Proposals to Employers on Monday, They Insist on Any of Their Two Models
ZAGREB, November 30, 2020 - Economy Minister Tomislav Coric said on Sunday evening that during the weekend, the government's delegation led by Finance Minister Zdravko Maric had listened to the proposals of employers for measures to ease their situation after the imposition of tighter anti-COVID restrictions.
Coric told the RTL commercial broadcaster that the government was fully aware of the adverse impact of the latest epidemic prevention measures on certain businesses and that the government would propose compensatory measures on Monday.
We will continue implementing the scheme of grants in the amount of HRK 4,000 per employee per month, the minister said and that employers will have access to the so-called COVID loans and that some of their fixed costs would be covered through the assistance provided by the government.
All those proposals will be discussed during their meetings on Monday.
HUP expects gov't to accept one of their models of compensation
The Croatian Employment Association (HUP) said on Monday morning that they would insist on the the acceptance of any of the two models presented by bar and restaurant owners last Thursday to help them survive the new partial lockdown, saying that otherwise many of them would go bankrupt.
The first model envisages long-term compensation by slashing VAT to 5% for three years and to 13% over a longer term, and providing job-retention aid until April 2021, i.e. HRK 4,000 per employee and writing off taxes and contributions until 1 May 2021.
They also proposed compensation of €10 per square metre of their establishment, COVID loans to ensure liquidity for three years and a moratorium on loan payments for businesses which are not allowed to work.
The second model envisages ensuring revenue for entrepreneurs in the amount of 50% of their turnover at the same time last year as a direct grant which would also be used for salaries, including a contribution write-off.
This model also envisages exemption from all fixed liabilities for the duration of the lockdown, including rent and utilities. Exemption from parafiscal levies was also proposed.
Charges Brought against Organizer of Zagreb Anti-COVID Protest Rally
ZAGREB, Nov 11, 2020 - Police have brought charges against the 27-year-old organizer and leader of the Anti-COVID protest rally that called for the dissolution of the national COVID-19 crisis response team for failing to ensure law and order and violating epidemiological rules.
They said that the 27-year-old man had not taken measures to ensure law and order, which resulted in the violation of measures introduced by the crisis response team, namely those related to keeping a safe distance and using protective face masks when that is not possible. In addition, the man did not warn protesters or stop the rally when he saw that they were not adhering to the measures in place.
Police said that the 27-year-old man had been informed about his duties as the organizer and leader of a public gathering when he reported the protest rally, and he had been warned to adhere to all epidemiological measures.
They added that the City of Zagreb's crisis response team had sent the instructions to the organizer of the Anti-COVID protest rally.
Citizens dissatisfied with the work of the national coronavirus response team gathered at Zagreb's Central Railway Station on Sunday and walked towards the main square Trg Bana Jelacica where a dozen speakers addressed the demonstrators.
During their march, they did not adhere to epidemiological measures, such as keeping a safe distance or wearing protective masks.
Demonstrators carried banners with different messages, including those reading: "How dangerous is a virus if you need a test to know you have it?" and "This is not a matter of virus, but a matter of control."
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Milanovic: Protest Is Democracy, Going To Care Homes Is Idiocy
ZAGREB, Sept 6, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic on Saturday commented on a protest in Zagreb against COVID restrictions, saying that protest is a democracy but that the fact that the protesters stood outside nursing homes was idiocy and disastrous.
He was responding to questions from the press on Rab island if the rally in Zagreb was a festival of democracy, as the participants claimed, and if he considered any restrictions contentious.
"From day one we have been saying that the elderly and the sick are the ones we must care for, not teenagers, my generation. To go outside retirement homes and say that corona is a child's play, which I saw they did, is a disaster... If they are protesting against masks, that's okay."
Speaking of restrictions, he said, "One should be more disciplined than usual, that's the only measure."
Asked what he would tell people who claimed that coronavirus did not exist, Milanovic said ironically that they were "very fine people."
Asked what would happen if the virus entered kindergartens and schools, he said children and youth were the least at risk. "It's time they finally go to school because this has been going on too long."
Milanovic and Slovenian President Borut Pahor were on Rab for the 77th commemoration of the liberation of inmates from the Kampor fascist concentration camp.
"The banality of evil," he said of the WWII camp. "This wasn't a typical extermination camp. This was a camp where you bring Slovenians and Croats because they crossed you for some reason, not just because they are Slovenians and Croats, and leave them to die in a year, you don't feed them. That's the banality of evil. Somebody watched that, those guards, for a year."
Asked if he and Pahor discussed bilateral topics, Milanovic said, "We talk all the time... about the situation in the region, everything that goes on around us. About the right-wing in Europe. I don't mean traditional Christian values but... I don't like the words 'anti-European policy' because that means nothing, but there is a number of leaders and politicians in Europe who see the enemy in everything."
Asked if he and Pahor talked about the reopening of borders given that Slovenia put Croatia on the red list of COVID countries, Milanovic said there was a reason why Slovenia did that.
"The number of daily cases of infections increased because almost a million foreigners arrived in Croatia in July and August so that we could make money. That's not surprising. That's the price we consciously paid both as a state and as a society, and we should finally accept that... Let's not be surprised that almost a million foreigners passed through Croatia, leaving their money here, socializing, forming crowds, and that some got infected. But that's the price of the risk we were all willing to take. Slovenia's reaction was expected, that will change."
Asked if he would ask Pahor that Slovenia apply the regional COVID model towards Croatia, like Germany, Milanovic said, "He doesn't decide on that, just as I don't in Croatia."
He said they often spoke on the phone. "The topics are political, concerning the region, the Balkans, the eastern Balkans."
Asked if he heard the appeals from the ruling HDZ, the minister of defense, the parliament speaker, and the prime minister that he should be more rational with military resources, Milanovic said he did not. "Since I'm the commander in chief, I'll decide what's more rational, if they really said that. We are being very rational."
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