March the 14th, 2021 - From being one of the best countries in the entire world when it came to handling the coronavirus pandemic to one of the worst and almost back again, it has been a rollercoaster ride for Croatia as the spread of the novel coronavirus and its accompanying variants continues. Despite the much talked about vaccine finally being here, things are not going smoothly in a deeply embarrassing twist for the EU, and the EU vaccine share is leaving Croatia in the lurch.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Republic of Croatia is one of the biggest losers when it comes to the distribution of vaccines within the European Union, ie it is one of the countries that are most deprived of the delivered doses of vaccines in relation to the number of inhabitants, with only Latvia and Bulgaria being worse off than us.

The calculations of well-informed EU officials, who for obvious reasons wished to remain anonymous, show that Croatia would be deprived of almost 150,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine in such a distribution, and the real result of that deep inequality will be seen only in the second quarter, Vecernji list reported. At the same time, some countries are profiting greatly from these strange calculations of doses and arrangements within the Vaccination Steering Committee, a body set up by the European Commission (EC) to help them.

Although EU member states have agreed that the distribution of vaccines is key, in terms of population, which is only fair and correct, the data shows that this principle is not being respected in reality. Croatia, whose population accounts for 0.91 percent of the EU's total population, had received 394,170 doses by March the 9th, which represents a negative trend even at that early stage of the EU vaccine share/rollout.

The delivery rate for each EU country in relation to the number of inhabitants shows that Croatia would be in the red by as much as 27 percent, which - translated into a vaccine - would mean 148,522 doses less than it deserves, according to data collected by EU officials which Vecernji was privy to.

The worst of all is Latvia with a negative rate of 62 percent and a deficit of 158,946 doses, Bulgaria with a minus of 59 percent and less than 545,281 doses, followed by Croatia. At the top of the scale in terms of the EU vaccine share, among the winners, is Malta, which is in the ¨plus¨ with an enviable rate of 155 percent, Germany with 11 percent and Denmark with 10 percent.

The problem of unequal treatment and deviation from the agreement was warned of recently by no less than Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who pointed a finger directly at the Vaccine Steering Committee, boldly and openly calling it "a bazaar where vaccines are traded."

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March the 14th, 2021 - The Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has spoken out against the EU´s unfair vaccination rollout, standing up for the Croatian cause as the country is repeatedly left in the minus in terms of the number of vaccine doses it is owed and deserves.

It has already been noted on several occasions in the Croatian media that Croatia is being left for dust as the vaccine rollout across the bloc continues. The country could have advanced far further than it has now and Kurz has some harsh words for the powers that be in the European Union and the European Commission as he sticks up for the Croatian cause among others, including Bulgaria.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Austrian Chancellor Kurz suddenly convened a press conference recently during which he fiercely criticised the distribution of the vaccine across the European Union, calling out countries who have got it better than others without having a justified reason for it.

He said that if this continues, the vaccination process in the European Union will not be over until the autumn, which would be absolutely dire for Croatia as it relies so heavily on tourism during the warm summer months. He cited Malta as a prime example, which, according to the current distribution rules, will receive three times more doses of the coronavirus vaccine than Bulgaria will by the summer in relation to its number of inhabitants, while the Netherlands will receive twice as many doses as Croatia by the summer, Kurz pointed out.

A clearly disillusioned Kurz warned that if things keep going on this way, some member states will be able to vaccinate their residents long before others, and he has firmly demanded much more transparency from the European Union, as 24sata reported.

Kurz sees the ¨secret negotiations¨ of individual EU member states as the reason for this deeply unfair vaccine distribution. He also called on the European Commission for transparency and asked to find out which countries have signed additional agreements, and why they are deviating from the European goal of the fair distribution of these all-important vaccines.

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March the 14th, 2021 - The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is the biggest global threat to the event and music industry the world has seen. This industry used to bring the tourism-reliant Croatian economy billions in annual revenue, and now that huge drop is being painfully felt.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the pandemic calls into question the survival of the organisation of concerts and music festivals across Croatia, a business that generated at least 4.5 billion kuna in revenue in the years before this crisis struck. In order to enable Croatian residents and the country´s guests to enjoy this very important part of culture in the future, it is necessary to establish a recovery fund in the field of concert activities, warned the Association of Promo Concert Organisers, whose members have not earned income for a year now.

They noted that concerts and music festivals, since the very announcement of the pandemic, were the first thing to be disabled and will more than likely be the very last thing to come back to life. The problem affects not only them, but also a number of other activities that live off the festivals themselves, from companies which deal with renting out professional stage equipment, to travel companies, security companies, hauliers, and even transport logistics. What once brought the Croatian economy billions without the country itself really having to do much now seems a very distant memory indeed.

"In the year dominated by the pandemic, there was no possibility for the safe organisation of concerts or music festivals in the format that audiences and musicians expect and have come to know so well, but professional concert and festival organisers in Europe were preparing to create preconditions for safe concerts and music festivals in the style of the ¨new normal¨, they pointed out from the association which, as part of the European network of professional organisers of concerts and music festivals, worked on the possibilities of the safe holding of concerts and music festivals during the pandemic.

The Promo Association believes that the recovery fund should provide the necessary liquidity incentive to companies in the concert industry of at least 10 percent of the turnover seen back in pre-pandemic, record 2019 so that Croatia does not simply become a concert desert on the European map.

"The main criterion of the recovery fund should be the strengthening of international competitiveness in order to maintain and improve the concert, club and festival scene with both quality and quantity. The recovery fund should keep the jobs of educated professionals in the concert industry and should also help rental companies,¨ they stated from the association and reminded that the vast majority of EU countries have already supported their concert industry throughout 2020 and will continue to do so in 2021. What gave the Croatian economy billions in annual revenue surely deserves the same.

Meanwhile, research is being carried out on measures by which we might be able to safely hold music festivals even in these dire, depressing pandemic conditions, and in addition to vaccines, rapid coronavirus tests are the most important tool, as we wrote recently.

At the level of the European working group, a study was prepared for the safe holding of music festivals, in the preparation of which, in addition to music professionals, scientists also participated. In addition to the study, scientific research has been conducted in Germany and Spain to test the risk of spreading the infection at concerts and festivals indoors, and research is underway in the Netherlands and Israel to confirm the hypothesis of safe large outdoor events. Further research has been announced in Spain, France and Germany with a larger number of respondents in the audience.

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ZAGREB, 13 March 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Saturday that it was good that his cabinet made it possible for cultural institutions to keep open their doors during the COVID pandemic.

While visiting the exhibition about Croatian comic strips in the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb, Plenković said that in the circumstances marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Croatian government had on purpose kept cultural institutions open.

This was beneficial to visitor numbers and eventually to the financial operations of this museum, said Plenković during his visit to the Zagreb-based MSU.

This has been also a contribution to having as normal life as possible despite the circumstances, he said and added that museums and cultural institutions across Europe have been or are still closed.

During the tour of the exhibition, Plenković recalled that some of Croatian comic strip authors gained international reputation.

The MSU says on its web site that the exhibition To Be Continued… Comics and visual culture in Croatia "sets the so-called Ninth Art of comic strips, cartoons and graphic storytelling in its European and international context, bringing together its history, evolution, and canonical authors."

"The exhibition examines the way in which perceptions of comics have changed over time, the role of comics in shaping popular and mass culture, and the professional and personal networks within which comics are created and find their way to the audience."

The exhibition, opened in mid-December, closes on Sunday, 14 March.

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ZAGREB, 13 March 2021 - Croatia has ordered "more than enough" COVID-19 vaccines via the European Commission's centralised system but is faced with late deliveries because manufacturers are not honouring what has been signed, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has told France 24.

He was speaking for "Talking Europe", a programme on French national television, while visiting Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

"We ordered more than enough, but the vaccines are distributed pro rata, that is how much vaccine you ordered from which company."

He said he came to Brussels because Croatia was faced with late deliveries. "That's the main reason I'm here... I insist that what we signed, what we ordered, be delivered."

"I talked about it with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her team. We ordered the vaccine via the centralised system set up by the Commission."

Regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine, Plenković agreed with Rome's decision to block a delivery of 250,000 doses to Australia. He said he supported the Italian authorities' move to send "a concrete signal" to AstraZeneca that "it must honour what has been signed."

That is in no way against Australia, but it's necessary to remind companies that they must adhere to signed agreements, he added.

Since Croatia has vaccinated only 5% of its population and has, alongside France, one of the lowest vaccination rates in the EU, he was asked if he was willing, like Hungary, to buy the Russian vaccine without the approval of the European Medicines Agency.

"Every government must approach with the utmost caution matters concerning public health, people's safety and vaccination. The EMA and the Croatian medicines agency are filters, and experts must help governments make wise decisions. To me as prime minister, public health and the safety and protection of our citizens will always come first."

Regarding the suspension of vaccination with AstraZeneca in a number of European countries due to allegedly serious side effects, including blood clots, Plenković said no such cases had been registered in Croatia.

"We haven't noticed any of the side effects after the administration of AstraZeneca/Oxford that may have occurred in other countries. On the contrary, we believed from the start that this vaccine is good also for our citizens older than 65," he said.

"At this moment, according to the information we have, we have neither reason nor grounds to apply that measure and will continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine," he added.

Speaking of the Commission's proposal to introduce so-called COVID passports, whereby travellers would certify that they are vaccinated or have a negative PCR test, Plenković said it could be part of a strategy to bring tourists back to Croatia.

He said "it could serve as an aid to enable free travel. That's something we should consider."

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ZAGREB, 13 March 2021- In the past 24 hours 823 new coronavirus cases and 23 COVID-19 deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID response team said on Saturday.

The number of active cases is 4,792, including 805 hospitalised patients, 69 of whom are on ventilators, and 18,618 people are self-isolating.

Croatia has registered 250,484 coronavirus cases to date as well as 5,670 COVID deaths and 240,022 recoveries, including 530 in the past 24 hours.

To date 1,422,558 people have been tested for the virus, including 6,230 in the past 24 hours.

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ZAGREB, 13 March 2021 - Despite being more numerous in healthcare, women are not equal in managerial positions and the pandemic has only increased this gap, panels on women and the pandemic, organised by the European Parliament's Croatian office, heard on Friday.

The two panels discussed the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the progress achieved in the fight for gender equality and women's preparedness for a prompt response in crisis management.

The head of the office, Violeta Simeonova Staničić, recalled that in January the European Parliament passed a resolution on gender prospects during and after the pandemic crisis.

The resolution identifies the pandemic's many negative affects on equality, from the rise in domestic violence to unpaid work and layoffs, she said, adding that the resolution contains recommendations to overcome those effects.

Dr. Marina Lampalo of the KBC Zagreb hospital said that although 67% of doctors in Croatia were women, they were not equal in management.

Dr. Vlasta Merc of Zagreb's Dubrava hospital remarked that "we have three men and only one woman" in the national COVID-19 response team.

MEP Željana Zovko (HDZ, EPP) said that at the start of her term, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted on strictly respecting the women's quota but that when it came to management, "the equality target hasn't been achieved yet."

"We are fighting with every means available for women not to be just a service in the future, but absolutely represented in decision making on essential matters," she said, adding that it was essential "that women are protected from violence also in their homes."

The chair of the Croatian parliament's Gender Equality Committee, Marija Selak Raspudić, said women made up 30% of Croatian MPs and that one could not talk about a pay glass ceiling. But, she added, there is a lack of balance within the caucuses, notably in bigger parties, where men are given precedence in addressing the public.

She said men were more exposed to coronavirus because "it's not manly to take care of one's health, which has now landed in women's lap."

MEP Biljana Borzan (SDP, S&D), elected woman MEP of the year in women's rights in 2018, said she was for women's quotas but only for a time, until awareness was raised that women could hold key positions.

Speaking of a directive on women in management boards, she said, "It's been buried in the Council for years. We in the Parliament approved it, the Commission gave the green light, but there is resistance for adopting the directive at European Union level because some member states are against it."

Zagreb Stock Exchange president Ivana Gažić mentioned a European regulation on the women's share in the financial industry adopted after the 2008 crisis. "If financial institutions' management boards are balanced, they act much more cautiously and rationally."

Grozdana Perić, chair of the Croatian parliament's Finance and State Budget Committee, said that as a member of the Croatian National Bank Council she saw that more and more banks included women in management. "The financial crisis showed that men are bigger gamblers, while women want a certain stability and order."

Medeja Lončar, CEO at Siemens Croatia, said surveys showed that since the pandemic the gender equality index had deteriorated.

"It will take 50 years longer because of this crisis to balance relations. We must be more active. The responsibility is on us women, but men should be included too because if we don't talk, we'll never make a step further," she said.

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March the 13th, 2021 - Prof Alemka Markotic, the director of Zagreb´s Clinic for Infectious Diseases, has spoken out about vaccination certificates, negative test documentation and discrimination as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the entire world has been in engulfed in the coronavirus pandemic for a full year now. 120 million people became infected globally, and tragically, more than 2 million and 600 thousand of those people died. Numerous epidemiological restrictions have been introduced that do not allow for the life to which we´re accustomed - people are tired.

The long-awaited coronavirus vaccines that evoke hope have been created and are now being rolled out, but the spread of the novel infection hasn´t stopped. The situation here in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia was discussed on HRT.

Infectologist Dragan Delic called in from the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

"We weren´t ready, all the problems that arrived showed in their worst of forms. We´re now suffering the consequences of some misconceptions that exist,¨ he told HRT.

“The solutions that were implemented weren´t an enjoyable thing to do. It was not the most enjoyable thing to have to do, to have to form Crisis Staff. It’s some weird body made up of doctors, health professionals, economists… Some compromises always need to be made, but there can be no compromise when it comes to medicine and science,¨ Delic said of the situation in Serbia, adding that it was inappropriate for doctors to have to weigh things up between public health and economic consequences.

"There are too many compromises being made, I cannot justify for medical reasons to be suppressed because of something else," Delic said. He noted that the problem is that citizens don´t trust the Crisis Staff, which has not always made the best decisions.

"The dominant variants will be those which are the easiest to cope with if infected, but the virus will be able to spread more easily"

"The virus is going to remain with us, it isn´t going anywhere, and it will try to find a balance. The more easy variants will be the dominant one, but the virus will spread more easily. We have no choice in this, we will become sick. The only question is what the consequences of that infection will be,¨ said Delic at the end, emphasising the importance of the vaccine.

Academician Mirsada Hukic, specialist in microbiology and subspecialist virology, reported from Sarajevo. She said that everything about the pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina is complicated because there is no common approach.

"The situation is very worrying," said Hukic. She added that there is no one institution that deals with the pandemic, so the situation continues to be very confusing.

In neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, 12 mutations of the novel coronavirus have now been isolated, three of which have become dominant, said Hukic.

Vice-dean of the Medical Faculty in Ljubljana, the head of the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Miroslav Petrovec, said that curfew is not popular in Slovenia, but that the movement of people at night should be reduced.

“We have a weekly average of 707 newly infected people, which is not good. We´re the most worried about the new strains of the virus,¨ added Petrovec.

The director of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases here in Zagreb, Prof Alemka Markotic, said that the appearance of mutated strains of the virus has indeed further complicated the situation.

"The British strain has taken over Europe, but it is entering a phase of slower spread now. The South African strain has not yet been detected in all countries, nor has the Brazilian one," explained Prof Alemka Markotic.

"A series of vaccines blocked by other countries did not arrive in Croatia"

The director of KB Dubrava, Ivica Luksic, said that the coronavirus pandemic brought a number of weaknesses up to the surface, but also a few good things. He praised the Ministry and the members of Croatia´s National Civil Protection Headquarters for their diligent work.

“Today, the organisation within hospitals is better, it is now much easier to adapt to the increase in the number of coronavirus patients. Today we´re more equipped and we have a lot of experience underour belts,¨ he said.

Prof Alemka Markotic commented on the situation with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has faced many questions due to some reported side effects.

“It is common for side effects to occur after receiving a vaccination. What is known so far is that one death and one embolism which occured in Austria are not related to the vaccine. You have batches or a series in every production line, it is normal if there is some suspicion about one batch that you stop vaccinating with that batch,¨ she explained.

Prof Alemka Markotic also added that the series that was temporarily blocked by other countries does not exist in Croatia because it never arrived here.

The facilitator asked academician Hukic which vaccine she would prefer. "The best one is the whuch is available, at least to us in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Hukic.

"They are trying to find new drugs, a lot of steps forward have been made. It will serve not only against the novel coronavirus but also against other diseases. We have good experiences with corticosteroids, as well as with plasma, which is now being given at an earlier stage,¨ said Prof Alemka Markotic when asked what drugs are used to treat serious coronavirus patients here in Croatia.

Hukic stated her view in that she is against the introduction of Covid passports. Petrovec disagreed, he advocates the introduction of such passports for vaccinated individuals. Prof Alemka Markotic said that the reality is that there will be certificates of vaccination and coronavirus testing, but that she believes that it will not be discriminatory.

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March the 13th, 2021 - It seems that the state is set to step in after all with intervention aid for a long suffering industry that has been dealt a heavy blow by the ongoing pandemic - Croatian bus companies.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, at a recent session, the Croatian Government accepted the bill on amendments to the Law on Road Transport, which will provide emergency assistance to Croatian bus companies, more specifically those carries which are continuing to uphold and maintain what have now become unprofitable lines.

The Croatian Employers' Association (HUP/CEA) hopes that this bill, which is proposed to be adopted in an urgent procedure, will finally contribute to a faster solution to the burning problem faced by Croatian bus companies/regular carriers performing regular public line passenger transport.

"The current regulation of passenger transport is not sustainable given that public service contracts still haven´t been concluded, and without the adequate regulation of public bus passenger transport, Croatian bus companies maintaining these lines are being threatened with closures and even collapse, which would lead to the loss of more than 7,000 jobs," they warned from HUP.

They added that Croatian bus companies are still waiting for the implementation of the public service contract from way back in May 2018, when the law prescribing it was initially passed.

This non-implementation of that law, they point out, directly affects the collapse of the entire sector of passenger transport when it comes to buses, and without quality transport there can be absolutely no hope whatsoever of any revitalisation of rural areas across the Republic of Croatia.

Therefore, HUP will continue to insist on the urgent implementation of the Public Services Agreement, which has been defined by the Act since back in 2018, in order to prevent more layoffs and the further suffering and potential collapse of Croatian bus companies.

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March 13, 2021 -  There will be one million vaccine doses in Croatia by May 1, says Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. 

Novi List reports that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that there should be around one million vaccine doses in Croatia by May 1, which is somewhat slower than expected, and added that it is a pity that Croatia ordered the most vaccines from AstraZeneca because they have now slowed down delivery. 

"The Government of the Republic of Croatia has so far ordered 6.8 million doses of coronavirus vaccine, and so far about 430,000 have arrived. By May 1, there should be about a million doses of vaccine in Croatia. All this is somewhat slower than expected," Plenković said in an interview with HTV's Dnevnik. 

He also believes that the problems arise in the huge orders that have come to pharmaceutical companies, not only from EU members but also from other countries worldwide.

“After Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson managed to discover the vaccine in record time, that vaccine was approved and started to be produced, the production capacities of such large quantities are not so large that the delivery dynamics would be as fast as we would all like," he said.

He also said that in Brussels, he expressed Croatia's strong interest in accelerating this dynamic because we are a tourist country and a country that wants to enter the tourist season with as many vaccinated Croatian citizens as possible, then also to ensure mechanisms at the EU level to ensure that freedom of movement is made securely.

He also announced that the European Commission would come out next week with a proposal to confirm three categories of citizens - those who have either been vaccinated or have a negative test or have overcome Covid.

Speaking about the distribution of vaccines, Plenković said that since the summer when negotiations with pharmaceutical companies began, Croatia had been gradually receiving signals from the European Commission on negotiations with those companies. During the summer, all available information indicated that AstraZeneca vaccines would be completed as soon as possible and approved as soon as possible, "but then something got complicated."

"At the moment, it is a pity that we ordered the most vaccines from AstraZeneca because they have now slowed down somewhat. However, once it is consolidated, we could get very, very large amounts of AstraZeneca vaccine," he said.

Plenković also commented on the temporary suspension of vaccinating with AstraZeneca after some fatalities were reported once having the jab. A 91-year-old woman died in Croatia after being vaccinated with this vaccine, too. He said that when he saw the news, he immediately contacted the Minister of Health, Vili Beroš, who was in contact with the director of HALMED (Croatian Medicines Agency).

He also stated that according to the data they currently have, there is no causal link between the death of the 91-year-old woman and receiving the vaccine. But, he added, they are still investigating it and will also consult with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to see for certain.

He also said that the AstraZeneca vaccination would not be temporarily suspended at this time, emphasizing that these are decisions that must be made by the experts and that this is not any political voluntarism.

Plenković also said that it was not true that 30 percent of citizens no longer wanted to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca's vaccine due to fear. "As far as I understand from the director of the CNIPH, that is not true," he said.

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