ZAGREB, October 28, 2019 - Most Croats would not mind a person with a disability, a person of a different skin colour, religion or ethnic background than the majority or an LGBTI person holding the highest elected position in the country, while at the same time slightly more than a half would not feel comfortable if their child was in a love relationship with a same-sex person, shows a special Eurobarometer survey on discrimination in the EU.

Last Thursday the European Commission published the findings of the special Eurobarometer in which citizens of all 28 EU member-countries were asked about their views on discrimination and social acceptability of groups at risk of discrimination.

The survey, published on October 24, was conducted on May 9-25 and covered 27,438 persons from the 28 member-countries.

Most Croats would have nothing against the highest elected political position being held by a woman (89%), a person perceived as young (81%), a person with a disability (83%), a person perceived as old (80%), a persons of a different skin colour than the majority population (68%), a person of a different religion than the majority (71%), or a person of a different ethnic background (68%).

Asked how they would feel if that position was held by a homosexual, lesbian or bisexual, 45% of those polled said they would feel comfortable, 15% said they would feel moderately comfortable, while 35% said they would feel uncomfortable.

As for an intersex person holding the highest elected political position, 37% said they would feel comfortable about it, while 36% would feel comfortable about such a position being occupied by a transgender person.

Most respondents, or 54%, would feel comfortable about a Roma person holding the highest political position, 19% would feel moderately comfortable and 24% would feel uncomfortable.

As regards the respondents' children, the survey shows a lower level of tolerance towards persons belonging to minority groups.

When asked how comfortable they would feel if one of their children was in a love relationship with a white person, 87% said they would feel comfortable, 87% said they would feel comfortable about their child being in a relationship with a Christian person, 76% said they would feel comfortable about their child being in a relationship with a young person, 65% would feel comfortable about an atheist person, 64% about a person with a disability, 57% about a Jewish person, 46% about an Asian person, 45% about a black person, 48% about a Buddhist person, 35% about an old person, 25% about a person of the same sex as their child, 47% would feel comfortable about a Muslim person, 36% about a Roma person, 19% about an intersex person and 18% about a transgender person.

The least acceptable relationship is one with a transgender person - 57% of the respondents said they would feel uncomfortable about their child being in such a relationship, 55% would feel uncomfortable about their child being in a love relationship with a transsexual and 54% would feel uncomfortable about their child being in a relationship with a person of the same sex.

Compared with a survey of four years ago, the share of those who would feel totally uncomfortable about their son or daughter being in a same-sex relationship has grown from 40 to 41%, while the share of those who would feel totally comfortable about it is 11%, the same as four years ago.

While 93% of Dutch respondents would find it totally acceptable if their prime minister was a homosexual, in Bulgaria that share is 17%. Three percent of Bulgarians find it totally acceptable to have a same-sex son-in-law or daughter-in-law, while 69% of Dutch and Swedish respondents think so.

An average 69% of respondents in the EU would feel comfortable if their child was in a love relationship with a Jewish person, which is 9% more than in 2015, and 55% would find it acceptable if their child was of the same-sex sexual orientation, 11% more than four years ago.

More statistics about Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 27, 2019 - In 2018, Croatia imported 1,797 tonnes of cut flowers, and the value of this import stood at 9.9 million euro, thus rising by 19.5% in comparison to 2017, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) has reported.

The lion's share of the imports came from the Netherlands, 1,687 tonnes worth 9.1 million euro.

The HGK explains this with the largest trade on the Amsterdam flower market.

The flower imports from Slovenia weighing 45 tonnes cost 435,000 euro in 2018. Germany was the third biggest exporter of flowers to Croatia, 32 tonnes worth 153,000 euro.

In 2017, Croatia imported 1,555 tonnes of cut flowers and the worth of those imports stood at 8.3 million euro, dropping by 8.5% in comparison to 2016.

Broken by type of flowers, roses were the most imported flowers last year, with 789 tonnes worth 4.8 million euro. Chrysanthemums followed, with 196 tonnes worth 981,000 euro.

Croatia's share in the flower production in the European Union stands at a mere 0.5%.

Currently, flowers are grown on only 300 hectares, which is not sufficient to cover domestic needs.

At the end of October and at the beginning of November, when Croatia observes All Saints' Day, November 1, as a public holiday, many Croatians visit cemeteries to lay flowers and light candles on graves of their family members and friends.

Therefore, the import of flowers increases every October by about 50 tonnes, and chrysanthemums are on demand.

Thus, in 2018 Croatia's imports of grave candles and lanterns increased to more than 3,188 tonnes, worth 6.7 million euro.

In the first seven months of this year, Croatia imported 1,079 tonnes of grave lanterns, worth 2.5 million euro.

The main countries that export candles to Croatia are Poland and Germany.

On the other hand, Croatia's exports of candles totalled 1,067 tonnes, worth 2.3 million euro, last year.

In the first seven months of 2019, the exports reached 241 tonnes in the value of 605,000 euro. The main markets for Croatia's candle exports are Hungary and Slovenia.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, October 22, 2019 - The widely held belief in Croatia that young people are radical and intolerant has turned out to be wrong, the head of the Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights, Ivan Zvonimir Čičak, said on Tuesday while presenting the results of a survey.

The survey, entitled "Tolerance and religiousness of students", debunks stereotypes based on young people's behaviour on social media and shows that incidents that occur in Croatia do not reflect the practice of the majority, Čičak told a round table.

The survey was led by sociologist Ivan Markešić from the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, who polled 324 students from four faculties of humanities in Zagreb via Facebook. It shows that humanities students are tolerant towards others and those who are different and are opposed to discrimination against minorities.

The students were given a high average grade of 4.07 on a scale of 1 to 5, said Erik Brezovec, an assistant lecturer at Croatian Studies who was involved in the conduct of the survey.

Brezovec noted that there was no difference between religious and non-religious students in their attitude towards those different. The survey also revealed that a majority of those polled do not agree that the Church should play a decisive role in society, he added.

Speakers at the round table highlighted the need for more surveys of this kind, including one on the attitude towards the native Muslim community in Croatia and Muslim migrants, and for expanding the sample to include the entire country.

The round table was organised by the Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights and the Electronic Media Council with the participation of prominent intellectuals, philosophers, theologians, students and dignitaries of religious communities in Croatia.

More human rights news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 22, 2019 - A total of 1.56 million people in Croatia were gainfully employed at the end of September 2019, which is 10,899 persons or 0.7% fewer than in the previous month, while the registered unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 6.8% in August, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

Compared with September 2018, the number of people in work was 0.9% higher.

Data from the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) show 112,376 people were registered with the HZZ at the end of September 2019, down by 1.9% from August 2019 and by 13.9% from September 2018.

The registered unemployment rate, calculated as a share of unemployed people in the total active population, was 6.7% in September, compared with 6.8% in August.

The volume of construction work carried out in Croatia in August 2019 was 3.5% higher than in August 2018 and 1.1% lower than in July 2019, the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) says.

The volume of construction work on buildings increased by 4% year on year, while the volume of work on other civil engineering structures, such as roads, railways, pipelines, dams and sporting grounds, rose by 2.6%.

Compared with July 2019, construction work fell by 0.4% on buildings and by 2.6% on other structures.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, October 21, 2019 - Croatia recorded a consolidated general government budget surplus of 992 million kuna in 2018, which is 0.3% of GDP, which is the second year in a row that a budget surplus was generated while the public debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was reduced to 74.8%, according to the revised figures released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

The report on the Excessive Deficit Procedure and general government debt to GDP released on Monday indicates a consolidated general budget surplus in 2018 of 992 million kuna or 0.3% of GDP whereas in 2017 it was 2.9 billion kuna, or 0.8% of GDP.

The latest data has been revised up from the April report when DZS reported that the consolidated general budget surplus for 2018 amounted to 758 million kuna or 0.2% of GDP.

The biggest impact on the amount of 2018 surplus was due to the further fall in the government budget balance compared with the previous year from 2.29 billion kuna to 192 million, as a result of positive economic developments, DZS's report said.

The 2018 surplus was mostly driven by the considerably improved financial result of extrabudgetary beneficiaries and public companies and by increased tax revenues.

In 2018, taxes on production and imports totalled 76.7 billion kuna, an increase of 7.2% on the previous year.

Investments also grew, increasing by 13.36 billion kuna or 32.6% more than in 2017. The surplus is also the result of a decrease in interest rates, and interest expenses amounted to 8.89 billion kuna or 9.1% less than in 2017.

At the end of last year, consolidated general government debt was 286.1 billion kuna, or 74.8% of GDP, while in 2017 it was 285.84 billion kuna, or 78% of GDP. That is its lowest level since 2012 when it accounted for 69.4% of GDP.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, October 18, 2019 - A total of 1.678 million people were gainfully employed in Croatia in the second quarter of 2019, about 7,000 more than at the same time in 2018, while the number of the unemployed declined by 28,000 to 108,000, bringing the survey unemployment rate down to 6.1%, a labour force survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) shows.

The survey found that 1.678 million people in Croatia were in work in the second quarter of this year, which is 17,000 or slightly over 1% more than in the previous quarter. Compared with the second quarter of 2018, the number of persons employed was higher by about 7,000 or 0.4%.

The number of people out of work fell by 20.6% both quarter on quarter and year on year. According to the survey, 108,000 people were unemployed in the second quarter of 2019, while the number of jobless people in the second quarter of 2018 was 136,000.

As a result, the survey unemployment rate, as a percentage of unemployed people in the total active population, fell to 6.1%, down by 1.4 percentage points year on year and by 1.5 percentage points month on month. It was 7.5% in the second quarter of 2018 and 7.6% in the first quarter of 2019.

In the second quarter of this year, 1.786 million people were economically active, which is 11,000 persons or 0.6% fewer than in the previous quarter. Year on year, their number fell by 21,000 or 1.2%.

The number of inactive population increased both month on month and year on year. In the second quarter of this year, 1.734 million people were economically inactive, which is 8,000 persons more than in the first quarter this year and 9,000 more than in the second quarter last year.

In the second quarter of 2019, there were 3.520 million working-age people (aged 15 and over) in Croatia, down by 3,000 from the previous quarter and by 13,000 from the second quarter last year.

Commenting on initial data from the labour force survey released earlier this month, analysts at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) said that the present number of working-age people was lowest since 2001.

Reflecting negative demographic and emigration trends, the number of working-age population has been decreasing steadily for the last 40 quarters, they noted.

This also affected the activity rate, a percentage of active persons in the working-age population, which fell to 50.7% in the second quarter of this year, decreasing by 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter and by 0.5 percentage points from the second quarter last year.

The employment rate, a proportion of employed persons in the working-age population, was 47.7% between April and June this year, an increase of 0.5 percentage points quarter on quarter and of 0.4 percentage points year on year.

More employment news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, October 14, 2019 - Croatia recorded the sharpest monthly decline in industrial production in August, while the European Union observed a slight recovery, the EU statistical office Eurostat said on Monday.

In August 2019 compared with July 2019, seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 0.1% in the EU28 and by 0.4% in the euro area. In July 2019, industrial production fell by 0.1% in the EU28 and by 0.4% in the euro area.

The highest monthly increases in industrial production were registered in Malta (+5.6%), Estonia (+3.9%) and Latvia (+3.0%), while the largest decreases were observed in Croatia (-3.0%), Slovakia (-2.6%) and Lithuania (-2.4%).

Broken down by main industrial grouping, in the EU28, production of energy and non-durable consumer goods fell the most, by 0.6% respectively. In the euro area, the largest declines were observed in the production of durable consumer goods and energy, of 0.4%.

In August 2019 compared with August 2018, industrial production in the EU28 decreased by 2.0%, its largest drop since December 2018. In July 2019 it declined by 1.2% year on year.

At the same time, industrial production in the euro area fell by 2.8%, its sharpest decline since the end of last year. In July 2019 it fell by 2.1% year on year.

The largest decreases were registered in Slovakia (-8.1%), Ireland (-6.2%) and Romania (-6.1%), while the highest increases were observed in Malta (+7.4%), Denmark (+6.6%) and Finland (+4.5%).

In Croatia, industrial production in August 2019, compared with August 2018, fell by 1.7%, while in July 2019 it rose by 2.9% year on year.

Broken down by main industrial grouping, energy production declined the most, by 3.0% in the EU28 and by 3.3% in the euro area. In both areas only production of durable consumer goods increased, by 0.8% in the EU28 and by 0.4% in the euro area.

More economy news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, October 10, 2019 - A total of 18.8 million tourists visited Croatia in the first nine months of 2019, up 4.5% year on year, and they generated almost 103 million overnight stays, an increase of 2% y-o-y, the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) said on Wednesday.

The data collected by the eVisitor system was published on the HTZ website, indicating that in the period from January to September, almost 17 million foreign tourists visited Croatia, an increase of 4% compared to the same period last year, generating 90.4 million bed nights, up 1.3%.

Domestic tourists accounted for 2 million arrivals, which is an increase of 9.3% y-o-y and they generated an increase of 7% in bed nights or a total of almost 12.5 million.

Domestic tourists accounted for the second-most numerous group, after Germans.

According to HTZ figures, 44% of all bed nights were generated in family accommodation, 26% in hotels or in absolute numbers 38.2 million bed nights were in family accommodation or 2.6% more y-o-y while bed nights in hotels increased by 1.6% or almost 23 million.

"So far in October 350,000 more tourists have been recorded, which is an increase of 6% compared to the same period in 2018 and an even greater increase of 10% has been recorded in bed nights, or 1.3 million," HTZ concluded.

More news about Croatian tourism can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, October 9, 2019 - Croatia's commodity exports in the first eight months of 2019 totalled 74.1 billion kuna, up 5.8% on the year, while imports went up 5.9% to 123.5 billion kuna, the national statistics office (DZS) reported on Wednesday.

The foreign trade deficit was 49.4 billion kuna, 2.8 billion kuna higher than in the same period last year. The export-import rate dropped from 60.1% to 60% year-on-year.

Commodity exports to EU member states in the period from January to August totalled 50.1 billion kuna, up 4.6% on the year, and HRK 24 billion to non-EU countries, up 8.5%.

Commodity imports from EU member states increased by 9.1% to 99.6 billion kuna while at the same time imports from non-EU countries decreased by 5.7% to 23.9 billion kuna.

Expressed in euro currency, Croatia's commodity exports in the first eight months of 2019 totalled a little more than 10 billion euro, up 6% year-on-year while imports increased at that same rate to 16.7 billion euro.

The foreign trade deficit stood at 6.7 billion euro, up from 6.3 billion euro in the first eight months of 2018.

Commodity exports to EU member states amounted to 6.8 billion euro, up 4.8% on the year, and 3.2 billion euro to non EU countries, up 8.6%.

The value of commodity imports from EU member states increased by 9.3% to 13.4 billion euro, while imports from non-EU countries fell by 5.6% to 3.2 billion euro.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, October 7, 2019 - In the second quarter of 2019, Croatia was among EU countries with the most marked increases in housing prices compared to the same period of 2018, and those price increases were more than two times higher than the European average, show figures released by the European statistical office Eurostat on Monday.

Prices in Croatia grew 10.4% in Q2 compared to Q2 2018. The growth of house prices thus picked up year-on-year, after a 7.4% increase in the first three months of 2019.

A more marked increase in housing prices was reported also by Hungary, +14%, and Luxembourg, +11.4%. In Portugal, housing prices grew by 10.1%.

According to available data, a year-on-year decrease in prices was reported only by Italy, of 0.2%.

Housing prices, as measured by the House Price Index, rose by 4.2% in both the euro area and the EU in the second quarter of 2019 compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

Compared with the previous quarter, prices increased in all member states for which the data were available. The highest increases were recorded in Latvia (+5.6%), Luxembourg (+5.1%) and Cyprus (+4.2%).

In Croatia, prices in Q2 grew by 2.6% compared to Q1, when they went up 3.5%.

None of the countries reported a quarterly decrease in prices.

At the EU level, housing prices in Q2 grew by 1.6% from Q1, when they grew by 0.4% according to revised data.

The quarterly increase in prices was even faster in the euro area, of 1.7%, as against a 0.3% increase in Q1.

More real estate news can be found in the Business section.