April the 19th, 2023 - In this edition of How to Croatia, I'm going to take you through what you need to do when it comes to applying for and (hopefully) being granted Croatian international protection. This status afford the holder certain rights, so let's delve deeper.

First of all, what is Croatian international protection?

Croatian national protection doesn't really differ all that much from international protection offered by the vast majority of European countries. It is designed to safeguard the rights of refugees and other such groups and individuals who are fleeing war, persecution or unrest. It gives the holder the right to remain in a country without the threat of deportation/repatriation, and seek and be given asylum on the basis of non-refoulement. 

What are the specifics of Croatian international protection?

In the Republic of Croatia, an individual seeking international protection is considered an applicant as soon as they express their clear intention to apply for said status officially. They are considered an applicant until a decision is formally reached by the competent ministry on their application. The ministry which makes these decisions is the same one which deals with all immigration, residence and citizenship affairs - the Ministry of the Interior (MUP). MUP deals with Croatian international protection applications on the basis of what are known as first instance proceedings, after which an administrative dispute can be brought against the ministry's decision in court should the applicant want to appeal a negative response.

What's the difference between seeking international asylum in Croatia and simply entering the country illegally?

While some would argue that there are little to no differences, there are. A person arriving in Croatia illegally who then states their intention to apply for international protection will not face any sort of punishment by the Croatian authorities. However, this is only the case when the said individual has arrived in the country directly from the area they're fleeing from because there is a genuine risk to their wellbeing or life should they be forced to return to their country of origin. They also need to have justified reasoning for their illegal entry, and should that be accepted, they then must apply for Croatian international protection as soon as possible after having arrived. 

It is important to note that the individual in question's suffering, persecution or threat to their wellbeing or life must fall within what the Geneva Convention considers said situations to be.

How is an application for Croatian international protection lodged with the authorities?

Upon arriving at the Croatian border, an individual seeking Croatian international protection can make their intentions known to the border police. It can also be lodged at the following locations:

At any administrative police station

At any police station which may or not may otherwise deal with administrative issues

at an Asylum Seeker's Reception Centre

What rights are afforded to those who are granted Croatian international protection?

Upon expressing their intention to apply for international protection, an applicant is permitted to stay in the country until a decision is officially reached by MUP. After the application is completed, the applicant will be given a special card which will serve as proof of their status in the country. 

The procedure for international protection will see the applicant and their family members (if applicable) housed in an Asylum Seeker's Centre. Their family members are also entitled to remain in Croatia if the individual who applies for international protection is granted that status. During their stay in the aforementioned centre, their needs will be provided for, this includes: food, drink, hygiene products, toiletries, healthcare, financial aid (in some cases, see caveats below for more information), Croatian language classes and more. This even extends to sport and other activities.

What are those who are granted Croatian international protection entitled to?

Those who are successful in being granted international protection in Croatia have certain rules that they must follow in order to be afforded the rights this status provides them with, so I'll go through them first. If a person is granted asylum, they must respect Croatian law and the Croatian Constitution, undergo a medical examination, agree to have their identity checked and confirmed, they must fully cooperate with what the government and the authorities ask of them, follow the rules of the centre they're being temporarily housed in, present themselves when the ministry asks them for interviews, report any changes to their address after leaving the centre. They must also not leave Croatia while their request for international protection is being decided upon. This can, in some cases, also refer to their movement within Croatian borders. If any limits on movement have been imposed for whatever reason, they must not break those rules.

Rights:

Once a person has been granted Croatian international protection, they are free to do the following:

They are free to practice their religion as they wish (within the boundaries of the law).

They are entitled to access public healthcare on the same basis as a Croatian national or resident.

They can access legal counselling due to their situation.

Should children be involved, primary and secondary education is given on the same basis as it is given to other children in Croatia. Said children can also be appointed a trained guardian.

They can have the procedures surrounding their asylum application and status dealt with and expressed to them in a language of their choice.

If a formal decision on their application for international protection hasn't been reached by MUP within nine months of their application, an asylum seeker is entitled to take up lawful work. This can only occur if the delay in MUP giving a decision in response to their application isn't their fault.

Caveats:

As MUP explains, if applicants for Croatian international protection already earn an income which exceeds the Croatian minimum wage, they will not receive the aforementioned financial aid and will be expected to cover their expenses during the time spent at the Asylum Seeker's Centre themselves, either partially or entirely depending on the situation at hand. 

Financial aid will also not be provided to those who are employed and have sufficient income to allow a fair standard of living.

If an applicant has the financial means, they are free to live at any address in Croatia instead of the aforementioned centre at their own expense. This can only be done after being given explicit permission from MUP to do so.

For more on moving to, living in and travelling in Croatia, make sure to keep up with our dedicated lifestyle section. An article tackling anything from a specific administrative issue to tips on renting a car or bringing your pet into the country is published every Wednesday as part of our How to Croatia series.

February the 22nd, 2023 - I've covered what you need to do to get temporary residence as both a third country national (a person who doesn't hold the citizenship of a European Economic Area country), and as an EEA citizen. In this article, I'll delve deeper into what you need to do to get temporary Croatian residence approved if you're a third country national who already has permanent residence in an EEA country.

Is a third country national who already has permanent residence in another EEA country treated differently when applying?

Short answer - yes. Long(er) answer - the case of a third country national who has already been approved and holds the status of a permanent resident in another EEA country (not Croatia) is treated slightly differently to that of a third country national who doesn't have permanent residence in another EEA country.

Croatian law is a fascinating thing. There is a rule created for just about every possible conceivable circumstance, no matter how specific. There are also ten clerks who can’t interpret it, but that’s some humour best left for another time. This one is fairly simple.

If you're a third country national who has been granted permanent residence in another EEA country, you can apply for short-term stay under the following rules, and by providing the same documents as listed below, meaning that you can stay in Croatia until the expiry of the visa or the residence card issued to you by the EEA country which has approved your permanent residence in that country, and for a maximum period of three months from the date of your initial entry into Croatia.

Here's what you'll need when applying for temporary Croatian residence:

Your birth certificate.

A copy of your birth certificate.

A valid passport.

The permanent residence card issued to you by another EEA country

A scanned copy (it's wise to make several copies), of the photographic ID of the page with your details in your passport and the permanent residence card issued to you by another EEA country

A colour 35x45mm photograph (passport style, not passport size - MUP will either take your photo there and then or direct you to a nearby place to have it done to the correct measure).

Proof of health insurance

Proof of funds to sustain yourself for the foreseen length of stay in Croatia (this can be proven with a printed statement from the bank showing and attesting to the amount in the account).

Proof of the justification of the reason behind your request for temporary residency.

Proof of having housing (this can be proven in several ways, either with a notarized rental contract, proof of home ownership, or having your landlord or whoever you're staying with come with you in person).

In some cases, a police clearance certificate from the applicant's home country is required, however, this is not always asked for, so make sure to ask if you need this beforehand!

The documents submitted with the correct form you must fill in from MUP must be either originals, or certified copies. These foreign documents are usually required to be translated (with a certified translation) into the Croatian language. The documents must not be older than six months.

Just as with the normal procedure, if you intend to stay longer than three months (before the expiration of the visa or residence permit from another EEA country) you can apply for a temporary residence permit at your local police station in Croatia, or in the Croatian consulate of the EEA country which approved your permanent residence there.

Caveats

If you're successful, you'll be given a biometric residence permit proving your Croatian temporary residence.

As a third country national who has been granted temporary Croatian residence, members of your family can also be granted temporary Croatian residence for the purpose of family reunification, if that family member also holds a valid residence permit in another EEA country, or if they've been resident in a shared household with you, as a third country national, in the EEA country in which you hold permanent residence.

Family members in this case are spouses and partners, underage biological children and underage adopted children.

Unlike in the case for EEA citizens, for third-country nationals (and yes, that includes those who hold permanent residence in another EEA country), it can take a while before you hear of the outcome of the Ministry of the Interior's decision when it comes to the application you've submitted, and you might need to follow up to see how things stand. Don't worry if you don't hear much, but do make sure to follow up. Ask questions if you're unsure, no matter the attitude of the person answering, and seek a second opinion should you feel the need to do so. 

You can email MUP in Zagreb at any time, responses might not be quick, but you'll get one eventually in any case: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Keep up with our How to Croatia, Moving to Croatia and Living in Croatia articles by following our dedicated lifestyle section.

February the 17th, 2023 - The European Commission (EC) has submitted two lawsuits against Croatia to the EU courts for failing to implement waste directives. Hungary and Portugal also have cases against them.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, on Wednesday, the European Commission submitted two lawsuits against Croatia to the EU courts, one for not transposing the directive on energy from renewable sources, and the other for not complying with an earlier court ruling regarding an illegal landfill in Donje Biljane (close to Benkovac).

On that same day (Wednesday) as part of the package of violations of European Union law for this month, the European Commission referred to the lawsuits against Croatia, as well as to those cases against neighbouring Hungary and also Portugal with a request to impose financial sanctions for not transposing the EU Directive on energy from renewable sources into the national legislations of those member states.

The EU member states in question, including the Republic of Croatia, were all obliged to transpose the directive by June the 30th, 2021, but Croatia, Hungary and Portugal have not yet duly reported on the specific transposition of all of the necessary provisions of the aforementioned EU-wide directive into their national legislation.

The European Commission thus decided to re-refer the lawsuit against Croatia because it has failed to fully comply with the Court's judgment from back on May the 2nd, 2019. It found that Croatia failed to fulfill its obligations from the Framework Directive regarding waste in connection with the illegal landfill close to Benkovac referred to above.

Around 140,000 tonnes of residue from ferromanganese and silicomanganese processing since way back in 2010 have been dumped directly in this illegal waste dump, less than 50 metres from the houses themselves. The court confirmed that the stone aggregate dumped there should be considered waste, and not a mere by-product.

The court further established that the waste must be managed in a way that does not endanger people's health or cause damage to the surrounding environment. In addition to the two lawsuits against Croatia, the country also received a few more official warnings, which is the first step in procedures initiated against European Union member states.

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

January the 16th, 2023 - Zagreb Airport military mobility is set to be strengthened with a generous four million euro cash injection from European Union (EU) funds.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the European Union recently approved more than four million euros from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) fund for military mobility to finance the reconstruction of maneuvering areas to improve the civil-military operability of Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman International Airport.

As announced by the Ministry of Defence, Zagreb Airport military mobility is going to be boosted after the airport submitted its project to an EU tender. One of the conditions for obtaining the aforementioned funds was the support of the Ministry of Defense in the form of an explanation of the usefulness of the project for the Croatian Armed Forces.

The Zagreb Airport military mobility project includes the reconstruction of parts of the driving track, the replacement of various pieces of electronic equipment and installations, and the replacement of part of the vertical signaling on the maneuvering surfaces. Defense Minister Mario Banozic also pointed out that the goal of the project, among other things, is to strengthen interdepartmental cooperation in the context of the construction of civil-military transport infrastructure.

"The approval of financing from EU funds confirmed the value of this project, as well as the importance of cooperation between military and civilian institutions. I believe that we will continue on this path and with this same level of intensity," said Banozic.

The call for improving overall Zagreb Airport military mobility under the CEF instrument was announced back in May 2022, and in the sense of the wider military mobility project at hand, 63 applications from all over the EU worth more than 1.5 billion euros were received, of which 35 were approved, totalling a whopping 616 million euros.

Back in 2022, the Ministry of Defense, in cooperation with other competent central bodies of the state administration, adopted the Military Mobility Plan, where one of the goals was to strengthen interdepartmental cooperation and prepare projects for possible co-financing from the EU financial envelope for military mobility for the construction of civil-military transport infrastructure.

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

December the 31st, 2022 - The Croatian kuna is set to enter the history books tomorrow, after being in use since May 1994 in its modern (current) form. As we prepare to bid farewell to the Croatian national currency, let's look back on its history.

Subdivided into those irritating little lipa coins, 100 of them to be exact, the Croatian kuna (coded as HRK) is minted at the Croatian mint and sent out into the country by the Croatian National Bank (CNB). The design of the Croatian kuna banknotes were by Vilko Ziljak and Miroslav Sutej, and the first series of these banknotes were dated on October the 31st, 1993. There was once even a five kuna note, which has been withdrawn since 2007.

Meaning marten (a mink type creature), the kuna's roots go back to the exchanging of marten pelts (furs, skins) back in medieval times as a form of payment for goods and services. Lipa, those small silver and golden coins which end up in everyone's back pockets and left on cafe tables because nobody really knows what to do with them, draw their name from the linden tree. These trees were planted in and around Croatian market places during the early modern period.

A brief look into the deeper history of the kuna reveals the importance of martens and their pelts back during, you guessed it, Roman times, where these pelts were collected as a form of tax. These pelts were sought after and carried a very high value, and the Croatian word, marturina, comes from precisely this. Foreign currencies and means of trade and payment were in use across Croatia for many years, but by the time 1939 rolled around, the Banovina of Croatia planned to introduce its own currency alongside Yugoslavia's dinar. A couple of years later in 1941, under Ustasa rule as the Independent State of Croatia, the Croatian kuna was born, then called the Independent State of Croatia kuna. This was the means of payment in Croatia until 1945, when it was replaced with the dinar.

Fast forward to the turbulent 1990s, Croatia was engulfed in the strife of the breakup of the well and truly failed experiment of Yugoslavia and the Croatian War of Independence broke out (Homeland War/Domovinski rat). Back then, the Croatian dinar, a somewhat short-lived currency was in circulation here, introduced in 1991 and lasting only until the final month of 1994. Then came the Croatian kuna as we know it, tied to the German mark from the very beginning.

Of course, there were those who weren't fans of calling it the Croatian kuna because the name was coined (no pun intended) by the Independent State of Croatia and was in circulation during 1941-1945, a time many people preferred to try and forget. Other names were suggested as a result, including the banica (the wife of the viceroy) and the kruna (crown). The idea that the kuna would echo back to Ustasa rule and as such be a controversial name was dismissed, and the Croatian kuna remained with its rightful title. 

The CNB's policy was keeping the Croatian kuna's fluctuations with the bloc's single currency stable, as the initial expectations for Croatia adopting the euro officially, which was four years after joining the EU in July 2013, didn't come to fruition.

Croatia adopted the Croatian kuna as we know it today in May 1994, and it has remained in circulation ever since. It will continue being permitted as legal tender until mid January, 2023, but it is officially being scrapped tomorrow, on the 1st of January, 2023, making way for the euro as the country's new currency. Croatia fulfilled all of the many requirements for Eurozone entry this year, being given the green light not only for Eurozone accession but also for Schengen entry. No country has ever managed to enter both at the same time, on the very same day.

For some, the loss of the Croatian kuna marks a loss of identity and hard-won monetary independence, and for others, the introduction of the euro means more financial and economic stability, less people who have taken out loans being victims of exchange rate fluctuations, and more protection during crises. Whichever camp you fall into, Croatia abandoning the kuna for the euro is certainly an enormous moment in history for the little country that not only could, but consistently has, in the face of whatever has been thrown at it.

For more, check out our politics section.

December the 17th, 2022 - With Croatian Eurozone accession now less than one month away, just how long will Croatian gift cards expressed in kuna, soon to be an invalid currency, remain valid following the introduction of the euro?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, N1 recently looked into a reader's inquiry about the validity of Croatian gift cards expressed in kuna, which will be scrapped as legal tender of January 2023. In several large retail chains operating across the country, the situation with Croatian gift cards whose value is expressed in kuna has been clarified.

People are busy collecting all of the many coins they still have lying around the house, in old trouser and jacket pockets and under sofa cushions, others are trying to locate that old sock with a few balled up notes in it to be deposited into their bank accounts before Croatia switches to the euro. Many forgot about gift cards, and some have been worried about the deadline in which they have to spend the amount expressed in what will soon be the old currency on those Croatian gift cards. Retailers have stated that there is nothing to worry about and that everyone will have plenty of time to spend them.

"The Konzum gift card, for example, will be able to continue to be used after January the 1st, 2023, and the remaining amount on the card will automatically be converted into euros," Konzum stated.

The situation is similar in the case of gift cards issued in kuna by Lidl.

"The deadline for using the amount on Lidl gift cards is three whole years. All Croatian gift cards on which employers have paid out Christmas bonuses to their employees in kuna, as well as kuna gift cards that customers will be able to buy in Lidl until the end of the year, will simply be converted into euros as of January the 1st, 2023, so customers will be able to use them to make legal payments in Lidl stores even after the introduction of the euro as Croatia's official currency," Lidl explained.

For more, check out our dedicated news section.

December the 7th, 2022 - On Thursday, the Croatian Schengen entry decision will finally be made. Croatia has fulfilled all requirements and Schengen countries have all said they have nothing against the accession, despite a bit of confusion having been caused by nearby Austria, which has since been cleared up. Long queues at the land borders will become a thing of the past if we're given the green light.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the ministers of justice and interior affairs of the member states of the European Union are set to meet on Thursday to decide on Croatia's admission to the passport-free Schengen zone, which enables the free movement of more than 400 million people.

One of the most contentious points was Croatia's ability to police the EU's longest external land border, at a time when migration remains a key challenge, AFP said in its analysis. On top of that, Croatia's request for membership in the Schengen area back in 2016 also came at a very sensitive time for Europe.

Millions of migrants, many having fled from various conflict zones, have risked their lives since 2015 trying to enter the EU illegally, and then the global pandemic broke out in 2020. Both of these crises forced Schengen countries to reintroduce certain border controls despite being a zone of so-called ''free movement''.

If Croatian Schengen entry is granted tomorrow – potentially alongside Bulgaria and Romania – the kilometre-long lines of vehicles at the Bregana border crossing with Slovenia that we all know (and loathe) will finally become a thing of the past. Bregana is otherwise one of the 73 land crossings on the Croatian border with Slovenia and Hungary that will cease to exist if the green light is given.

"On January the 1st, 2023, we will remove those barriers and border traffic will flow freely," Zoran Niceno, head of the Border Administration, told AFP. At Croatia's airports, the change as a result of Schengen entry will take effect on March the 26th only, due to technical requirements which don't need to be assessed at land borders.

Croatia hopes that Schengen membership will strengthen its lucrative tourism industry, which is already booming, with less waiting around and passport checking to consider for all those coming from other Schengen countries.

"International carriers will be delighted," Vladimir Jurcec from the national association of road carriers told AFP, and abolishing border checks will save them six to ten hours a week.

On January the 1st, 2023, Croatia will also scrap the kuna and adopt the bloc's single currency (the euro) with its official accession to the Eurozone, which despite controversies and varying opinions, will also work to make life much easier when it comes not only to tourism but to residents of this country with loans, as they will no longer be vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations.

For more, make sure to check out our news section.

November the 26th, 2022 - Despite claims to the opposite, Austria has recently cleared up the fact that it will not be standing in the way of the planned Croatian Schengen entry at the beginning of 2023, citing complaints with Schengen expansion in general, and not merely about Croatian accession. Germany, however, might throw a spanner in the works yet.

As Ines Sabalic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Austria will not prevent Croatian Schengen membership from going ahead, and neither will Sweden, which had also threatened to do so in the past. But Germany could.

There is a high chance that Croatian Schengen entry will go ahead without much fuss, but a last-minute issue is also possible. At the moment, in all the Schengen capitals that are being asked about Schengen, Zagreb, the responses are positive to Croatian entry. However, it's not over yet, because there can be unpleasant surprises where you least expect it, and some last minute problems, so we've heard, do indeed exist.

Schengen is much more than free border crossings and data exchanges, which, along with Eurozone entry in January 2023, is a question of confirming political identity for Croatia. For large member states and countries close to the center of the EU, identity is self-evident. For the Scandinavians, the EU is a rational choice. The British refused it for a multitude of reasons. It is crucial for Croatia and this confirmation would have a beneficial effect.

Over in Germany, a key part of the ruling coalition is the Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grunen), and their reaction to Croatian Schengen plans is unpredictable. If they decide to make a fuss at the last minute, Scholz's government and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser will not be able to support Croatia's entry. It's more than likely that everything will be fine, but it ain't over until the fat lady sings, as they say in Britain.

Previous negative indications from some countries to Croatian Schengen entry were motivated by internal political demands and disagreements. An example of that can be found in Sweden, where two completely different parties, the Swedish Democrats, and the Social Democrats, demanded all three countries (Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania) be stopped form enteting. The far-right Sweden Democrats are against it, and the Social Democrats ask "What benefit does Sweden have from the entry of Croatia into Schengen?". At the same time, Ylva Johansson, Commissioner of the European Commission (EC) for Internal Affairs, whose responsibility includes Schengen, is a Swedish socialist herself.

As things stand now, the problem with the Swedes has been solved, that is, Sweden confirmed once again in Brussels that it will give passage to Croatian Schengen entry without causing any issues along the way.

The same is true in nearby Austria, despite recent issues the media has cited. There, the party in power, the OVP, is nervous because the public's trust in the party's good handling of the migrant issue has long-since dried up, and nostalgia has grown (according to polls reported by Der Standard) for Sebastian Kurtz, who advocated a hard-line migration policy for Austria. The threats against Croatian Schengen entry were aimed at increasing and consolidating support among VP voters, but the main issue is, as stated, Schengen itself, and not merely Croatia entering it.

The main reason for the increased number of migrants in Austria is that people simply come, pass through Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Croatia, and are directed to the northwest, towards "real" Europe. Many member states, such as Austria in this case, probably imagine Croatia as a kind of European Union military frontier, a border area that was once defined by Maria Theresa as a defense zone against the expansion of Turkey, and which later grew into a Habsburg war province.

Quite simply, the Austrians want fewer migrants or at least effective control of who enters and when. Their issue is with Schengen simply ''not working'', to quote one Austrian minister. At the same time, in these same member states, coalition or opposition parties on the left demand respect for the human rights of migrants.

The parties of the left, and especially the Greens, also understand the border areas in a better way, and what they demand is an individualised approach to migrants, so that one of the fundamental values ​​on which civilisation rests, namely respect for human rights, is not compromised. Recently, the Greens in the European Parliament also voted in favour of admitting Croatia to Schengen, because the argument of the right to enter, and for equal rights for all, prevailed in the end.

At the same time, many MEPs, and especially the German Greens, continue to show great dissatisfaction with the violation of human rights at the borders. There, the petition "Europe, stop paying for pushback" was recently launched, in which, along with Croatia, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Spain and Slovenia are all criticised for being verbally and physically violent towards potential asylum seekers, and resorting to violent measures of rejection (pushbacks).

The Greens are a complex party, and the only one among the major parties in all of the European Union that has a deeply idealistic vision, which is largely channeled into mainstream politics, and a smaller but highly visible part into activist actions. 

The lens through which these two opposing political formations see the incidents at the European Union's external borders with migrants is different. The only thing in common is that both are dissatisfied with the European Commission. Some, like the OVP, and we've seen this from the remarks made by the Austrian Minister of the Interior Karner, criticise the too lenient approach of the Commission regarding the asylum policy and Schengen, while the German Greens criticize Frontex, the European agency that is at the external borders and helps the national border police in their work.

These members are dissatisfied, they want something from Greece, which they constantly criticise, and also from Croatia, which would like to enter Schengen, but what do they want exactly? What kind of border area should Croatia be? Should there be a military landscape at all? Nobody seems to have much of an idea. However, it will be necessary to have a long, hard think about what the Croatian borders, the EU's external ones, will look like following Schengen entry in 2023.

For more, make sure to keep up with our news and politics sections.

November the 25th, 2022 - The Croatian Modepack company is set to cash in and increase its income on the mere change of the country's currency from the kuna to the euro as of January 2023.

As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, with an investment of 63 million kuna in their new plant in Velika Gorica near Zagreb, the Croatian Modepack company has recently rounded off its strategic efforts to double its capacity conceived in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, when the demand for their range of courier and security packaging on the global market exploded.

As explained by Jure Siric, director and owner of the Croatian Modepack company, the projections were that the investment, which was supported by the European Union (EU) from its funds in the amount of 7.5 million kuna, would amount to 50 million kuna. However, the drastic increase in the prices of raw materials and goods, as well as rising labour force costs, raised the total investment amount by about 15 percent.

"Given the fact that it's a large space, a building of 5,500 square metres and a plot of land spanning 32,000 square metres, further expansion is also possible. 2/3 of the total investment has already been invested in equipping production. This enabled us to increase our production capacity by approximately 100%, which in practice would mean 300 million pieces produced per year. Further planned investments, such as that intended for solar panels, will make us completely self-sufficient in terms of electricity, which is the only energy we use in the production process," Siric revealed.

Although the foreign market is their main focus, this yea,  suddenly there was a great demand for their products right here in Croatia as well. The reason is the introduction of the euro, that is, the withdrawal of kuna from circulation as the nation's currency.

"We knew that this represented a big opportunity for us, that there would be a lot of work, but what happened in the last weeks was far beyond that. We prepared well and consulted all potential clients. We estimated that we could achieve a turnover of around one million euros on this. Interest was weak until October, when everything exploded and everyone needed our safe packaging for money transfers - banks, Fina, shops, etc. We're very flexible and, thanks to this new facility in Velika Gorica, we've started with the production of this assortment in three shifts. Our current estimates are that our planned turnover on packaging for the collection of kuna and the distribution of euros across Croatia will increase from one million to at least two million euros," explained Siric.

The Croatian Modepack company has otherwise recorded double-digit growth since its very foundation, and that trend has only continued this year, when they expect about 75 million kuna in revenue, which is about 30 percent more than the 53 million kuna they earned last year. Their plans for the next three years are even more ambitious, by 2025, the plan is to achieve 150 million kuna (20 million euros) in revenue.

The opening ceremony of their new plant, where eight production lines will be installed for the time being, was an opportunity for the Croatian Modepack company to present its modernised logo adapted to the global market, from which they generate more than 90 percent of their revenue.

"This seemed like an excellent timing for this move. Modepack always strives to be up to date even now, after six years, and we wanted to modernise everything together. Through this process, we were guided by the backbone of our business: the product - people - production - the planet. The goal we set when creating a new brand was to strengthen our position on the market through clear and consistent communication. Amazon, H&M, Vans, Adidas, DHL, DPD, Loomis, numerous European financial institutions as well as the Antwerp Diamond Exchange (AWDC) are just some of the many users of the company's courier and security packaging.

Although we've only been present on the market for six years, Modepack is already one of the global leaders in the production of high-quality packaging for the logistic transport of goods, with an emphasis placed on e-commerce and courier deliveries, as well as security packaging for money and valuables. We export to 32 world markets,'' Siric explained, adding that Modepack was created based on the assessment that e-commerce would become a reality very soon, and this happened much earlier than expected. This was especially pronounced during the coronavirus pandemic, when e-commerce grew at triple-digit rates.

"I'm not a complete stranger within this industry because I come from the Weltplast family company, which has been involved in packaging and recycling since back in 1983, and since 2010, I've been in charge of sales for the EU market. However, it's a large company that generally deals with packaging and all of the raw materials for it, and my desire was to step into something new and a bit different. I don't think I made a mistake in doing so,'' said Siric, whose company occupies an increasingly large part of the global market, and currently their main focus is Scandinavia and France, where they were present at a large specialised fair this week.

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

October the 6th, 2022 - Brand new Croatian euro coins will be made available for both people and business entities to purchase as of the 1st of December, 2022 as official Croatian Eurozone accession is set to occur on the 1st of January, 2023.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, approximately 420 million Croatian euro coins with national motifs weighing as much as 3.7 tonnes are currently being produced, and they will be offered to all people and business entities from December the 1st, 2022.

The one euro coin features the image of a wood marten, which is an animal similar to a ferret or mink and which is the name of the current Croatian currency (the kuna), the two-euro coin is decorated with a geographical map of the Republic of Croatia, the 50, 20, and 10 euro cent coins feature the image of Nikola Tesla, while the 5, 2, and 1 euro cent coins feature the letters H (for Hrvatska/Croatia) and R (for Republika/Republic) written in Glagolitic script, the oldest known Slavic alphabet, according to a report from Danica.

The Croatian National Bank (CNB) explained that all of the necessary quantities of Croatian euro coins with the aforementioned features will be minted by December the 1st this year. They will be sorted into 1.2 million packages for people to purchase and 200,000 packages for business entities to purchase.

Therefore, from the very frist day of December this year, people will be able to purchase a maximum of two packages containing 33 different Croatian euro coins worth 13.28 euros at the Croatian National Bank, as well as from branches of Fina and Croatian Post (Hrvatska posta). Each package will cost 100 kuna.

For more on Croatia's upcoming accession to the Eurozone, make sure to keep up with our dedicated politics section.