ZAGREB, August 10, 2019 - The Štajerska Guard, known as an anti-migrant paramilitary group in Slovenia led by a far-right politician, Andrej Šiško, has set up a camp near the town of Podčetrtak some 20 kilometres of the Slovenia-Croatia border, the Zagreb-based Jutarnji List daily reported on Saturday.

The photographs of about 30 uniformed men, some of whom are masked, and of tents and weapons' replicas, which were published by the Ljubljana-based Delo newspaper, have caused alarm among Slovenian politicians and in the local society.

The Croatian newspaper carries a statement of a Slovenian police official who has said that forming such camps is unacceptable. On the other hand, the Slovenian Prime Minister Marijan Šarec has reassured the public by saying that Slovenia is a safe country.

Šiško was quoted as saying that this was not a paramilitary unit, insisting that those men are just camping and exercising in the rural area of Kozja outside the town of Podčetrtak.

The camp has been organised on private grounds and the local police authorities have granted Šiško's request to hold a gathering there.

The Štajerska Guard, which was registered as an organisation in 2017, is believed to have over 100 members.

Upon the establishment of the guard Šiško said that he would not allow the German scenario to happen in Slovenia, alluding to the influx of immigrants.

The Croatia daily says that upon such statements and the organisation of the guard Šiško had been sentenced to eight months and had served six after which he was released.

More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.

As Novac writes on the 10th of August, 2019, one of the oldest Croatian companies, Čakovec's Čateks, has contracted a deal worth up to three million euros with the Slovenian Ministry of Defence. This is a Croatian textile company that produces specialised high quality fabrics for both the medical and military industries.

''What this is, is a special NYCO Cordura fabric (nylon/cotton), which is specific owing to its exceptional strength and wear resistance,'' Davor Sabolić, director of Čateks, explained to novo.hr. The material it is made from also reduces the damage incurred by flames.

This type of fabric, he said, is increasingly recognisable across Europe, with Croatian Čateks being its largest European manufacturer of all. This is mostly explained by the fact that in addition to equipping the Slovenian army, this Croatian company also equips the armies of Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Montenegro and Kuwait, and develops projects for the army, special units and the police in the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, Estonia, Italy and for the Nordic countries.

However, this company's longest-running and strongest business cooperation is with the Ministry of Defense, and it started way back in 1991.

''If there were no such cooperation and these jobs, as well as the jobs of equipping the Croatian police, we wouldn't be able to carry out any of these jobs for the international units, since for each international tender we had to have done at least one in the same sense as before,'' said Sabolić, adding that nobody can claim to be the best if they didn't "do the job" at home, too.

Considering that this Croatian company is doing such successful business, it is logical that it is also preparing for a big investment cycle. In the next five years, Čateks will invest between 30 million kuna and 50 million kuna in the modernisation of its textile plant, and their aim is, as they themselves say, to better position themselves in the ''Defend'' program.

''That is a program in which we can offer a complete solution, from the production of combat uniforms, ie, pants, shirts and jackets, to the production of waterproof and windproof jackets, overcoats, raincoats, to various accessories made from special materials,'' explained the director.

In addition to Defend, Čateks is still developing its medical program in the segment of mattress covers with special properties.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more on Croatian companies, products and services.

ZAGREB, August 8, 2019 - Slovenia's bus transportation provider Nomago, which on Thursday took over the Brebus Integral company in the eastern town of Brežice near the border with Croatia, has stated that it is set to take over 30% of Croatia's bus transport market.

Nomago, which introduces itself as "a travel and mobility provider with over 600 passenger buses operating in the region between Venice and Dubrovnik", intends to take over at least 30% of Croatia's market according to its medium-term plans.

It has now the two branch offices in Croatia: one in the capital city of Zagreb and the other in the coastal city of Pula.

The Nomago director Sandi Brataševec said today that the acquisition of Brebus Integral was aimed also at strengthening Nomago's presence in the region.

The company says on its web site that it "offers full travel and mobility service – from airport transfers, flights, accommodation, travel insurance, travel packages to charter buses and VIP transfers."

More news about bus transportation in Croatia can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, August 1, 2019 - Slovenian President Borut Pahor reiterated his view on the border dispute with Croatia on Wednesday, accusing the European Union of pampering Croatia like a spoilt child instead of insisting on the mutual implementation of the arbitration ruling.

"The border has been determined by the arbitration tribunal and sooner or later it will be applied," Pahor said on his Twitter account, recalling that on this day in 2009 in Sweden, in his capacity as prime minister, he and the then Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor signed an arbitration agreement and that the arbitration ruling was based on that agreement.

Pahor accused some European leaders of siding with Croatia. He said that Croatia was not honouring the arbitration ruling but was offering new bilateral talks claiming that Slovenia had irreparably compromised the arbitration process by trying to influence the arbitration judges.

"Some European leaders tell us that we are right and that the decision on the border should be respected, while at the same time suggesting that we come to that in such a way that Croatia can also save face. I tell them that the only right and fair thing to do is to treat Croatia like any other responsible country in a responsible relationship and that it is required to meet the assumed commitments, rather than treat it like a spoilt child that does only what suits it," Pahor said, as quoted by Slovenian media.

The news website Siol.net said on Wednesday that Pahor was currently holidaying in the Croatian part of Istria.

More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 30, 2019 - Hauliers registered with the Croatian Chamber of Crafts (HOK) are not satisfied with partial solutions related to the Croatian-Slovenian agreement on the border crossing regime because it does not cover all areas of Croatia, HOK said in a press release on Monday.

The HOK hauliers said they were "pleased that hauliers from Dalmatia would be allowed to use border crossings they naturally gravitate to," but noted that it was unacceptable to consider this to be the successful end of negotiations because hauliers from counties east of Varaždin and Zagreb would not be able to conduct transport toward Italy and further on to Western Europe.

Hauliers from Slavonia have been left out and cannot use border crossings that are more favourable for them, and this simply must not be allowed, HOK underscored.

HOK demands that the Jurovski Brod crossing should be open to hauliers from Slavonia. It also insists that the approach of selectively allowing vehicles to cross the border is unjust and that Croatian hauliers must be given equal access to border crossings.

HOK insists that the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure should adopt counter-measures and not allow through Slovenian trucks that are not from border areas, such as those from Ljubljana, Maribor and Kranj.

HOK recalled that the closure of the border crossing at Mursko Središće to Croatian vehicles led to "these discriminatory actions by the governments of Croatia and Slovenia." It demands that the Croatian government open this border crossing to Croatian drivers.

"Croatia is a member of the EU and in our view, Slovenia does not have the right to decide routes for its freight vehicles in a discriminatory way by closing the borders," HOK said.

More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 26, 2019 - The Ministry of the Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure on Thursday informed that an agreement had been reached with Slovenia's ministry regarding freight road traffic at border crossings with Slovenia which will apply as of August 1.

The ministry said in a press release that after Slovenia's ministry for infrastructure adopted a regulation on June 1 introducing restrictions on freight road traffic at certain border crossings with Slovenia, meetings were held with the Slovenian side to resolve the problem for hauliers.

Conclusions were reached at the ministerial and operational levels and they will enter into force as of August 1.

At the latest meeting held on Wednesday, it was decided to establish a joint task force that will work on further improving and advancing transport cooperation between Croatia and Slovenia. The task force will commence with its work at the end of August and one of the most important tasks will be to resolve transit corridors and other outstanding issues regarding border crossings and border cooperation.

One of the other topics discussed at the meeting was a recent decision by the Croatian government to launch proceedings for an agreement to be reached with the Slovenian government, which resulted from joint efforts by Croatia's Transport Minister Oleg Butković and Slovenia's Transport Minister Alenka Bratušek, on the construction of a bridge at the Kaštel-Dragona border crossing in Istria.

The total value of the bridge according to Croatian Roads's estimates would be 5 million kuna, with Croatia securing half the funds and Slovenia would provide the other half.

More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 17, 2019 - Slovenian and Croatian hauliers should be able to use every border crossing, officials of the two countries' chambers of trades and crafts have concluded at a meeting, the Croatian chamber said on Wednesday.

They met in Ljubljana to discuss the issue of traffic flow across border crossings, concluding that the closure of some crossings has caused damage to both countries' hauliers and that it is also a political issue because of which both economies suffer.

The president of the Croatian chamber, Dragutin Ranogajec, and his Slovenian counterpart Branko Meh were agreed that this problem demanded an urgent solution by the two governments.

The interests of Slovenian and Croatian hauliers are the same, so transport and supply between the two economies must be undisturbed, the officials concluded.

On June 1, the Slovenian Infrastructure Ministry introduced on 17 local border crossings with Croatia a restriction barring the transit of trucks exceeding 7.5 tonnes in weight. Consequently, Croatian hauliers must use international crossings, which has resulted in higher expenses and longer transport.

Slovenia says the restriction is aimed at increasing the safety and quality of life of the local population, so it shifted cargo transport from state roads to motorways. Croatian hauliers, however, believe the restriction is a response to Croatia's closure of the Mursko Središće border crossing for the transit of trucks exceeding 7.5 tonnes.

Croatian and Slovenian transport ministers met in June to discuss the restriction.

More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 8, 2019 - Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec on Monday announced stepping up the control of the green border with Croatia following more intensified flows of migrants passing through Croatia and Slovenia on their way to Italy and western Europe.

To this end, Slovenia and Italy introduced joint patrols including the police staff from both countries.

After touring the border municipality of Ilirska Bistrica, Šarec said that he could understand the concern expressed by locals facing a growing number of migrants passing through the area, however, sometimes the issue was blown out of proportion for political reasons.

The number of police officers patrolling the borderline has been increased and they will also be assisted by the military and drones, Šarec said, also highlighting the problem of human trafficking.

This year, 5,000 irregular migrants have been arrested in Slovenia, half of whom have been returned to Croatia, and about 130 human traffickers have also been detained.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 24, 2019 - Slovenian President Borut Pahor said on Sunday that Slovenia wanted to have good relations with all its neighbours, including Croatia with which it is in dispute over the validity of the border arbitration process.

"The border has been defined. We need some patience and statesmanlike wisdom so that we wouldn't make any mistakes because the arbitration ruling will be implemented sooner or later," Pahor said.

He was speaking in an interview with Slovenian television ahead of Statehood Day, observed on June 25, focusing mostly on internal and European affairs.

Pahor said that he considered Croatia's decision to leave the arbitration process in 2015 unacceptable, but that soon afterwards he decided to continue contacts and cooperation with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, which has proved good.

Pahor said he would soon meet with Prime Minister Marjan Šarec to discuss the problem of the increasing number of illegal border crossings by migrants. He said that border security should be stepped up for the sake of people living in the border areas.

He said that the common migration policy, along with Brexit, should be among the priorities of the next European Commission in its first year in office.

More news about the border arbitration dispute between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 21, 2019 - Croatian Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Darko Horvat and Slovenian Minister of Economic Development and Technology Darko Počivalšek said on Friday that Croatian-Slovenian economic cooperation has a good trend and both economies have similar problems, one being a labour shortage.

The two ministers met in Mokrice as part of a business conference organised by the SLO CRO Business Club in honour of the two countries' statehood days.

Počivalšek underscored that economic cooperation between Croatia and Slovenia had positive trends and that trade had reached 5.5 billion euro last year, an increase of 11% on the previous year.

He said that during the talk with Horvat he had raised important economic issues including cooperation during Croatia's presidency of the Council of Europe in the first half of next year and Slovenia's presidency in the second half of 2021.

"That is a period when we will have conditions to advance our economies and resolve matters that burden relations between our countries," Počivalšek said.

Horvat said that he had opened dialogue with Počivalšek on topics that are essential for Croatia, such as growth in industrial production, quality investment and exports.

Horvat noted that Slovenia exports almost 84% of all its products, hoping that in exchanging experience Croatia will be able to adopt some elements of Slovenia's export policy.

It was agreed that state-secretaries begin preparing joint economic commissions, which had existed until 2012. Four of five areas will be defined where potential exists for joint ventures on the single European market and on third markets, Horvat announced.

The ministers agreed that Croatia and Slovenia have identical problems with regard to shortages of skilled labour.

The president of the SLO CRO Business Club Saša Muminović underscored that the conference has attracted more than 100 entrepreneurs from the two countries and that this is a great opportunity to conclude business deals, strengthen old acquaintances and make new contacts.

He believes economic cooperation between Croatia and Slovenia is excellent, but that it is high time unresolved political issues were resolved.

"The perception of poor political relations has its repercussions for the economy. Whether we like it or not, the underlying fact that unresolved issues exist always crops up. It is necessary to cut the knot and find a compromise," Muminović said.

More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.