ZAGREB, 26 March 2022 - The Daffodil Day, traditionally observed in Croatia in March to raise awareness of breast cancer, was again marked by outdoor events in the main squares in Croatian cities on Saturday, after a two-year break due to the coronavirus pandemic when only online events were held on that occasion.

In Zagreb's "Trg bana Jelačića" and "Cvjetni" squares, citizens could get information about this malignant disease. 

Also, a mobile mammography van arrived in Zagreb's main square to offer free medical checks as part of the 26th edition of Daffodil Day.

On the occasion of this year's Daffodil Day, Health Minister Vili Beroš said that the mortality caused by breast cancer had declined by 25%, as a result of the national turnout of 60% to examinations within the National Breast Cancer Screening Programme.

Breast cancer most frequently diagnosed malignant disease among women

Breast cancer mortality has been falling in Croatia for the fifth consecutive year, the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) said recently ahead of Daffodil Day, noting that the disease was no longer the leading cause of mortality in women.

Breast cancer is now the third leading type of cancer causing death in the female population, after lung and colon cancer.

In terms of breast cancer mortality, Croatia ranks 15th in the EU, which is better than average.

In 2019, Croatia recorded 2,999 cases of breast cancer (143.2 cases per 100,000 population), and 722 women died of that disease in 2020 (34.7 deaths per 100,000 population).

Due to population ageing, it is forecast that more and more women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

ZAGREB, 26 March 2022 - Croatian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Ivan Sabolić on Friday denied allegations by some local media outlets about Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković having lobbied during the European Council's meeting for the deferment of Bosnia's general elections.

The allegations that Plenković advocated the postponement of the elections, which are expected to be held in October, and that the European Council dismissed that possibility were first presented by the Klix news portal, and after that some other local media outlets disseminated them.

Bosnian presidency member Željko Komšić immediately joined the comments that this failed attempt by Croatia's officials to defer the polls is an important and clear message to Bosnia and Herzegovina's authorities.

This prompted Ambassador Sabolić to issue a statement in which he denied the invented allegations.

The story about the refusal of the alleged Croatian proposal is made up with the obvious aim of downplaying the recognised and well-accepted constructive efforts of PM Plenković and the Croatian government to speed up a political agreement on the limited constitutional reform and the reform of the electoral law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said the diplomat.

Sabolić recalled the Strategic Compass, adopted by the EU, fully recognised Bosnia and Herzegovina's constitutional architecture and that at Croatia's initiative, the EU reiterated its readiness to make additional engagement in a bid to help local politician to reach agreement on Bosnia's new electoral law.

The European Council, which held a two-day summit meeting in Brussels, also discussed "the prolonged political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina," read the Council's conclusions.

The European Union, which "reiterates its commitment to the European perspective of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans," calls on leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina "to demonstrate a strong commitment to finalise swiftly the constitutional and electoral reform, vital for stability and full functionality of the country, as well as to support all other priority reforms set out in the Commission’s Opinion to obtain a candidate status."

"The European Union stands ready to continue its high-level engagement in this regard," the European Council says in its conclusions.

As for the Strategic Compass, the document reads that it is "of particular interest to support the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on the principles of equality and non-discrimination of all citizens and constituent peoples as enshrined in the Bosnia and Herzegovina constitution."

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ZAGREB, 26 March 2022 - Croatia is considering the possibility of increasing the capacity of its LNG terminal on the island of Krk from the current 2.6 billion cubic metres of gas to 2.9 billion cubic metres annually, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Brussels on Friday.

He explained that the current infrastructure allows for this increase.

"We believe that we can achieve this increase with the current infrastructure of our LNG ship and all the existing plants there," Plenković said after the end of the two-day summit meeting of the European Union, which discussed Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, energy and energy price hikes.

Plenković reiterated the strategic importance of the Krk LNG terminal for the diversification of gas supply routes, particularly in the current crisis.

Considering the EU-US partnership expressed in the Joint Statement on the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports from the US, which expect to rise, Plenković said that investments in LNG terminals and the accompanying infrastructure would definitely grow, adding that it remains to be seen how many ships are available.

Ukrainian refugees

Plenković told the press that Croatia had already taken in 10,000 refugees from Ukraine, who fled the Russian invasion of their country.

It is certain that more and more refugees will arrive and that they will stay longer, he said.

Croatia can cover the costs of accommodation of Ukrainian refugees on its own until a joint model for financing is not found at the EU level, the premier said.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - China has been involved in activities and initiatives to help stop the war in Ukraine and prevent a huge humanitarian crisis, Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said on Tuesday after his video-conference with Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

According to a press release issued by the Croatian parliament, China supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and Li informed the Sabor Speaker about his country's activities aimed at stopping the conflicts and halting the humanitarian crisis.

Jandroković was quoted as saying that Croatia unequivocally supports the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine and he highlighted the importance of the withdrawal of Russia's forces from the country.

"Croatia respects the strategic, economic and foreign affairs-related role of China and the influence of that country on peace and stability in the world," said Jandroković.

The two parliaments' speakers agreed that the completion of Pelješac Bridge, which is expected to be inaugurated this summer, is a symbol of successful cooperation between Croatia and China whose companies are engaged in the construction of the bridge.

Li pointed out Croatia as the first European Union member state to hire a Chinese company to implement an EU-funded project of strategic infrastructure. 

He described Croatia as one of China's greatest friends in the European Union.

Jandroković said that Croatia also attaches great importance to efforts to boost its economic relations with China, and in this context he mentioned the example of the Senj wind park.

During the talks, the two officials also commented on Croatian companies such as Rimac Automobili, INFOBIP, Dok-ing and Končar that do business on the Chinese market.

Jandroković expressed hope that upon the end of the COVID-19 pandemic Chinese visitors would start arriving in Croatia again.

Both officials expressed an interest in the strengthening of political and economic cooperation and highlighted the importance of parliamentary diplomacy and cooperation within the China+16 and the Road and Belt Initiative.

March the 20th, 2022 - The Gallup Institute conducts research and American scientists have now published its list of the ''happiest countries'', but just how does the Republic of Croatia rank compared to the others?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the report, which looked at the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic and the unprecedented crisis it caused over the past couple of years on general human well-being, is compiled each year by American scientists based on research from the Gallup Institute.

According to this report, the happiest country, Finland, is closely followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel and then a very distant country - New Zealand.

When it comes to Croatia and countries in the immediate vicinity, we're in 47th place, neighbouring Slovenia came in 22nd place and Serbia in 43rd place, while Bosnia and Herzegovina is in an unenviable 67th place. Austria took an impressive 11th place, Germany came in 14th, Canada took 15th place, and the United States came in 16th place.

At the bottom of the list of more than 150 countries which were looked into by the Gallup Institute are Afghanistan, Lebanon and Venezuela. The European countries of Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, on the other hand, have made the most progress.

The report is compiled by the aforementioned institute is otherwise based on data spanning the last three years.

The American scientists who looked into the research and compiled the list have noticed a significant increase in so-called acts of kindness during the coronavirus pandemic. "Helping others, volunteering and donations in 2021 rose sharply in all parts of the world, reaching levels almost 25 percent higher than before the pandemic," they said.

"This rush of benevolence, which has been particularly great in helping others, provides strong evidence that people do respond to help others in need, they want to create more happiness for those recipients, be good examples for others and live a better life for themselves," the report said.

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ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - US economist Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001, has said that Croatia should take some more time before the changeover to the euro, assessing that disadvantages could be higher than benefits due to the ongoing geopolitical risks.

This is an open issue, said this 79-year-old researcher in his address to Croatian reporters in Brussels where he attended the 8th Cohesion Forum.

The 8th Cohesion forum is a large-scale political event held every three years, bringing together high-level representatives from European institutions, central governments, regional and local representatives, economic and social partners, NGOs and academics to focus on the major challenges of European cohesion policy.

Commenting on Croatia's plans to adopt the euro as sole legal tender, Stiglitz said on Friday that from the economic point of view, potential benefits are more restricted than potential costs.

There are arguments in favour of taking some more time before the country's entry into the eurozone. However, it is a political decision, he said.

Croatia is making preparations for the changeover to the euro in 2023, and the country's top officials, including Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, highlight Croatia's readiness to adopt the euro.

Stiglitz, who is the author of the book entitled "The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe" said during the European Forum Alpbach  in 2020 that the euro, as sole legal tender, deprived a country of two important instruments which the researcher deems to be essential in adjusting a national economy to shocks. One of those instruments is the possibility of adjusting the exchange arrangements, that is its capacity of using monetary policies and consequently changing interest rates, he explained then.

The euro area currently has 19 members. All EU countries, except Denmark, have the obligation to introduce the euro. Denmark participates in ERM II.

In July 2020, Croatia and Bulgaria entered the the Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II), the key step to entry into the euro area. Until then Croatia had met all criteria to join the euro area except for membership in ERM II.

Upon Croatia's admission to ERM II, Prime Minister Plenković said that the admission to the ERM II meant a lot for the country's financial stability and strengthened its reputation, and also pointed out a high euroisation in Croatia.

For instance, 71% of household savings have been kept in the euro in the last eight years. Also more a than a half of loans are pegged to the euro. Foreign visitors coming from the euro area's member-states generate as many as three fifths of overnight stays in Croatia, and 57% of the value of the commodity exports are to those countries.

ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - The Croatian government hopes that the European Commission will approve its operational programmes in June or July, after which all interested parties in Croatia will be able to apply for co-financing of their projects with money from EU funds in the period from 2021 to 2027.

"These are the shortest deadlines. We are going in that direction. However, the European Commission will have the final say," said Croatian Minister for Regional Development and EU Funds Nataša Tramišak, who had participated in the 8th Cohesion Forum in Brussels on Thursday.

With its cohesion policy, the European Commission is trying to reduce inequalities between parts of the European Union, and has set aside €14.4 billion for Croatia, Tramišak told Croatian reporters.

A European Commission source has told Hina that it is more likely that Croatia's operational programmes will be approved in September. It will be a document including Croatia's co-financing priorities for the coming period.

All EU member states need to submit such documents to the Commission and only after these have been approved can they draw money. The Commission has so far signed such a document only with Greece, in July 2021. Croatia sent in its first draft in June 2021 and it has been sent back for improvement.

"We have submitted our operational programmes twice already. The programming cycle is such that we are in ongoing negotiations, talks and improvements. This is the case with Croatia and all other countries," Tramišak said.

"We expect to have draft documents ready by the end of March and then try to finalise negotiations in early April. Our interest is to programme them as soon as possible and to have quality documents," the minister said.

Tramišak met with Commissioner for Cohesion Policy Elisa Ferreira earlier this month.

Germany is expected to sign its agreement with the European Commission in April, after which agreements with Austria and Lithuania are expected to be signed.

Once Croatia wraps up its negotiations with the Commission and is given the green light, a deadline of two to three months begins before final approval of the programmes. Croatia hopes that this could happen in July, while the Commission thinks it will be in September. After that, Croatia will invite applications for projects eligible for EU co-financing.

"We are not waiting for the completion, but are already preparing other acts and strategic documents at the national, regional and local levels so that we can invite applications as soon the programmes are approved," Tramišak said.

The Commission will contribute 85% of funding for projects and member states the remaining 15%. To qualify for co-financing, projects will have to meet one of the five goals set in EU regulations, namely "a smarter Europe", "a greener Europe", "a more connected Europe", "a more social and inclusive Europe" and "a Europe closer to citizens".

In the previous period 2014-2020, the largest project implemented in Croatia was the construction of Pelješac Bridge, worth a total of €418 million. In the present period,the bulk of funding might go towards the modernisation of railways.

Speaking at the Cohesion Forum on Thursday, Tramišak said that Croatia wanted to use the funding for the development of its poorest areas from which people are emigrating in search of work.

ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - The Žmergo association on Saturday called for the deletion of all unnecessary files, apps, photos and videos so that we can reduce our digital footprint and consequently negative consequences for the environment.

The appeal is issued on the occasion of Digital Cleanup Day, observed on 19 March.

This Opatija-based association says that in the last two years, the global population has produced more data than all the civilisations, and that "each year the internet and its supporting systems produce 900 million tons of CO2." 

In the digital world, similar to the environment, there is a huge amount of trash. Unnecessary emails, files, apps, duplicates of photos and videos are all digital waste. This digital trash creates digital pollution that continues to consume energy.

The global action for cleaning digital trash is organised by the Let's Do It World (LDIW) association.

This world-changing idea began in Estonia in 2008.

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ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - Croatia has recorded 1,775 new coronavirus cases and 15 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Saturday.

The number of active cases currently stands at 11,302. Among them are 650 infected people who have been hospitalised and 42 of them of them are on ventilators, while 8,609 people are self-isolating.

Over 4.6 million tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been conducted to date, including 5,640 in the last 24 hours.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 1,083,111 cases of this infectious disease have been diagnosed. As many as 15,425 patients have died and 1,056,384 have recovered, including 1,644 in the last 24 hours.

To date, 65.65% of adults have been fully vaccinated.

ZAGREB, 19 March 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Saturday that Standard and Poor's affirmation of Croatia's credit rating at 'BBB-/A-3' was a message of trust in and encouragement to the government to keep preserving the economic stability despite the inflation and the impact of the war in Ukraine.

PM Plenković tweeted that the decision of that credit rating agency to affirm Croatia's ratings with stable outlook "is a message of confidence in and encouragement" to the government to continue taking measures conducive to the economic stability and stable growth, thus weathering the inflationary pressures and the consequences of the war.

He writes on the Twitter account that the priorities are given to the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and to the further absorption of European funding for the faster growth and the energy and green transition of Croatia.

Our target to join the euro area in 2023 creates prerequisites to additionally boost the economy's competitiveness and raising our credit ratings, he added.

Standard & Poor's on Friday affirmed Croatia's credit rating at 'BBB-/A-3' with a stable outlook, however, it warns that repercussions of Russia's invasion of Ukraine can affect the Croatian economy.

"The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Croatia's economic growth will remain steady over the coming two years despite inflationary headwinds and the pan-European macroeconomic consequences from the conflict in Ukraine," it says.

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