The committee on the internal market and consumer protection of the European Parliament has adopted a law prohibiting sales of apparently same products of different quality in the European Union. This was announced at a press conference by Croatian Member of European Parliament Biljana Borzan. The measure will help protect Croatian consumers, reports Večernji List on January 25, 2019.

“The official position of the European Parliament is that the different product quality in the east and west of the EU must be banned. This is the position to which we have arrived after years of persuasion and explaining! I am delighted with such good results of difficult negotiations. This process has lasted for five years. It is challenging to push a law that nobody wants to happen except you and some of the members from Eastern European countries,” said Borzan.

The committee has adopted the amendment to the so-called blacklist of the directive on unacceptable business practices and has explicitly banned different product quality.

“More than 80 percent of Croatia's citizens believe that large corporations treat us as second-rate citizens. These are the figures I got while doing the first research on product quality in our and German market, which I commissioned together with the Croatian Food Agency. This information meant I had to do something. The European Parliament has adopted the best possible position, despite the difficult negotiations. Now it is up to the Council do to its work, and our government has to play a major role in that,” said Borzan.

The directive stipulates that penalties for producers of double quality products will be up to four percent of their annual turnover. In parallel to the legislative process, the European product quality survey is being conducted, for which funds from the EU budget were also secured by Borzan.

“According to my information, the sample will soon be formed on the basis of the contributions of 19 member states. The first results will be known in a couple of months, and it is possible that the law may be passed before that. This makes the whole issue even more important since first fines are about to be announced,” concluded Borzan.

More news on the activities of Biljana Borzan in the European Parliament can be found in the Politics section.

Translated from Večernji List.

ZAGREB, January 24, 2019 - As part of its monthly package of infringement decisions, the European Commission has initiated legal action against Croatia for failing to comply with EU law.

The Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, is authorised to take legal action against member states for failing to comply with their obligations under EU law. Every month the Commission makes decisions on infringements of EU legislation, and this process begins by sending a letter of formal notice. If the problem is not resolved at this stage, the Commission sends a reasoned opinion, and if the member state fails to act, the Commission refers it to the EU Court of Justice.

On Thursday, the European Commission decided to send a letter of formal notice to 15 member states, including Croatia, requesting the correct transposition of the Energy Efficiency Directive into national law.

The 2012 Directive establishes a common framework of measures for the promotion of energy efficiency within the EU in order to ensure the achievement of the EU's 20% energy efficiency target for 2020 and to pave the way for further energy efficiency improvements beyond that date. Under the Directive, all EU countries are required to use energy more efficiently at all stages of the energy chain, from production to final consumption. The member states now have two months to respond to the arguments put forward by the Commission. If they do not act within those two months, the Commission may send a reasoned opinion to their authorities.

In addition, Croatia and Romania were formally reprimanded for failure to submit progress reports in reaching cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements for buildings and its elements. The Commission decided to refer Czechia and Slovenia to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to comply with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

The Commission took action against 27 member states, all but Denmark, to ensure the proper implementation of EU rules on services and professional qualifications. Letters of formal notice were sent for the non-compliance of their legislation and legal practice with EU rules on the recognition of professional qualifications and the corresponding access to activities.

A supplementary letter of formal notice was sent to Croatia regarding restrictions for lawyers to provide multidisciplinary services, advertising restrictions and limitations on the right to practice (breach of the EU Services Directive and the Directive on the establishment of lawyers and law firms).

The Commission decided to close its infringement procedures which were opened against Croatia, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain over their failure to transpose the first EU-wide legislation on cybersecurity rules into their national legislation. The procedures were suspended after these member states showed that the transposition of the new rules into national law complied with the Directive.

More news on Croatia and the EU can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 24, 2019 - The government on Wednesday launched changes to the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2), dividing Croatia into four statistical non-administrative units which will improve regional aid allocation and ensure better terms for the absorption of European Union cohesion funds.

Another goal is forming as homogeneous regions as possible in terms of development, and the new division will also redress the injustice done in 2012, when less developed parts of the country, notably Slavonia and Baranja, were obstructed in attracting EU funds, said Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Žalac.

The government's decision, under which the country is divided into Pannonian Croatia, North Croatia, Adriatic Croatia and the City of Zagreb, will go into force on 1 January 2023, at the same time as new European regulations, she said, adding that the proposal would be submitted to Eurostat by February 1 this year and that the EU's new financial perspective would be based on the new regulations.

Žalac said that under the current division, the continental region comprises 14 counties and the City of Zagreb and the Adriatic region seven coastal counties.

The counties of the former Pannonian Croatia – five in Slavonia and Bjelovar-Bilogora, Sisak-Moslavina and Karloavac counties – will again make up one statistical region, she said, recalling that these counties were at 40% of the EU development average.

Five counties in north Croatia – Krapina-Zagorje, Varaždin, Međimurje, Zagreb and Koprivnica-Krizevci – make up the third statistical region, while Adriatic Croatia is made up of the seven coastal counties.

The City of Zagreb becomes a separate unit as it has a population of over 800,000 and is the only unit in Croatia whose development is more than 100% above the EU average, and also to prevent its development degree from spilling over to other counties and diminishing their businesses' ability to absorb higher percentages of regional aid.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said Bjelovar-Bilogora County would be part of Pannonian Croatia, although the county said they wanted to be part of North Croatia. He said such a decision was in the interest of all those wishing to invest and create jobs in the county.

He noted that Bjelovar-Bilogora was the eighth most undeveloped county and that it would get higher economic aid. He said the county could intensively cooperate on joint European projects with the northern counties.

More news on the Croatia and EU funds can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, January 23, 2019 - Croatia has great expectations from the proposed InvestEU programme, designed to encourage innovation and job creation in the next seven-year period from 2021 to 2027, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Tuesday.

The InvestEU programme will replace the present European Fund for Strategic Investments, established after the financial crisis, and is an extension of the Investment Plan for Europe, also known as the Juncker Plan.

The new programme combines funding from the EU budget in the form of loans and guarantees. Under a European Commission proposal, a 38 billion euro guarantee would be secured from the EU budget to support strategically important projects across the EU. The Commission expects that the InvestEU fund will encourage further EU-wide investments in excess of 650 billion euro from 2021 to 2027.

Currently there are 14 different investment stimulation instruments, the main one being the European Fund for Strategic Investments, launched in June 2015 and extended in December 2017. "Croatia has by now used up about 250 million euro from the Juncker Plan. We can argue whether this is enough or not, but the fact remains that this 250 million will bring along a further 1 billion euro in investments. We certainly have great expectations from the InvestEU programme too," Marić said.

Marić was attending a meeting of EU finance ministers at which one of the topics discussed was the InvestEU programme.

Marić noted that in Croatia the Juncker Plan had also opened up space for the private sector. "Some of the private companies are successful beneficiaries of the Juncker Plan, which is a sort of invitation to others to join," he added.

Marić emphasised the need for both central and local government "to ease the conditions and not to further complicate the procedures" and to help interested parties in putting together their projects so as to ensure better absorption of EU funding. "That is the only guarantee and prerequisite for Croatia to use more funds from the InvestEU programme and EU funds in general."

Under the proposed InvestEU programme, three quarters of guarantees would be provided by the European Investment Bank and the rest would come from national development banks, or in the Croatian case the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

More news on Croatia and the EU funds can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, January 22, 2018 - The European Union's foreign ministers on Monday discussed an action plan to tackle fake news in the context of perceiving fake news as a challenge in the run-up to the forthcoming European Parliament elections, and Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić said that there were some in Croatia who resorted to fake news in a bid to win a seat in the European Parliament.

"In the context of preparations for countering fake news and in connection with the forthcoming EP elections, it is obvious that the election campaign has already been launched in Croatia and that there are some who use fake news in an attempt to win a seat in the European Parliament," Pejčinović Burić said in Brussels, answering questions from the press.

She also believes that the recent developments and debates in the Croatian parliament should be perceived in that context.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council focused its debate on the prevention of fake news and the influence of third countries on east and southeast Europe and on the EU's southern neighbours, as well as on the EU member-states.

The action plan outlined by the European Commission in December revolves around the exposure of citizens to large scale disinformation, including misleading or outright false information.

The Commission has engaged with all stakeholders to define a clear, comprehensive and broad-based action plan to tackle the spread and impact of online disinformation in Europe and ensure the protection of European values and democratic systems.

"The European Union has outlined an action plan to step up efforts to counter disinformation in Europe and beyond focusing on four key areas. This plan serves to build EU's capabilities and strengthen cooperation between member states by improving detection, having a coordinated response to threats, collaboration with online platforms and industry as well as raising awareness and empowering citizens," according to information on the EC's website.

The Croatian minister said that by March, the EU member-states are supposed to set up national contact points for the exchange of important information.

In the medium- and long-run it is essential to raise awareness of the existence of fake news and to enhance media culture and ways to interpret information and verify it, she added, calling for a broad struggle against this phenomenon.

More news on the elections for the European Parliament in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 21, 2019 - The government debt to GDP ratio fell in the European Union in the third quarter of 2018, and Croatia was among the countries with the largest decreases both month on month and year on year, according to data from the EU statistical office Eurostat released on Monday.

"At the end of the third quarter of 2018, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA19) stood at 86.1%, compared with 86.3% at the end of the second quarter of 2018. In the EU28, the ratio decreased from 81.0% to 80.8%. Compared with the third quarter of 2017, the government debt to GDP ratio fell in both the euro area (from 88.2% to 86.1%) and the EU28 (from 82.5% to 80.8%)," Eurostat said.

In Croatia, government debt at the end of the third quarter of 2018 stood at 281.8 billion kuna, or 74.5% of GDP, down by 1.6 percentage points from the previous quarter and 4 percentage points lower than at the same time in 2017.

The highest government debt to GDP ratios at the end of the third quarter of 2018 were recorded in Greece (182.2 %), Italy (133.0%), Portugal (125.0%), Cyprus (110.9%) and Belgium (105.4%), and the lowest in Estonia (8.0%), Luxembourg (21.7%) and Bulgaria (23.1%).

Compared with the second quarter of 2018, six member states registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2018, nineteen a decrease and the ratio remained stable in three member states.

The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Cyprus (+6.9 percentage points – pp) and Greece (+4.8 pp). The largest decreases were recorded in Malta (-3.1 pp), Slovenia and Croatia (both -1.6 pp), Hungary and Czechia (both -1.4 pp), the Netherlands (-1.1 pp) and Poland (-1.0 pp).

Compared with the third quarter of 2017, four member states registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2018, and twenty-four a decrease.

An increase in the ratio was recorded in Cyprus (+9.7 pp), Greece (+7.4 pp), the United Kingdom (+0.4 pp) and Slovakia (+0.1 pp), while the largest decreases were recorded in Slovenia (-8.0 pp), Malta (-6.8 pp), Portugal (-4.6 pp), Austria (-4.3 pp), Lithuania (-4.2 pp), the Netherlands (-4.1 pp), Ireland and Croatia (both -4.0 pp), Eurostat said.

More news on the Croatian economy can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, January 18, 2019 - The sole parliamentary deputy of the HRAST party, Hrvoje Zekanović, and the leader of the Croatian Conservative Party, Ruža Tomašić, who is a Croatian member of the European Parliament, on Friday called on Croatia's leadership to block the ongoing Serbia-EU membership talks, until Serbia started solving the outstanding issues in its relations with Croatia.

Zekanović suggested that one of the conditions for Serbia's entry to the Union should be Belgrade's recognition that Croatia was exposed to "Serbo-Chetnik" aggression and that Belgrade should pay war damages to Croatia.

Accusing Prime Minister Andrej Plenković of a lenient attitude toward that eastern neighbour, Zekanović said his party would insist on this topic of the blockade of Serbia's accession negotiations until Plenković began behaving like a sovereigntist.

The HRAST MP said that the Croatian government had to insist that the international community made Serbia's admission to the EU conditional on solving its outstanding issues with Croatia.

MEP Tomašić said that it was not still explained to sufficient extent to the international community what happened during the 1991-1995 Homeland War. A part of MEPs still think that it was a civil war, she warned.

Zekanović condemned an incident in Vukovar when a student of the Serb descent was attacked this past Wednesday. According to media outlets' reports, the student was assaulted by a few masked assailants while he was staying at a bus station in Vukovar. Local Serb representatives were quoted by the media as saying that the incident was a consequence of the policies run by Mayor Ivan Penava, who recently raised the question if Croatia should keep silent about some Serb students in a Vukovar school who refused to stand for the Croatian anthem.

Zekanović said he condemned any form of violence.

More news on the relations between Croatia and Serbia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 17, 2019 - The adoption of the euro will benefit Croatian enterprises but will not resolve structural problems of the national economy, the chairman of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), Luka Burilović, said on Thursday, calling for extra efforts to minimise the structural weaknesses of the economy before joining the common currency area.

"We see prevailing benefits of the adoption for our enterprises, but we must keep in mind that the adoption itself will not resolve the structural problems of the economy and that it is in our own interest to join the euro area as strong and stable as possible," Burilović said in a statement, commenting on the advantages and disadvantages of euro adoption.

That's why it is necessary to step up efforts to minimise the structural weaknesses of the Croatian economy in this pre-accession phase, he added.

Burilović noted that the Croatian economy is closely tied to the euro-area economy because euro-area member states are Croatia's most important trading partners. Two-thirds of Croatia's trade is done with the 19 members of the euro area, which also account for 66 percent of foreign direct investment in the country.

The Croatian tourism industry depends on visitors from the countries with the European currency, who generate about 70 percent of all tourism revenues and about 60 percent of tourist bed-nights in Croatia, Burilović said and added that the Croatian financial system is also highly euroised.

He said that it is much easier to do business and reduce business risks in a system in which revenues and obligations are in the same currency.

"That's why the principal benefit of the euro adoption for the Croatian economy is removing the currency risk," Burilović said, noting that at present the main instrument of monetary policy is to maintain the stability of the kuna exchange rate.

Another positive aspect of the adoption for Croatian citizens would be lower interest rates and more favourable borrowing conditions. Interest rates would be closer to those in the euro area, which are currently considerably lower than in Croatia, despite the fact that they are generally low.

Burilović said that the adoption would also provide a boost to exports and employment growth. "Lower capital costs and export risks and the removal of exchange-rate differences will make exporters more competitive," he concluded.

Earlier this month, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said that Croatia was very seriously and intensively working on euro adoption and that the process of its accession to the euro area would be similar to that of Bulgaria, which has already sent in a letter of intent.

More news on the introduction of euro in Croatia can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, January 8, 2019 - In December 2018, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) increased markedly in Croatia, reflecting the optimism wave in both the services and retail sectors, according to European Commission's monthly survey, released on Tuesday.

The ESI for Croatia in December 2018 was up two points from November, reaching 117.4 points, which is its highest level since May 2018.

The biggest increase in December was recorded in services confidence (+5.6 points, reaching 21.9 points), followed by retail trade confidence (+5.2 points, increasing to 7.8 points).

A marked decrease was recorded in construction confidence which was up 1.7 points, reaching 14.9 points. Also up was consumer confidence (+1.1 points, closing at -8.6 points).

A decrease was marked only in industry confidence, which was down 0.4 points, closing at 1.6 points.

In December 2018, the ESI decreased markedly in both the euro area (by 2.2 points to 107.3) and the EU (by 2.0 points to 107.6).

The marginally smaller decline of the headline indicator for the EU (−2.0) can be attributed to virtually unchanged sentiment in the largest non-euro area EU economy, the UK (+0.1), while the ESI decreased markedly in Poland (−1.2).

EU confidence deteriorated markedly in line with the euro area in industry, services, construction and among consumers, and also weakened in retail trade.

The deterioration of euro area sentiment resulted from lower confidence in industry, services, construction and among consumers, while confidence improved slightly in retail trade.

The ESI weakened in all the five largest euro area economies; significantly so in Spain (−3.0), France (−2.0), Germany (−1.9) and Italy (−1.4) and, marginally so, in the Netherlands (−0.3).

More news on Croatia’s economy can be found in our Business section.

ZAGREB, January 4, 2019 - The Publishing and Printing Organisation with the Croatian Employer's Association (HUP) said in a press release on Friday that it supported proposals and efforts of umbrella organisations of European publishers who want to use changes to the EU Copyright Directive to prevent the use and commercialisation of their online contents without a permission or an adequate fee.

"European and Croatian publishers call on MEPs to support a proposal to introduce the so-called neighbouring rights (or related rights), namely the rights of a creative work not connected with the work's actual author, within the EU Copyright Directive, as it has already been done by four parliamentary committees.

"The European Media Management Association (EMMA), the European Newspaper Publishers' Association (ENPA), the European Publishers Council (EPC) and the News Media Europe (NME) advocate the introduction of neighbouring rights saying that they will help authors to financially benefit from their work and prohibit others from using it unlawfully," HUP said in the press release.

More news on the Croatia media can be found in our Lifestyle section.