Minister Bozinovic has discussed the situation with the Croatian-Bosnian border, which has irritated many and left some feeling suspicious about the motives behind it.

Many have been asking the question of just why the Croatian border with Bosnia and Herzegovina is going to be opened so early following a significant ''import'' of new coronavirus cases from that country. With many citing the upcoming elections, due to take place this weekend, others feel that the opening of that border negates everything that has been done so far in regard to anti-epidemic and restrictive measures.

In Petrinja, Minister Bozinovic talked to reporter Vanja Kranic from N1 television about the previously announced abolition of mandatory self-isolation for people entering Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"We're still involved in these talks as the presiding [over the rotating presidency of the EU] country. The EU intends to open up to about fifteen countries, including Serbia and Montenegro. As far as Croatia is concerned, we will have Bosnia and Herzegovina on that list. You know that we had imports of the virus from those countries in the past few days, but it was several times higher from Serbia than it was from BiH,'' explained Minister Bozinovic.

He added that what is important is that we have hotspots in Croatia that are firmly under control. "It isn't something unexpected that the numbers are growing not only in Croatia, but also across Europe. Apparently, these all regard milder clinical pictures,'' he pointed out.

When asked whether the Republic of Croatia will still open the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, even if this non-EU European country fails to find itself in the recommendations of the European Union, he answered:

''Recommendations are recommendations. It's difficult to justify the fact that we had 25, 26 entries of the virus from Serbia, to whom we're opening our borders and eight entries from Bosnia and Herzegovina where we should keep the borders closed,'' Minister Bozinovic told N1.

A more detailed report can be read by clicking the link in the first paragraph of this article.

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ZAGREB, June 30, 2020 - EU member states will on Wednesday open their borders to 15 countries, including Serbia and Montenegro, while Croatia has added Bosnia and Herzegovina, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said on Tuesday, adding that there were fewer new cases of COVID-19 in Bosnia than in Serbia and the decision is in Croatia's economics interest.

Bozinovic assessed that this is not a political decision related to the coming election but that it is in the interest of the Croatian economy. He said that the final recommendation from Brussels is still pending.

"We do not expect any additional problems due to opening the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina because the import of infected people was far higher from Serbia than from Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Bozinovic. Twenty-five cases were imported from Serbia and only eight from Bosnia and Herzegovina, he said and added that authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including epidemiologists, were taking the necessary steps.

"The thing that is important is that hotspots are under control in Croatia. It is not unexpected that the number of people infected will increase in some areas of Croatia, just as they are growing in other European countries. Given that the clinical picture is milder, the health services are not overloaded, I think that only one ventilator is currently in use," he said.

Bozinovic reiterated that at the moment decisions were being made in favour of economic activity, primarily tourism. He said that he has noticed that people are adhering more to the recommendations and that this is "a preparatory period for the autumn when more respiratory problems are usually prevalent."

Commenting on night clubs being the source of new infections in Croatia, he said that inspectors would be issuing warnings at first but then would impose sanctions for those breaching measures.

June 25, 2020 - Who will be able to enter Croatia from BiH, Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia without having to self-isolate? Head of the Border Service of the Split-Dalmatia Police, Mladen Bužančić, explains. 

Dnevnik.hr reports that encouraged by the growing number of cases in Croatia, but also in neighboring countries, the Croatian Civil Protection Headquarters introduced a new measure at border crossings and mandatory self-isolation for people entering Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Mladen Bužančić, head of the Border Service of the Split-Dalmatia Police Administration, revealed to Dnevnik Nova TV that there are certain exemptions to the rule. 

"The border police are ready. Everyone who enters the Republic of Croatia from those countries on June 25 must be aware that they will be self-isolated. There are exceptions for those who, due to the nature of their work and living circumstances, will not have to isolate themselves, and among them are cross-border workers and those transiting through these four countries and through Croatia," Bužančić explains, urging that travel be kept to a minimum.

Asked what will happen to those who come to Croatia from those four countries in the region for a funeral or to care for an elderly family member, Bužančić answered that they are also exempt and will not have to self-isolate.

"If it is an urgent personal reason or it is about people who are coming to a funeral or need emergency medical care or transport, they will not be subjected to the new rule," says Bužančić.

However, when it comes to tourists from those countries who already have confirmed reservations in Croatia, Bužančić says that they must be aware that this arrangement will probably not be realized.

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The unemployment rate for young people up to 29 years of age is the highest among Croatia's domestic population, and the lowest among young people from third countries.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of April, 2019, the Republic of Croatia is among the countries of the EU with the best integrated immigrants from third countries, which can only be met with surprise by those people who do not know that these ''immigrants'' are actually mostly just Croats born in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by a few immigrants from Serbia, Germany, Slovenia, Kosovo and Macedonia.

According to the latest census, 584,947 (13.7 percent) of the population of Croatia were born abroad. The number of migrants are as follows: Serbia (9 percent), Germany (5.8 percent), Kosovo (3.5 percent), Slovenia (3.4 percent), Macedonia ( 1.7 percent). Immigrants to Croatia, predominantly from Bosnia and Herzegovina, are doing much better in terms of the employment rate of young people up to 29 years of age, meaning that they're significantly better integrated into the Croatian labour market than those born in Croatia and those from other EU countries.

This data were presented by sociologists Snježana Gregurević and Sonja Podgorelec, and social geographer Sanja Klempić Bogadi from the Institute for Migration and Ethnicity in the presentation "The Influence of Immigrant Groups on the Social Cohesion of the Receiving Society - the case of Croatia".

A large number of Croatian residents born in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the result of labour migration during the socialist period of Yugoslavia and immigration during the Bosnian war. Most immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina live in Zagreb (98,579), Split-Dalmatia County (36,864), Zagreb County (35,427), Brod- Posavina (29,537) and Osijek-Baranja County (28,051), these are the "entrance" Croatian counties, those closest to the border regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the exception of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, from which emigration towards Croatia was the most intensive,'' stated Klempić Bogadi.

By the year 2015, Croatia, along with Serbia, Germany and Austria, was the most common destination for immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, since 2016, the trend is for the Bosnian population to migrate to Germany and Austria, and the number of such persons in Croatia and Serbia is steadily decreasing.

"According to Eurostat's data, immigrants from third countries, predominantly immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, are better involved in the Croatian labour market than the domestic population and immigrants from other EU countries in terms of the employment rate of young people aged from 15 to 29. The employment rate of young people from third countries in Croatia is higher by 18 percent when compared to the employment of domestic youth,'' said Snježana Gregurović.

As stated, the unemployment rate for young people up to 29 years of age is highest among the domestic Croatian population, and is actually the lowest among young people from third countries.

"Because of their small share of the total population of Croatia, immigrants haven't endangered or undermined the country's social cohesion. Because of the modest share of the immigrant population in Croatia who do not have Croatian ethnic origin, and the large share of those who do have it, the integration challenges are not yet posing any sort of significant cost to the state, or a threat to the domestic population,'' says Podgorelec.

In Zagreb, the largest concentration of immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina live in Sesvete, where the research "Influence of immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina on the socio-demographic development of Croatian urban regions" was conducted on a sample of 301 people aged 18 and over born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Most of them (93.4 percent) were ethnic Croats, ethnic Serbs made up 3.7 percent of them, Bosniaks made uo 2.3 percent, and 0.7 percent was made up of others. Otherwise, 85.2 percent of Croats born in Bosnia and Herzegovina and living in Croatia are actually Croats, 6.3 percent of them are actually Serbs, and just 6 percent are Bosniaks.

A third of respondents hold dual citizenship, (Croatian and Bosnia and Herzegovina). Almost half of them work, of which 68 percent are mostly in trade or the construction industry. 14.6 percent are unemployed, those who stay at home make up 6.6 percent, pensioners make up 29.2 percent, and students and pupils in education make up 2.7 percent. The largest number of immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina living in Sesvete have secondary education, and 6,3 percent have higher education.

"Most respondents feel very welcome in the local community, they have a strong sense of belonging to the Croatian society, and they vote in large numbers during elections in the Republic of Croatia, but are exceptionally poorly involved in any organisation and/or civil society. Given the fact that many of them also have Croatian citizenship and therefore they vote in the elections in the Republic of Croatia, many are significantly less interested in political developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which shows a high level of political integration,'' concluded Podgorelec, reports Večernji list.

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Statistics show that about 12,000 deaf people live in the Republic of Croatia, but unfortunately it is rare for them to complete their higher education.

As Ivan Tominac/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 14th of April, 2019, Josip Ivanković was born in Čapljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but just one year after his birth, he was declared deaf, and this fact was one of his reasons for his relocation to Croatia. His move to Croatia certainly paid off as being the right move, and Josip, despite the diagnosis, managed to develop his speech and the technique of listening. That was, as Josip himself states, a painstaking and long process.

"The situation is that I have to treat speaking Croatian as if I was speaking a foreign language," Josip Ivanković explained.

For four years now, his speech and listening abilities have been being developed at the SUVAG Polyclinic, where Josip learned to speak with vibration, tone amplification, visualisation and by learning anatomy.

"When I learned to pronounce the letter ''r'', I had to touch the vocal chords of the logopad to feel a certain vibration and titration, then I'd lean my hand on my neck to feel the same vibration, so I learned to pronounce the letter ''r'' I learned to pronounce ''ž'' in a similar way, I just put my hand on my head. Generally speaking, the hardest letters to pronounce for the deaf are l,č,ć,đ,dž,lj and nj, and the reason for that is that such letters can't be visually identified. They're explained through the anatomy of the oral cavity, just like a doctor explains the heart's organs, or where the blood enters and where it exits,'' explained Josip.

After the kindergarten era ended, in which he learned the basics of socialisation, it was decided that he should attend a regular school.

This period of schooling, without any curriculum adjustment, he adds, was defined by perseverance, and communicational misunderstandings are, in his words, quite normal and natural.

"The professors made me equal with my peers, and this proved to be a good thing because I learned so much about the world of those who can hear, and I learned how to gather information," said Josip. As stated, statistics show that about 12,000 deaf people live in Croatia, but it is rare for them to complete higher education. Josip was not one of them, and he completed a college which has some very demanding academic requirements for its students.

He enrolled at FER (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing), and the likelihood of him completing his studies was slim, yet Josip had different plans for himself.

"At the beginning of the semester, it was very difficult for me to adapt,'' recalled Josip. Before Josip's arrival, professors from Zagreb's FER didn't have any experience in working with people with impaired hearing. At the beginning, he failed several exams, but he didn't let that dampen his spirit, and later he turned to further consultations.

This combination led him to become the very first deaf person to graduated from that college.

"The professors were very approachable, and our relationship was very flexible and adaptable. I will never forget how Professor Brnetić, instead of me asking him, personally invited me to consultations during the holidays and showed me much he cared that I didn't miss anything from the lecture. On the other hand, one professor asked me during consultations why I didn't go to the lectures and asked me how I was learning. I told him that I don't go to the lectures because I can't hear them. I took out a 100-page notebook with my assignments, and the professor was surprised that I did all that without having gone to any lectures. He asked me to lend him that notebook and later I learned that he'd showed my notebook to all of the professors. Believe it or not, a year after when I came to his office, that copy of the notebook was still on his desk,'' Josip stated, recalling his faculty days.

In the end, none of the obstacles he faced along the way turned him away from his goal, and he passed 62 engagements that mostly relied solely on him and his level of dedication. This FER student didn't have to wait around long before a job opportunity came knocking, and it wasn't your regular offer. He started his working life at no less than Rimac Automobili as an Embedded Hardware Engineer. Rimac had no problems with his deafness and offered him a position after his interview.

''At the beginning of the job, I was given a pretty demanding project that I had to complete within a month, which was the length of my trial period, and when the project ended I realised that I was able to complete it and was given the green light to remain with the firm,'' Josip said. The work never stops at Rimac Automobili, and at the moment, Josip is working on a project for the development of electric car chargers.

"Communication skills are the most difficult for me, because I have to invest extra energy into lip reading and that's mentally challenging and difficult. Imagine a situation in which a colleague is referring to professional terms, and I need to decode them with and put them into context in order for me to have any understanding. Imagine switching off your ears, and focusing your eyes on their lips alone.

You aren't likely to understand because they're not using standard words, they're using technical phrases that are difficult to decode and recognise. At the beginning, it was very difficult for me to follow verbal communication and understand the complexity of the project. Of course, since working here I've changed a lot and become much more calm, more focused and concentrated on the small things. The worst thing is when a colleague does not know how to communicate with me properly, and this is where I'm concerned about information which is valuable to the project, and that's an extra effort. Each colleague has his own specific way of speaking and they aren't all the same in communication. With time, I somehow adjusted to them, and they also had to adapt to me, I accepted that this was all normal and there would always be a situation where they couldn't understand, but I'll always ask them to repeat themselves not just twice, but 1000 times!'' concluded Josip.

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Click here for the original article by Ivan Tominac for Poslovni Dnevnik