ZAGREB, March 25, 2020 - The Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Gordan Jandroković, announced on Wednesday he would request an opinion of the Constitutional Court on "restrictions of civil liberties" imposed as part of efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I will request an opinion of the Constitutional Court on whether we should apply Article 17 of the Constitution, meaning that the Croatian Parliament should decide by a two-third majority on restricting certain freedoms, or we can do so by directly applying Articles 16, 32 and 50 concerning freedom of movement and freedom of enterprise without Article 17," Jandroković told the press after a meeting of the Parliament Presidency.

He said that after the Court gives its opinion, he will organise a vote. "Protecting the health and lives of citizens is of paramount importance, but freedom, democracy and rule of law must also be taken into account," he added.

"Parliament is extremely important right now because it is a guarantor of democracy and rule of law. We are a law-making body and must insist on this for as long as necessary," Jandroković said.

He said that parliamentary debates will be shortened, each parliamentary group will have ten minutes to present its view on an item on the agenda and each MP will be allowed to take the floor for five minutes. Voting will be conducted by rotating groups of not more than 50 MPs.

Jandroković said that Parliament would sit in the old headquarters of the INA oil company until the quake-damaged Parliament building was repaired.

More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

March 25, 2020 - The results are in for the first-ever TCN survey - how do you feel about the three questions below?

Longterm followers of TCN will know that I am technically challenged, and all these new gadgets and social media platforms frighten the hell out of me. 

I like to pretend that I am progressive, but as my much younger colleagues will happily tell you, I am something of a dinosaur when it comes to change. But I am trying. 

Recently, I have started working with some very clever chaps in order to bring TCN more into the 21st century as a news platform, and I have been hearing phrases such as 'audience engagement' a lot. It has been quite the learning experience. 

And so I agreed that we should try a few experiments, to see what our readers did - and did not - like. 

One of the first things we decided to try was our very first TCN survey, choosing three topical subjects, in order to gauge the mood and opinions of our dear readers. In these troubled times, there has been a lot of reporting, but no time to find out how people are reacting to the new realities. 

You may have noticed the survey at the end of some TCN articles over the last week, and are grateful to the more than 700 of you who took part in the survey. Smallish numbers, but a solid start, and we will continue with the survey and report back in a week or so with any changes. I suspect the numbers in Question 3 of the TCN survey will look a little different as time goes on and we all go slowly nuts. 

Question 1 in our TCN survey - what are you more worried about - the health threat of coronavirus, or the economic impact?

Interesting answers, and again one to monitor as infections rise.  

The big unknown - how will the tourist season be affected in Croatia? We will have a big article on this topic later on TCN (and I will link to it here). Are people cancelling or postponing, or delaying that decision.  

And finally, how is your self-isolation going on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being excellent?

I wonder how that will change in a week... 

If you have time and interest, take the survey below and we will publish an update in a week or so. 

And we also invite contributions to the most innovative self-isolation videos in Croatia, with the aim of creating a lighter-hearted mood. Our first contribution is the video below, which we recommend you watch with sound for best effect. 

Have one to contribute? Send to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Subject Video. 

 

As Index writes on the 25th of March, 2020, after the announcement of measures to assist the economy and subsequent public appearances by Croatian Economy Minister Darko Horvat and many relevant experts, Glas Poduzetnika (Voice of Entrepreneurs) officially requested the dismissal of Minister Horvat and the establishment of an Economic Crisis Headquarters this morning by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

''Dear Prime Minister,

The Voice of Entrepreneurs initiative has brought together more than 60,000 entrepreneurs and our employees, business owners and freelancers in just a few days.

We've been communicating for a week now that we believe the measures taken to help the economy are insufficient and will result in a wave of dismissals. You can see from yesterday's and today's media reactions that we were right.

By adopting these measures, Minister Horvat has rejected the proposal of our initiative, all relevant business associations and experts on the necessity of tax and contribution write-offs, [this has been coupled] with inappropriate public statements, showing that he isn't competent to manage his department in a crisis and that he doesn't represent the interests of the Croatian economy and society in full. We need a Minister who will stand up for businessmen in the same way that Minister Beros stands up for health.

We hereby request that you immediately dismiss Minister Horvat, appoint a competent Croatian Economy Minister and urgently establish an Economic Crisis Headquarters, which must include representatives of entrepreneurs and the economic profession,'' the letter to Prime Minister Plenkovic states.

Within three months, more than 700,000 people across Croatia could lose their jobs.

As a reminder, the Croatian Government presented measures to assist the economy recently, which were met with an array of negative reactions from entrepreneurs at a press conference, who have claimed that the burden of the ongoing coronavirus crisis is falling on the backs of companies, many of which are already looking bankruptcy in the eye thanks to the current work ban.

According to estimates from the Voice of the Entrepreneurs initiative analytics team, 185,000 jobs are already in jeopardy across Croatia at the moment, and that figure could exceed 700,000 within just three months.

A survey of the Voice of the Entrepreneur (Glas Poduzetnika) group - you can follow them here on Facebook - had the follow results to four options asking about Minister Horvat's performance: 

1. Excellent, his new measures are great - 0%

2. He is trying, we need to help him - 1%

3. Just a regular uhljeb - 11%

4. He is incompetent and should be replaced - 88%

Follow our business page for more. For rolling information and updates in English on the coronavirus pandemic in Croatia, stay up to date with our dedicated section.

As Index/Martina Paucek Sljivak writes on the 24th of March, 2020, an emergency medicine specialist from Istria County has created a praiseworthy project that will help many during this coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Srdjan Jerkovic has created a website, Pregledajme.com, to help Croatia's residents make more informed decisions about seeking appropriate medical care, and when and when not to do so.

"Because medical institutions and hospitals may soon become overwhelmed with new cases due to the coronavirus epidemic, this solution can help reduce the burden on the healthcare system. Medical staff are quickly overburdened. Doctors are already busy caring for sick people and are themselves at high risk. The demand for health care services is on the rise, so patient triage is now, more than ever, an important means of guiding patients on what to do when they're not feeling well. This includes coronavirus, but also the more effective triage of patients in general,'' Dr. Jerkovic told Index.

He stated that many lessons learned from past pandemics have shown that pandemics not only kill but also contribute to a significant increase in the number of deaths from other conditions which overburden the health services, not counting those seeking "unnecessary" care.

According to research, pandemics have been shown to increase morbidity and mortality by diverting healthcare resources away from routine care, reducing access to routine care. Diverting resources, medical supplies and staff leads to reduced routine care. Pandemics also limit the ability of individuals to travel for medical care, increasing the number of "anxious" people seeking unnecessary medical care, thus increasing the infection rate of healthcare professionals and increasing the shortage of professionals.

"During the influenza pandemic back in 2009, a greater increase in patient admissions for influenza and pneumonia was associated with a statistically significant increase in the number of deaths attributable to heart attacks and strokes (Rubinson et al., 2013). At the height of the severe flu pandemic, almost 40 percent of healthcare professionals didn't show up for work because they were ill themselves, needed to care for sick family members or care for their children,'' noted Dr. Jerkovic.

Despite all of the above, he has now devised a way to help citizens during the ongoing and severe coronavirus pandemic.

"There are two ways, the first is that we have a ready-made solution that can help patients quickly assess their health risk and get recommendations on the next steps they can take, what to do, and to who and how to report it. The other is a quick and free virtual consultation to keep medical staff in touch with patients, but without direct contact, such as like with a family doctor and a call centre establishment,'' said Dr. Jerkovic.

A developer from Pula has developed an algorithm for detecting coronavirus-induced lung inflammation from a simple lung x-ray.

Both solutions are recommended by the WHO (World Health Organisation) and ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention).

The pregledaj.me service, he says, is constantly being upgraded at his Medicus company and is complemented by additional capabilities.

"It's now mature enough to be shown and made available to everyone. In ten days, we'll also present an online coronavirus risk assessment tool based on the official guidelines established by WHO and ECDC. I'm affiliated with a local artificial intelligence expert, a developer from Pula who has developed an algorithm for detecting coronavirus-induced lung inflammation from a simple lung x-ray in order to offer a solution to anyone who wants it for free,'' he said.

Otherwise, on the Pegledajme.com website, patients who are unwell may type in their symptoms that they have searched for through Google so far, to which they may have received irrelevant and/or confusing information and now no longer know what to do.

"Pregledajme.com is a web based symptom checking service based on artificial intelligence, currently covering about 700 common conditions and diagnoses, over 1250 different symptoms, it can be accessed by computer or smartphone, 24 hours per day. It's fast, free, simple and anonymous.

How does Pregledajme.com work?

After the user enters their symptoms, the Pregledajme.me page asks additional, simple, and relevant questions, and compares the user's answers with thousands of similar cases to help them to identify possible causes and try to explain their symptoms. After checking the symptoms, the system creates - in real time - a complete report that can be downloaded as a PDF file, which shows a list of relevant conditions/diagnoses that could be causing the user's health problems, advises the user what the next steps to take are, and finally directs them to the closest appropriately qualified medical professional, which is based on the results of symptom screening and the geolocation of the users and their nearest healthcare providers,'' Dr. Jerkovic told Index.

He said the service would be beneficial to the community because it would reduce the number of people unnecessarily seeking treatment, and would reduce the morbidity and death rate of individuals who are truly at risk.

"The system was initially designed over a year ago to provide some commercial services, but with the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic I decided to adapt it and give it to everyone for free. Now is the time for mutual assistance and this is my contribution to the community," he concluded.

Make sure to follow Made in Croatia for more Croatian innovation, and stay up to date with our dedicated section for more on coronavirus in Croatia.

Mario Romulic is known as an extremely talented photographer, but that isn't all he does. This artistic eye is also a well known farmer, and he has made a strong case in the face of the coronavirus pandemic for us all to start to try to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on others.

''Produce healthy food for yourself, don't depend on others! Now you can see how important it is to cultivate a piece of land - you'll feel far safer and healthier. Who knows what awaits us, perhaps what's happening is just a warning,'' says famed photographer and increasingly famous farmer, Mario Romulic.

As Agroklub writes on the Mario Romulic is a professional photographer in the field of video and photo production, and he also has his own OPG to which he is increasingly devoted. "I enjoy farming and hope it manages to become my main source of income soon. Currently, it's still mostly coming as a cost to me because it requires constant investment. We produce mostly vegetables, and the motive from the beginning was for my family to live healthily," says Mario Romulic, who processes a surplus of produce to share with friends, and to make some money off his production.

The decision to focus on healthy food production is prophetic at the moment...

I'd be the happiest guy if goods were traded, but under the condition that everyone produces healthy foods. "Commodity exchange makes sense if everything is produced the same way, in this case, in a high quality way. We're based on an organic agriculture, everything is organic and we produce things according to permaculture principles," he describes, adding that this year, he wanted to start cultivating on the principle of biodynamics. He had arranged a visit from Hrvoje Novosel, a biodynamic practitioner, but the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic has of course thrown a spanner in the works.

"The decision to focus on healthy food production is prophetic at the moment. Our plan is to achieve self-sufficiency. We have our own eggs, and soon we'll have fish in the pond so that we have no concern for the future. I'd love for other people to start thinking that way,'' Mario Romulic says as he looks at the plants around him.

"It's all usable, look at this dandelion - it can be used in many ways, from frying it, through syrups to honey. There are no weeds, every herb is useful. We make tea from nettles, not to mention how much we use it for fertiliser. Most people consider a weed to just be a weed, but I don't, I even grow weeds! Without using it otherwise, I can always compost it so it will serve as food for other plants,'' he explains.

I want everyone to get through this difficult time as easily as possible, says Romulic.

Photography is the love of Mario's life. Thanks to his talent with a camera, he travelled all over the world, but then he decided to settle down and put down roots in Baranja, more precisely in Bilje, and create his own little paradise there.

"I'm sorry for the people living in apartments who are now in a very awkward situation. I hope everyone gets through this difficult time as easily as possible, the recent earthquake made it even more difficult for people in Zagreb and its surroundings. To me personally, the situation with coronavirus was almost welcome because otherwise I'd be running around the coast now and taking photos. At the moment, I have a lot of time for myself without any plans, and for the production of food for the family, as well as for others. We have four hectares, which is more than enough for us, so that I can help others out too if necessary,'' notes Mario, who collects waste plant material as well as domestic animal excrement from a neighbouring farm.

What would you tell people in these difficult times?

"If you have the opportunity, go out into nature, pick some wild plants, prepare your organism - purify yourself! There are plenty of onions , it is not hard to recognize, the nettle is a miraculous plant and excellent against this vicious virus. If you can, certainly grow something for yourself. These recommendations are currently harder to implement, perhaps impossible for many, but it's certainly time for people to understand the importance of such a lifestyle, and understand the significance of living in harmony with nature.

Nature gives us everything we need, it's just up to us to take what it provides, but with a deep level of respect. Because it will give us back what it has tenfold depending on the way we treat it,'' he points out, and reminds us of the warnings to keep our distance from each other. Usually in nature there will be enough space for everyone, but we need to stick to the prescribed distance.

"Produce healthy food for yourself, don't be dependent on others! Now, it's important to try to cultivate a piece of land - you'll feel far safer and you'll be healthier. Who knows what is waiting for us around the corner, maybe this is just a warning,'' Mario Romulic warns.

For more on Croatian OPGs, products and companies, follow Made in Croatia. For rolling updates and information on coronavirus in Croatia in English, make sure to stay up to date with our dedicated section.

ZAGREB, March 25, 2020 - The Tax Administration received about 2,000 applications for tax deferral on the day the government put this measure in place, and about 14,000 businesses applied to the Labour and Pension System Ministry for financing of the minimum wage for 71,000 workers, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Tuesday evening.

The two measures, prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, will require at least HRK 5 billion (€65m) for the next three months and this amount was not provided for in the present budget. "But we will secure it," Marić said in an interview with the public broadcaster HRT, adding that reimbursements would start on Thursday.

Asked why the government did not write off tax liabilities, Marić reiterated that businesses would not have to pay their taxes over the next three months, "and what will happen after that, we will discuss in the coming weeks and months."

"We all expect that this will deal a very strong blow to our economy, and given that we don't know how long it will last, we will be adjusting our measures and introducing new ones accordingly," the finance minister said.

More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of March, 2020, the Croatian supercomputer ''Isabella'' has been made available to researchers fighting the world's current coronavirus pandemic. The SRCE (HEART) University Computing Centre, which houses the Isabella supercomputer, called on all researchers to contact them and use their facilities in the fight against the virus.

"Srce would like to invite all researchers and scientists involved in coronavirus pandemic research effort to contact us if they need significant computing power and storage for modeling, simulation or data processing purposes," the university writes.

Isabella is a supercomputer made up of 3,100 processor cores for arbitrary demanding calculations and 12 NVIDIA V100 graphics processors suitable for AI algorithms. In addition, SRCE adds that their HTC Cloud provides 600 processor cores and 150 TB of data storage where arbitrary software systems and applications can be launched in a simple and flexible manner.

"Experts can also support the installation and setup of scientific applications required for research," SRCE noted.

Six years ago, it was announced that by 2020, Isabella would become one of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the whole world. It then had 800 cores and a speed of 10 TFLOPS. At that time, the slowest among the TOP500 of the world's supercomputers was the German Wetterdienst, which had 7280 processor cores and a speed of 133 TFLOPS, while the fastest was the Chinese Tianhe with 3.12 million cores and a speed of 33.8 thousand TFLOPS.

The first major step in building one of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world in Croatia began two years ago, when at the celebration of its fifteenth anniversary, SRCE announced that Isabella would triple its capacity as another supercomputer, VELEbit, joined it.

In the meantime, the title of the strongest Croatian supercomputer was taken by Rijeka's Bura. However, a new supercomputer is being created at the national level in Croatia, which would connect existing supercomputers through the cloud, and this project, called the Croatian Science and Education Cloud, should create a supercomputer with 20,000 processors and 4 petabytes of memory.

For more on Croatian innovation, follow Made in Croatia. For rolling updates and information on coronavirus in Croatia, make sure to stay up to date with our dedicated section.

March 25, 2020 - The Croatian Government has launched an English-language version of its Koronavirus official website. 

The Croatian Government continues to impress with its crisis communications. 

An official information website, Koronavirus.hr was launched a few days ago, in an attempt to coordinate the latest updates, as well as dispense official information. 

The site is updated several times a day, and includes updates on case numbers, as well as a chart monitoring the curve. 

The site has been in Croatian only, but a new English-language section is now available, which will be fantastic news for worried expats, many in the diaspora and others who are not proficient in Croatian. 

You can find the link to the English version of the Koronavirus website here. 

With its regular press conferences and media accessibility of the key managers of this crisis, the official Croatian handling of this crisis - and its handling - has been outstanding after a slow start, and I for one am very grateful for the responsible and decisive approach that is being taken in extremely difficult times. 

In another example of great communication, the Croatian authorities announced a new communications channel via Viber two days ago, which has already attracted more than 400,000 followers. This channel is being used to inform the public of the most important updates and advice. You can follow the coronavirus updates on Viber here.

There are currently 382 cases in Croatia, of which 16 have recovered, with more recoveries set to be announced today. 

You can follow the latest on the COVID-19 situation on Croatia on the TCN live updates article.

For more detailed coverage of coronavirus all over the country, you can find all the TCN articles on the subject in this dedicated TCN section. 

And if I was to recommend one article to read from yesterday's coverage, it would be eminent Croatian scientist Igor Rudan's account no why we MUST all stay home for one month. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 24th of March, 2020, in order to make everyday life easier for Croatia's residents during the ongoing coronavirus epidemic and to help them make sure they leave their homes as little as possible, two major Croatian companies, Podravka and Croatian Post, have joined forces and made online ordering of Podravka's food packages possible, with free delivery.

This package preparation action has been prompted by numerous inquiries from residents across the country about the delivery options for Podravka's products, which are most commonly used in their households and are always in high demand.

Special packages that can now be ordered through the Yellow Click online store for price tags of 500 and 800 kuna, are the products for both adults and kids, and are precisely the ones that are the most wanted from Podravka's range according to available sales data, such as yeast, soups, canned vegetables, canned fish, baby food, dessert products, spreads, etc. These individual product prices are the lowest regular prices on the market, and the packages can be ordered and sent to someone else.

''While the vast majority of residents are now in their homes, our employees are working tirelessly to produce enough food for everyone. In addition, we're putting extra effort into packing and preparing packages which arrive at people's home addresses by mail so that they're able to stay indoors as much as possible. In this way, with our partner Croatian Post, we're supporting the activities of the competent institutions aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus,'' said Marin Pucar, CEO of Podravka.

Ivan Čulo, CEO of Croatian Post, pointed out: ''We feel a duty to help when we have the opportunity. Podravka and the Post Office will jointly provide a great ordering service through Yellow Click for the delivery of food packages. Postmen are always available to people, especially in times of crisis. All of our employees have been provided with protective equipment, extreme care is taken in regard to hygiene and the number of handling of individual shipments is limited. We'll transport the packages in completely safe conditions.''

Make sure to follow our dedicated section for rolling information and updates in English on coronavirus in Croatia.

March 25, 2020 - NK Osijek and Dinamo Zagreb are the first two Croatian clubs to reduce the wages of players and employees during the corona crisis.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and during the corona era, we’ve seen athletes around the world hit hard by the effects of the global pandemic. 

Croatian sport has been on hold since the beginning of the month, which has been especially tough for Croatian football. While HNS announced that the league must end no later than June 28, we’re still unsure of a potential start date, as Croatia is on lockdown until April 19. 

Clubs are struggling to stay alive, and players and employees are the ones having the suffer. 

Namely, the players of NK Osijek were offered a salary cut due to the coronavirus crisis, which they accepted, reports Glas Slavonije.

Thus, the club will reduce salaries by 50%, and 25% will be paid back when they return to the pitch.

They were the first club in Croatia to make this move, which we believe many more will follow to avoid financial problems.

"We were the first to decide on such measures, but I believe that all other clubs will very quickly do the same thing," said Osijek President Ivan Mestrovic.

Of course, this will not be an easy period for footballers and employees alike, but in the long run, this might be the saving grace.

After Osijek, Dinamo became the second Croatian club to reduce costs by reducing player and employee wages due to the coronavirus crisis, reports Nogomet Plus.

Unlike Osijek, whose employees and players will receive 50% lower pay (25% of which are non-refundable) until football resumes at Maksimir, they have opted for even more drastic measures. Namely, employees and players will receive only a third in the next six months - one third will be paid after the start of the competition, and one third will have to be given up permanently.

In its statement, the Dinamo Management stated:

“From the onset of the crisis caused by the Coronavirus - Covid 19, the management of GNK Dinamo has been in constant session and analysis of the consequences of the global crisis that caused the world economy to stall and completely halt our core business in sport. 

The strategy that we have decided to counteract the consequences of this crisis on society as a whole, and in particular on sport and football as its most prominent part, aims at preserving all jobs in Dinamo. This means that we strive to ensure that none of our players, coaches, physicians, physiotherapists, economists, stadium maintenance workers, and club administration are jobless and secure the conditions to live and function in dignity at this globally critical moment.

In order to succeed in this, all the stakeholders of the club must bear the brunt of this crisis, in proportion to their income and the other benefits of playing for and being employed by Dinamo. Considering the uncertainty of the continuation of the competition, the postponement of EURO 2020, the unknown start date of the new season in Croatia and Europe, the unknown about the timing and extent of the summer deadline and the overall economic crisis that has arisen, primarily to preserve the overall stability and liquidity of our club, the management of GNK DINAMO made the following decisions:

Employees earning more than HRK 7,500.00 (average income of the City of Zagreb) will be paid this amount and the difference up to the full amount of the salary as follows:

- one-third of the difference between the average income and the full amount of salary is paid regularly

- one-third will be paid within six months from the date of the first official game of GNK Dinamo

- one-third of the salary will not be paid permanently

- this measure shall be valid until 30 September 2020 and shall enter into force immediately.

2. Players and coaches will be paid as follows:

- one-third of the benefits will be paid on a regular basis

- one-third of the proceeds will be paid within six months of the date of the first official game of GNK Dinamo

- one-third of the benefits will not be paid permanently

- this measure shall be valid until 30 September 2020 and shall enter into force immediately.

3. The next two team preparations will be held in Croatia without going to the usual foreign destinations

4. This year's edition of the Mladen Ramljak Memorial Tournament is completely canceled

5. We continue to take additional measures to reduce all costs other than those necessary for the functioning of the Club

The decision shall take effect immediately. In these moments, we invite all players, coaches and employees to contribute with their positivity and community to the Club to continue its sports success and maintain its status as a leader in the sports excellence of Croatia and this part of Europe.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.