July 7, 2022 - In the year that marks the 100th anniversary of the first official match in the city, Željan Konsuo, an excellent chronicler of Dubrovnik sports, presented his third book, "Dubrovnik Football History". It is the first book entirely dedicated to football in Dubrovnik. 

At Hotel Valamar Lacroma, the Dubrovnik public was presented with a new book by the multi-awarded author, Željan Konsuo, which he dedicated to the beginnings and development of Dubrovnik football. "Dubrovnik Football History," in addition to providing a chronological overview of football clubs and notable results, also reveals a whole series of unknown details and historical facts and exposes some intriguing "misunderstandings" that have skillfully become established in recent decades in the Dubrovnik sports public.

Željan Konsuo is undoubtedly known to the public because of his last project, where he celebrated 95 years of the most trophy-winning club, Jug. After publishing the capital work "Pet do sto," he again devoted himself to Jug.

"This book was originally conceived as a book about the football club "Jug" however, the activities of football clubs in the last century were so intertwined, they were so often extinguished, merged, and separated that it was impossible to single out only the work of the football club Jug, so it was followed the activities of Jug and other clubs with which he joined."

The book summarizes the last 115 years of playing football in Dubrovnik. It contains records from the Dubrovnik archives, never-before-published photos, and interviews with distinguished Dubrovnik football players and coaches.

"For a book to be of high quality, you need to have quality collaborators," Konsuo concluded and thanked his collaborators, including sports historian Jurica Gizdić, lawyer and sports enthusiast Saša Pavličić Bekić, and sports journalists Bernard Jurišić and Tonći Vlašić, for sharing football stories and their watching football in southern Croatia.

The book presentation was also attended by Ile Topuzović, member of the HNS Executive Board, President of the County Football Federation and DNŽ Sports Association Blaž Pezo, President of the Dubrovnik Sports Association Maro Kapović, and Secretary-General of the Croatian Olympic Committee Siniša Krajač.

"With this book, Konsuo has enriched the sport's history of Croatia and Dubrovnik football", believes Krajač and adds, "it is a great legacy, which will be useful to many for the future guidance of the young generation to see how it was and in which direction today's football should be directed."

The publisher of the first book on Dubrovnik's football history and the editorial and graphic design coordinator is the newspaper company Dulist.

"It is a special pleasure for us to help in the creation of excellent works," says Barbara Đurasović, editor-in-chief of Dulist, also the editor of the book and added: "It seems to me that with this book, a unity has finally reigned in football if nothing else that is present here tonight and I hope that it will survive in the future as well."

With "Dubrovnik Football History," Dulist continues the series of publishing and editing excellent works from the Dubrovnik area - "Mljet, Sadržaj sreće" by Dr. Siniša Cara and "Svi Vlahovi ljudi," a monograph signed by Dulist.

To read more about sports in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

July the 7th, 2022 - The State Inspectorate has stated that slightly more than half of Croatian tourist facilities are actually operating according to the proper regulations.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the above-mentioned conclusion can be drawn data obtained by the State Inspectorate, which announced recently that through 621 inspections carried out during the month of June, 336 Croatian tourist facilities (54 percent) operated according to the current rules, while 285 or 46 percent were in the group of those where inspectors found 442 various violations of the regulations.

"For 162 violations of various kinds, the State Inspectorate's inspectors applied the principle of giving an opportunity for correction, that is, they made it possible for the owners and and managers of said Croatian tourist facilities to correct the identified irregularity or irregularities during the inspection.

For 280 violations of the current regulations, 16 indictments were submitted to the competent courts, 20 misdemeanor orders were issued, and 61 fines were collected at the place where the misdemeanor was committed. Due to the identified violations, the inspectors of the State Inspectorate issued a total of 250 administrative decisions," the State Inspectorate announced.

They noted that the most frequent violations of the regulations were related to the failure to highlight the notification on how a customer/client may submit a written complaint and the failure to observe the prescribed working hours. In addition, the sanitary inspection found a number of cases in which the workers didn't pass health education courses, and the environmental protection inspection found irregularities related to improper separation of waste, according to the press release.

The labour inspectorate found that a total of 20 workers, citizens of third countries (non EEA), had not been registered for mandatory pension insurance before starting work by their employers.

Coordinated inspections of inspections by the State Inspectorate in the catering and tourism industry last until August the 31st, 2022.

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

July the 7th, 2022 - There are as many as 34 different types of shark living in the Croatian Adriatic Sea, and while that might cause some to gasp in horror and vow to never take another dip in the sparkling waters again, rest assured that shark attacks are extremely rare, and that the situation for Croatian waters is much safer than it is for many others.

A recent fatal shark attack in the Red Sea along Egypt's coastline which resulted in the tragic death of an Austrian woman has caused many to remember the dangers of the sea, but the Croatian Adriatic Sea is very safe, despite the array of sharks who call it home.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, a Professor at the University Department of Marine Studies of the University of Split, Alen Soldo, was recently a live guest on N1 Studio and commented on the warming of the world's seas, the more frequent appearance of jellyfish, as well as sharks living in the Croatian Adriatic Sea.

Commenting on the fact that the sea is getting warmer, Professor Soldo said that these temperatures are unusual considering the time of year.

"If you look at the overall situation, there's been quite a long period of high air temperatures, low rainfall and a lack of winds that should help mix the upper, warmer layers of the sea with the lower, cooler ones. It's clear that this temperature is the result of this whole situation, and if these other things and circumstances don't change, we can expect that temperature to be even higher," warned Soldo.

Regarding the apparently more frequent reports of the appearance of jellyfish in Istria, he says that it isn't related to the warming of the sea.

"Jellyfish feed on planktonic organisms and it's likely that the amount of plankton in those waters is higher during this period," he said.

"Given the usual weather conditions for this time of year, it would be expected that the jellyfish would disappear and head off elsewhere, but in this situation we cannot guarantee that they'll leave. It's difficult to predict,'' he added.

When it comes to the question of just why are there more jellyfish appearing in the sea near Istria and Kvarner, he said that this is indeed a very unusual year, but that these animals are unlikely to cause any bother to humans.

He also briefly commented on the recent shark attack which resulted in the horrendous death of an Austrian woman who was swimming in Egypt's Red Sea.

"As far as the case in Egypt is concerned, knowing the history of those attacks, we can assume that the species responsible doesn't live in the Croatian Adriatic Sea," he explained, adding that he and a colleague of his from neighbouring Slovenia are currently working on a paper about sharks who live in the Adriatic and says that they have counted 34 species that live here permanently or occasionally come to the Adriatic.

"Out of those 34 species, only three are potentially dangerous, they are the Short-fin mako shark and the Porbeagle. The only problem here is that the Great White Shark tends to follow the schools of tuna. The last fatal attack occured in 1974, after that there was only one other attack in 2008 that was not fatal. The Croatian Adriatic Sea is much safer than other seas," explained Soldo.

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

July the 7th, 2022 - Croatian tomatoes are set to hit the market and the shelves boasting a brand new ''proven quality'' (dokazana kvaliteta) label, much like other products have done over the last couple of years.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, after the Ministry of Agriculture passed the Decision on the recognition of the ''proven quality'' label for vegetables, the request for the recognition of the same label was submitted by the Association of Associations of Croatian Vegetable Growers.

The first producers who successfully completed the process of confirming the conformity of tomato production with the ''proven quality'' label for vegetables are Belje plus d.o.o. and Fructus glasshouses d.o.o. and soon it will be possible to buy Croatian tomatoes with this label on the market.

Vegetable producers who use the ''proven quality - Croatia/dokazana kvaliteta - Hrvatska'' label must ensure that these vegetables undergo a production process according to very precisely defined criteria in their specification, which includes care for environmental protection through the responsible use of fertilisers and pesticides, the use of the optimal time of harvesting those vegetables, the length of time spent in transport in order to preserve the nutritional value of the product, and the proper selection of the packaging that protects the vegetables from damage during their storage and transport.

It's worth noting that the first sector that recognised the advantage of this system was the fruit production sector, and the request for recognition of the ''proven quality'' label for fruit was submitted by the Croatian Fruit Association, and from October 2021, apples marked with this label could be bought on the market.

Another sector that has also recognised the advantage of this system is the consumption egg sector, and the request for the recognition of the ''proven quality'' label for consumption eggs was submitted by the Poultry Science Association, and consumption eggs marked with this label have been available for purchase on the market since February 2022.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Made in Croatia section.

July the 7th, 2022 - Split Airport director Pero Bilas has stated that the facility is ready to deal with expected crowds over the summer months, as travel gets back to normal and people put the coronavirus pandemic and all of its woes firmly behind them.

As Morski writes, Split Airport director Pero Bilas claims that the situation with crowding at Zagreb Airport is unlikely to occur there. "Split Airport functions in a different way. We're an extremely seasonal airport and the fluctuations in traffic are very large indeed. We expect crowds in the summer and we know how to deal with them,'' he said.

Not a single employee was fired during the coronavirus pandemic

Split Airport director Pero Bilas said that not a single of the airport's employees was fired during the coronavirus pandemic, they were instead reorganised inside the airport, and he praised the Croatian Government's measure to preserve jobs, which contributed to everyone keeping their staff. He added that they also hired seasonal workers.

What is happening in Europe and what we're seeing as a problem is flight cancellations and delays. When this happens, passengers should have the means to cope with these situations made available to them. We're trying to do our best and we're also trying to make up for all the delays,'' he pointed out.

It is predicted that the traffic by 2024 and 2025 should be at the level of pre-pandemic 2019. Split Airport director Pero Bilas believes that they should easily reach these numbers, because the results that show that they have had an excellent May and June and that they will end this year at 80 percent of the traffic realised when compared to the record year of 2019.

He added that energy prices don't significantly affect the operation of the airport, either. What is significant is that companies that have to load their kerosene at various stations across Europe are sensitive to all changes occuring on the market.

The traffic boom in Split happened with the appearance of low-budget companies, and Bilas says that low-budget companies are very welcome.

They have an equal status, they all operate within the airport under the same conditions. They're very important to us, they make up 40 to 45 percent of our turnover, and the boom in traffic in Split happened with the appearance of these low-cost companies,'' Split Airport director Pero Bilas emphasised for N1.

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

ZAGREB, 6 July 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday thanked Zdravko Marić for the contribution he made as Minister of Finance, saying that he "has done a great job" and said that the new minister, Marko Primorac, is also excellent and will gain a good reputation with his work, just like Marić.

Addressing a press conference held in Government House after a meeting of the ruling majority, the prime minister said that he has a very good relationship with Marić and that they had a long discussion about his leaving the government.

Every government member supposed to want to work 300 percent

"I am guided by only one principle, anyone who wants to be a member of the government has to want to work 300 percent. He (Marić) worked brilliantly for 6.5 years and obviously the time has come when he decided to do something else for his own reasons. I respect that," said Plenković and underscored that he appreciates Marić's contribution.

Everything that is important for our economic and fiscal policy in the future, will be done with Marko Primorac, Davor Filipović, Marin Piletić and other government members, he added, referring to two new ministers and Primorac whose candidacy is to be confirmed by the parliament,

Plenković would not reveal where Marić is going and added that Marić had told the HDZ leadership, the cabinet and the ruling coalition that he still does not have a clear picture of what and where he will work in the future.

"When he is ready to say something more about that he will do so," the prime minister added.

Plenković underscored that "no one can work in the government for a hundred years" and everyone has an expiry date.

"We have new ministers. We are replacing young ones with even younger, equally good and smart ones. You will get used to them, as will the public, and we will continue to function," he told reporters.

Given the very good reputation that Marić enjoys in the professional and general public, reporters asked how long it would take for the future minister to "adjust," with Plenković saying that the state has to function, and Primorac will gain an equal reputation with his work.

"You will see that Primorac is great, smart, eloquent. He understands the matter and will adapt quickly. He knows people in the ministry. Just like Zdravko gained his reputation for his work Marko Primorac will too," said Plenković.

Asked if he was personally affected by Marić's resignation or whether he experienced it as disloyalty, Plenković said "No. We have been through so much." He underscored how they achieved common goals, entry into the euro area, upgrade of Croatia's credit rating, exiting the macroeconomic imbalance mechanism and so on.

Primorac to also be non-partisan minister

Primorac, like Marić, will be a non-party member of the government and Plenković underlined that he had received the unanimous support of HDZ party bodies.

Asked whether there wasn't anyone in the HDZ who could fill that position, he said there was but that he wanted "someone who will be the right person at the right time."

There are others and this man is ready to be engaged as much as possible. We are just waiting for him to recover from COVID, he added, saying that Primorac will be as good as Marić because that is the "condition for him to be a minister."

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 6 July 2022 - Croatia has registered 1,794 coronavirus cases and four deaths over the past 24 hours, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Wednesday.

There are 7,141 active cases, including 312 hospitalised patients, 12 of whom are on ventilators, and 2,949 persons are self-isolating.

To date, a total of 4,957,517 tests have been done, including 4,677 over the past 24 hours.

Since the first registered case of infection with this novel virus in Croatia on 25 February 2020, a total of 1,154,129 infections have been diagnosed, while the death toll is 16,093.

As at 5 July, a total of 70.82% of the adult population have been vaccinated, including 68.78% fully.

For everything you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 6 July 2022 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović on Wednesday received Slovenian Foreign Affairs Minister Tanja Fajon, with whom he talked about Ljubljana's support on Croatia's path towards membership of the Schengen Area and the euro area, as well as the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Milanović and Fajon talked about the possibilities of further improvement of cooperation between the two countries, as well as about Croatia's entry into the euro area and the Schengen Area, for which President Milanović expects Slovenia's support, his office said in a press release.

A topic of the meeting was also the situation in Southeast Europe, notably in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With regard to the upcoming elections in that country, President Milanović reiterated his position that it was important and necessary to ensure the legitimate representation of all three constituent peoples in that country.

Milanović expressed satisfaction with Slovenia's support in the effort to secure Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of a European Union candidate, which he himself advocates, and the two politicians also discussed the security crisis caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

For more, check out our politics section.