading BiH Croat party resolutely dismissing the criticisms, including by the US Embassy in Sarajevo.

"Unprecedented public and media pressure on BiH Finance Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda has culminated with an open call to violate the law. Such attempts can be described as an act of undermining the rule or law," the HDZ BiH said in a statement on Tuesday amid an avalanche of criticism over its attempt to block the implementation of 2 October general elections.

The BiH government on Tuesday held a conference call at which a proposal was made to finance the elections with slightly less than €6.5 million from budget reserves accumulated over previous years.

This fallback option was proposed by the Central Election Commission (SIP) because the budget for 2022, which was to have envisaged funds for elections, has not been adopted yet. 

Its budget has been obstructed for a year and a half by Bosnian Serb officials, but Serb and Bosniak government ministers were on Tuesday willing to support SIP's proposal.

The BiH Finance Ministry, however, described the proposal as unconstitutional, and the three HDZ BiH ministers on the government voted against.

Under the Council of Ministers rules of procedure, the government cannot make any decision unless at least one minister from all three constituent peoples votes for it.

Shortly after yesterday's government session, Bevanda issued a statement explaining that elections can be financed without the budget but not the way it had been proposed.

"Law and lawful conduct were evidently not a priority in proposing this decision," said Bevanda, who was fully supported by his HDZ BiH party.

Nevertheless, the HDZ BiH has suddenly found itself isolated because in addition to criticism of its ministers, almost all major Bosniak and Serb parties called for ensuring money for the elections, noting that their blockade must not be allowed.

The Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) was the most vocal in its criticism, saying the HDZ BiH is doing everything possible to prevent the October election because it is dissatisfied with the failure to reach agreement on changes to the election law.

The SDA called for prosecuting those responsible for blockades and urged the international community to intervene and impose a decision to ensure funds for the elections.

The US Embassy said in a Twitter post that the HDZ BiH's blocking election financing is irresponsible and unjustified.

It also noted that HDZ deputies in the state parliament were against the adoption of EU-required laws, which it said was contrary to their professed commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration.

Under the current election law, 19 May is the deadline by which the Council of Ministers must secure funds for the implementation of elections, and Prime Minister Zoran Tegeltija said after the failed vote that an attempt was made to do it in a way that was not in line with the law.

"I call on all those in charge to continue with preparations for the implementation of elections in October 2022 and by the time SIP needs the money for elections, it will have it," said Tegeltija.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 18 May 2022 - The Croatian Health Insurance Agency (HZZO) will cover the cost of pregnancy termination for Mirela Čavajda in a hospital in Ljubljana.

The HZZO said this in a statement issued after earlier in the day the Jutarnji List daily reported that Čavajda would most probably not have the cost of her pregnancy termination abroad covered by the HZZO.

Čavajda is a woman six months into her pregnancy who who could not have her pregnancy terminated in Croatia despite the fetus's serious malformations.

Jutarnji List says is has learned from unofficial sources that Croatian doctors, even though they refuse to perform the procedure guaranteed by law, are also unwilling to put their refusal down in writing, and that hospitals have sent the HZZO notifications saying that Čavajda has been offered the necessary medical procedure - induced labour.

"Since she does not want that procedure but insists on pregnancy termination, the HZZO considers this to be a refusal of the medical service offered in Croatia, which makes it questionable if there are legal grounds for the HZZO to cover the cost of the medical service she will seek in Slovenia", the daily says.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 18 May 2022 - The Electronic Media Council (VEM) has confirmed that following its request, only 24 of some 500 government bodies, public institutions and legal entities whose majority owner is the state have submitted reports on their advertising via local media programmes in 2021.

Public institutions and legal entities have until 31 March every year to report to VEM on their advertisements published in the previous year, and post the relevant information on their web sites.

The response by public institutions was relatively poor, with 24 reports having been submitted by 31 March, while one was submitted after that deadline.

Of the institutions that submitted their reports, many submitted incomplete reports.

VEM nevertheless says that it is worthwhile noting that reports were submitted by the FINA financial agency, Ministry of Culture and Media, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Croatian Employment Service, Agency for Vocational Education and Training, Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices, and the Market Competition Agency.

Of the large public companies, reports were submitted, with subsequent numerous objections by the regulator, by Croatia Airlines, the forest management company Hrvatske Šume, Hrvatske Autoceste highway operator and the Croatian Lottery.

Reports were also submitted by the Vukovar Homeland War Memorial Centre, the national parks Paklenica, Risnjak and Krka, the State Archive in Pazin, and only one local government unit - the town of Ploče.

VEM says that the relatively small number of reports is due to the lack of fines for noncompliance with the recently adopted Electronic Media Act.

The Office of Information Ombudsman Zoran Pičuljan notes that financial transparency and  publication of information on how public funds are spent is a standard of transparent conduct and the fight against corruption.

This is an obligation both for media publishers and for public institutions paying for their services, the ombudsman says, noting that noncompliance violates not only the Electronic Media Act but also the Right to Access Information Act as well as the Local Government Act and the Budget Act.

The legislative framework is clear and well designed, but additional education effort is needed to ensure compliance with the legal obligations, he says.

The GONG nongovernmental organisation notes that the lack of clear rules and supervision of their implementation could lead to advertising by government bodies, public institutions and state-owned legal entities becoming a powerful tool for favouring individual media outlets in the awarding of public funds, which is conducive to censorship and results in uncritical media willing to work in the interest of their clients.

Croatian Journalists Association (HND) head Hrvoje Zovko says the HND had been warning for years of the problem, as stated in its proposals for the current Electronic Media Act, which were rejected.

He says this concerns the legal provision under which government entities as well as legal entities whose majority owner is the state are obliged to spend 15% of their annual amount intended for the advertising of their services or activities on advertisements in audiovisual or radio programmes of regional and local television and/or radio stations.

"That means that ministries and public companies like the HEP power provider use budget and public money for advertising via local radio and TV stations, and those decisions are usually discretionary, made most often by a political leader without any public tender. To make things worse, the public has no information whatsoever on what the money is spent on," Zovko adds, noting that public money should be directed to journalism in the public interest through transparent allocation mechanisms.

"Public sector advertising should be called by its real name - public support, and should be developed accordingly", he says.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 18 May 2022 - Contrary to expectations, Bosnia and Herzegovina's government on Tuesday failed to adopt a decision to secure funds for the implementation of 2 October general elections, with Finance Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda of the HDZ BiH saying an attempt was made to do it illegally by using political pressure.

The government held a conference call at which a proposal was made to finance the elections with budget reserves accumulated in previous years, which was a fallback option because the budget for 2022, which was to contain funds for the elections, has not been adopted yet due to political disputes in the country.

The adoption of the decision on securing funds for the elections was eventually blocked by ministers from the Croat HDZ BiH party while Serb and Bosniak ministers voted in favour.

Under the current election law, 19 May is the deadline by which the country's government, the Council of Ministers, must secure funds for the implementation of elections which the Central Election Commission (SIP) has estimated will cost more than €6.5 million.

The general election is expected to be held based on the country's existing election law after the failure of all attempts to change the law in order to secure the implementation of rulings of the BiH Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

Their implementation was to have eliminated discrimination of voters in the election process based on their ethnicity or place of residence as well as secure the right for Croat voters to elect on their own Croat representatives to the BiH Presidency and the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country's Bosniak-Croat entity.

Parties gathered around the Croatian National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HNS BiH) maintain there are therefore no legal preconditions to implement the election results.

They have decided, however, to participate in the elections, hopeful that before October some sort of agreement on the election reform could be reached, a possibility the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) has resolutely dismissed.

Immediately after SIP called the elections on 4 May, the BiH Council of Ministers was asked to secure funds for their implementation, a request openly supported by the Office of the High Representative, the United States and the most influential EU member countries.

In a separate statement issued after the vote at the Council of Ministers, Finance Minister Bevanda claimed money for the elections cannot be secured the way it was attempted on Tuesday.

"Law and lawful conduct were evidently not a priority in proposing this decision," Bevanda said, noting the proposal was a result of political pressure.

He accused SIP of "an unprecedented campaign of imputation and manipulation", an allusion to the fact that SIP has accused him of trying to obstruct the implementation of the elections and threatened to sue him.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 18 May 2022 - Croatia has recorded 773 new coronavirus cases and 1 COVID-related death in the past 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Wednesday.

Currently there are 3,902 active cases in the country and 1,526 people are self-isolating.

There are 326 hospitalised patients, 11 of whom are on ventilators.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Croatia, a total of 1,132,671 COVID cases have been registered and 15,945 people have died as a consequence. 

By Tuesday, 5,249,573 doses of a COVID vaccine had been administered, and 59.51% of the total population, or 70.78% of adults, had been vaccinated.

May 18, 2022 - New Promet Split electric buses are in the plans, e-ticketing should finally kick off on July 1, but will bus transport become more expensive in Split?

As part of the European tour MAN #ElectrifyingEurope, the battery-electric city bus MAN Lion's City 12E arrived in Croatia, reports Dalmacija Danas. 

A short presentation was held at the Amphora Hotel in Žnjan as this bus could soon transport the people of Split. Namely, Split-based Promet will apply for tenders for EU funds, and the studies have been conducted for more than a year. Negotiations are also underway with HEP so that there are no problems with charging.

"For the last year, we have been working on a study to be ready when opening public calls for buses. This is the latest technology, and of course, we will go in that direction. We have renewed part of the fleet with the latest generation diesel buses; we will have a presentation of the e-ticketing system in about 15 days," said Miroslav Delić, director of Promet Split.

This bus can travel 300 km on a single charge, and it takes 3 to 3 and a half hours to charge the batteries. It costs 550,000 euros. The capacity is 35 seats, while the total number of seats (sitting and standing) is slightly more than 80. Under each seat, there are USB sockets.

"Six months ago, we started negotiations with HEP to strengthen the substation within our complex and substations at locations in the city where we plan to introduce lines so that buses can be charged at these turning points," Delić said.

This is a low-floor city bus, 12 meters long, with a capacity of 88 passengers. Specifically, this bus is fully electric, powered by batteries located on the bus's roof and a central electric motor located on the rear axle of the bus. Battery capacity is 480-kilowatt hours, which means that it would have a range of 250 to 300 km in some actual driving conditions. Furthermore, it is fully equipped with all units as in the classic diesel bus, from heating, cooling, and air conditioning. In addition, most of the parts are from the diesel bus so that in the event of maintenance, these costs would be lower," explained Zvonko Gabud, sales director of Man Hrvatska.

Seven hundred of these buses have been sold across Europe, and they could soon be seen on Croatian roads. You can see more photos of them at Dalmacija Danas.

E-ticketing will be used from July 1, too, and with the rising fuel prices, Promet Split ticket prices could also change, adds Dalmacija Danas.

Namely, the fuel cost for Promet Split jumped by 15 million kuna annually.

"The question is whether we can change the prices because we do not have a representative of the majority owner, so now the question we ask the commissioners - is it possible for the Assembly to make that decision?," said Delić.

It is possible that there will be no price increase but under one condition.

"At the annual level, the cost of fuel is higher by 15 million kuna, so the cost of fuel is no more than 30 million kuna, but 45 million kuna at the annual level.

The price could rise by 20 percent, but the question is how much cities and municipalities are willing to co-finance with their budget funds. The price of the ticket depends on it. The ticket does not have to become more expensive if cities and municipalities co-finance public transport," Delić concluded.

For more, check out our business section.

May 18, 2022 - One shocking Split taxi experience made a turn for the better thanks to the help of the local community. 

Those in Split know that the tourist season came a bit earlier than usual this year - especially when we consider we're enjoying 28 degrees in May. But, unfortunately, we can't kick off the season without the horror taxi stories we know so well from the past, with some tourists already desperate for help after forking out cash for mindboggling fares. Like Emma Watkinson.

Emma shared her unpleasant taxi experience in the uber-popular Facebook group "Split Croatia Travel 2022", which has 9.7K members - a mix of locals, expats, tourists currently in Croatia, and those planning on traveling to Split. As Emma explained, she took a taxi from the city center, near Roof 68, at the beginning of the Tourist Palace on Monday evening. 

"Last night, I grabbed a taxi from the Split city centre, at a taxi rank in the region near Roof 68 bar. The journey was approximately 10 minutes back to the apartment, and the taxi driver has charged us £71, rather than £7.10. Given this was a random taxi amongst a taxi rank, it’s proven impossible to track this particular taxi, given ‘Dalmatia travel’ doesn’t relate back to a particular firm. Has this happened to anyone before? Any help would be really appreciated," Emma posted in the Facebook group. 

According to the CNB exchange rate, one pound is 8.91 kuna. This means that the taxi driver charged a dizzying 630 kuna for a ten-minute ride instead of approximately 63 kuna.

Emma wondered if a similar situation had already happened to someone. Members of the group tried to help her find the owner of the taxi company, others suggested waiting in the spot she picked up the taxi to find the driver, while others urged her to use secure platforms like Uber where the cost of travel is clearly calculated.

"A few days ago they charged over 900 kuna from the Bus station to the Airport. Same as last summer. A few years ago they charge my guest for a 3-minute drive during the rainy day 200 kuna, and it was without a bill."

"Shame on the driver, always ask for the price estimate in advance!"

"Why didn't you use Uber?" 

"I’m ashamed. This shouldn’t have happened. It’s an exception, though, most people are honest." 

And one taxi company showed just how honest they are. 

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, my company has been providing taxi services for the last few years in this city... As a company director to you as a guest and visitor to our city I would offer you a FREE TRANSFER to the airport at the expense of our company to keep Croatia in your good memory...We don't want people to have a misconception about legal taxi drivers who do their job fairly

Feel free to contact me directly at wapp +385915276145 or via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.."

Well done to Call Taxi Split! 

You can check out the official Split Airport prices published on TCN yesterday here. 

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

May 18, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as 14 easyJet Zadar and Pula flights will operate this summer. 

British low-cost carrier easyJet will operate to five Croatian airports this summer. While it has already announced several routes to Pula, the carrier will soon increase the number of operations and resume flights to Zadar Airport, reports Croatian Aviation.

This summer, easyJet will operate 5 international routes to Zadar Airport and 9 routes to Pula Airport. 

Namely, easyJet will operate on 9 international routes to Pula Airport this summer from:

Berlin (already in traffic), three to four times a week,

Bristol (already in circulation), twice a week,

London (already in traffic), three to seven times a week,

Amsterdam, from 29.06., twice a week,

Basel, from 28.06., three times a week,

Geneva, from 29.06., twice a week,

Glasgow, from 27.06., twice a week,

Luton, from 04.06., twice a week, and

Paris, from 27.06., three times a week.

From mid-May to the end of the summer flight schedule, easyJet will offer more than 125,000 seats to and from Pula Airport on the 9 listed routes.

easyJet is announcing fewer flights to Zadar Airport, or a total of 5 international routes, all of which will start operating at the end of June. easyJet will thus operate from Zadar to:

Amsterdam, from 28.06., twice a week,

Basel, from 27.06, three to four times a week,

Berlin, from 28.06., twice a week,

London, from 28.06., twice a week, and

Milan, from 28.06., four times a week.

Due to the smaller number of routes and weekly rotations, easyJet will offer almost 50,000 seats to and from Zadar Airport this summer, but passengers to and from Zadar are not a problem given that Ryanair has a large base at this airport. For the airport itself, it would certainly be better if the number of routes was diversified across multiple airlines.

In the peak summer season, easyJet will have several lines to Split and Dubrovnik, while only two lines have been announced to Rijeka.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.