ZAGREB, 19 Feb (Hina) - A source close to the ongoing investigation into possible abuse of power by a few office-holders told Hina on Saturday morning that the police were conducting the probe into Minister Darko Horvat and Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milošević, however, Labour Minister Josip Aladrović, was not implicated.

The source said that another two suspects are Velimir Žunac, a state secretary in the regional development ministry, and Katica Mišković, who is at the helm of the office for economically assisted areas.

Furthermore, a former minister Tomislav Tolušić, is also among those suspected of abuse of power.

On Saturday morning, media outlets reported that the police were searching the flat of Construction Minister Darko Horvat in connection with his former aide Ana Mandac implicated in the scandal dubbed wind parks where the main suspect is a former state secretary Josipa Rimac.

According to the unofficial information, the ongoing probe relates to the allocation of grants under an aid scheme for crafts and SMEs in the areas populated by ethnic minorities.

There are speculations that the disbursement of grants did not follow the criteria, and it has not yet been revealed the amount of the concerned money.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 19 Feb 2022 -The Croatian National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HNS BiH)  started an extraordinary convention in Mostar on Saturday to draw up a document calling for the continuation of electoral reforms and warning that conditions have not been met for an election this autumn.

In a statement to the media prior to the convention, HNS BiH leader Dragan Čović said that the aim for Croat parties to gather was to "ensure complete constitutional equality of the Croat people with the other two constituent peoples in BiH."

"We want to make sure that Croats can elect legitimate political representatives at all levels of government in BiH," said Čović.

Asked whether HNS BiH would insist on the establishment of a third entity if the election law is not amended, Čović said that he did not wish to comment on speculation.

"Our message will be a sign of unity by representatives of the Croat people in BiH," he added.

The leader of the HDZ 1990, Ilija Cvitanović, who is also a member of the HNS BiH leadership, said that the conclusions of today's convention would be in line with the country's Constitution.

"With this, we are giving BiH a chance and offering our hand in an effort to define our relations on the basis of equality," underscored Cvitanović.

February the 18th, 2022 - Prominent Croatian businessman and company owner Branko Roglic has been named the first president of the Bulgarian-Croatian Business Club which has been founded in the City of Zagreb.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Bulgarian-Croatian Business Club was founded in Zagreb and includes Bulgarian companies which can be found operating here on the Croatian market and Croatian business circles cooperating with and within Bulgaria in order to expand and deepen mutual their contacts and encourage further investment activities.

The well known founder and owner of the Orbico Group, Branko Roglic, was elected president of the new club, and Martin Kasabov, the executive director of Meblo Trade, was elected vice president, as the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria reported.

The founding assembly was attended by representatives of the largest companies operating on both Bulgarian and Croatian markets, such as Branko Roglic's Orbico Group itself, Podravka, Fortenova (formerly Agrokor), Meblo Trade, Rubicon Engineering AD, Elmark Group and more.

One of the first initiatives of the newly founded club will be the organisation of a Business Forum with representatives of the Regional Chamber of Commerce - Sofia in Zagreb this summer. As was pointed out, the Bulgarian-Croatian Business Club is expected to actively participate in holding various other regional business gatherings, such as hosting business delegation from Plovdiv in the Dalmatian city of Zadar, from Gabrovo in Sisak and from Vidin in Vukovar.

Congratulations on the formation of the Bulgarian-Croatian Business Club were sent by the Bulgarian Minister of Economy and Industry Kornelia Ninova, and the participants in the founding assembly were greeted by the Bulgarian Ambassador to Croatia, Genka Georgieva.

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

ZAGREB, 15 Feb 2022 - The Bulgarian-Croatian Business Club, including Bulgarian companies operating in Croatia and Croatian business circles that cooperate with Bulgaria on enhancing partnership and stimulating investment, was established in Zagreb on Tuesday.

Orbico Group founder and owner Branko Roglić was elected the club's president, while Meblo Trade executive director Martin Kasabov was elected his deputy, the Bulgarian Embassy said in a statement.

Attending the club's founding session were representatives of the biggest companies active on the Bulgarian and Croatian markets such as Orbico Group, Podravka, Fortenova, Meblo Trade, Rubicon Engineering AD and ELMARK GROUP.

This summer the club will organise a business forum in Zagreb in cooperation with representatives of the Regional Chamber of Commerce Sofia, and it will also actively participate in organising other regional business meetings.

ZAGREB, 12 Feb 2022 - Croatia has advised its citizens to leave Ukraine, joining other countries that have done the same for fear of a Russian attack on the country.

Croatians are also advised to avoid travel to Ukraine, particularly to areas along the border with Russia and Belarus and near the separation line with the temporarily occupied areas of the Crimea and Donbas, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said in a statement on Saturday. 

Those who cannot leave Ukraine are advised to exercise caution and contact the Croatian Embassy in Kyiv.

The United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, Australia and New Zealand have earlier urged their citizens to leave Ukraine. Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Saudi Arabia and Jordan did the same on Saturday.

As the list of countries withdrawing their citizens is increasing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday spoke out against spreading panic, saying that it only helped the enemy.

Concerns have been growing for months that Russia, which has amassed troops along the Ukrainian border, is thinking of invading Ukraine. Russian-backed rebel forces already control eastern parts of Ukraine, and Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Russia denies any such plans. It, however, has used the attention focused on the region to express its fears that NATO has come too close to its territory, demanding that the Western alliance withdraw from what Russia regards its own sphere of influence.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 12 Feb 2022 - As people are continuing to emigrate from Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Catholic Croats, the country's authorities are showing no interest in addressing this problem, the new Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sarajevo, Tomo Vukšić, warned on Saturday.

Speaking in an interview with Fena news agency, Vukšić cited data from the parishes according to which 424,000 Catholics had lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina immediately after the country's 1992-1995 war, and the country was left without as many as 100,000 Catholics in the 2003-2019 period alone.

Before the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early March 2020, slightly over 350,000 Catholics had lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and their emigration continues, the archbishop noted.

He said people were leaving because they could not find work, as well as because of hopelessness, corruption and legal uncertainty.

"This affects people of all faiths, but unfortunately just like in neighbouring countries, the government is hardly interested, which is a shame," Vukšić said.

He said that all problems, including demographics, should be dealt with faster, and that religious communities had the responsibility to establish and promote dialogue as a precondition for addressing the problems.

"Ecumenism and dialogue is achieved through open and friendly meetings with other people who are different. This is an integral and indispensable part of the identity and mission of the Catholic Church, even when perhaps others do not accept it," the archbishop said. "I want such cooperation and dialogue with everyone and will always try my best to be open."

Vukšić succeeded Cardinal Vinko Puljić, who had served as Archbishop of Sarajevo for 30 years until last month when he was retired by Pope Francis.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 12 Feb 2022 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Peđa Grbin said on Saturday that this incompetent government should be forced to do at least something to make people's lives easier in the present time of high inflation.

Speaking at a press conference in the southern coastal city of Split, Grbin said that the government should have acted four months ago rather than announce only yesterday measures that he did not expect would improve people's lives.

He acknowledged that the only thing the government had done then was cap fuel prices, which  increased again as soon as the prices were unfrozen.

Grbin said that fuel prices could only jump unless there were other measures, such as those proposed by the SDP, including the new method of VAT calculation for fuel, reduction of excise taxes, and floating excise taxes.

Speaking of the measures for combating inflation, he said that the government should show empathy and responsibility and change the present system. There are a lot of measures that can be taken, such as tax cuts on food and introducing an inflation allowance for pensioners, he added.

A s a long-term measures, the SDP proposes a change to the method of pension indexation to at least slightly improve life for pensioners and make their life more decent.

MP Branko Grčić said that the government was slow in responding to inflation and that it should change the method of VAT calculation for fuel and introduce an inflation allowance for pensioners because as many as 600,000 of them lived on the brink of poverty.

Commenting on a recent threat by Split's deputy mayor, Bojan Ivošević, to a Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper editor, Grbin said that in a country where the prime minister treats reporters arrogantly such behaviour has become normal rather than the exception. 

Grbin said that what Ivošević had done was unacceptable and should never happen. "A threat in itself is unacceptable, and making a threat just because an official is not satisfied with the way a newspaper writes about him is a step beyond that," Grbin said.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 12 Feb 2022 - In the last 24 hours 5,212 coronavirus cases, out of 11,947 tests, and 51 related deaths have been registered in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Saturday.

There are 41,261 active cases, including 2,092 hospitalised patients, of whom 168 are hooked up to ventilators, while 21,275 persons are self-isolating.

To date 56.71% of the total population, or 67.47% of adults have been vaccinated, with 65.18% of adults fully.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Croatia, 1,015,185 people have contracted the disease, of whom 14,424 have died.

ZAGREB, 12 Feb 2022 - Croatia's population has shrunk by more than half a million since 2001 but the number of employees in local government units has swollen in the past 20 years, the Večernji List daily reported on Saturday.

In municipalities, the number of local government employees has increased by 2.5 times, in cities it has increased by 50% while in counties it has doubled.

"The number of local and regional government employees has increased from 10,692 to 19,047, that is, by as much as 78.4%. The same trend can be noticed as regards employment in the state and public sectors, where in the last 13 years outlays for employees have increased by HRK 11.8 billion or 68%," MP Natalija Martinčević of the People's Party - Reformists said in parliament, calling for prompt action to change the system.

"The century we live in is a century of informatisation and digitalisation, which enables all users to obtain a whole set of services on their own and that significantly reduces the scope of work of the existing public administration," she said.

In 2020 there were 19,047 local government employees in 576 local and regional government units (428 municipalities, 127 cities, 20 counties and the City of Zagreb).

An analysis by former public administration minister Dubravka Jurlina Alibegović, a lecturer at the Zagreb Faculty of Economics, shows that in 2019, 2,409 people were employed in county government bodies, 10,777 were employed in city government bodies, and 5,861 in municipal government bodies.

That means that a county administration employs an average 120 people, a city administration close to 85, and a municipal administration 14. Comparing data for 2018 and 2019, Jurlina Alibegović showed that in that period the number of employees in municipal administration rose by as much as 7.3%, the number of county administration employees grew by 2.3% and the number of those working in city administration bodies rose by 11% in 2018 compared to 2017.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 10 Feb 2022 - PEARL Infrastructure Capital, a French investment fund specialised in financing environmental infrastructure projects, has to date invested more than €50 million in biomass co-generation plants in Croatia, it was said at a presentation of its projects in Virovitica on Thursday.

The three plants, located in eastern Croatia, generate 18 megawatt of electricity per hour from biomass. These are the Energy 9 plant in Slatina, A&A Bioenergy Viro in Virovitica, and Uni Viridas in Babina Greda.

The Pearl Infrastructure Capital Deputy General Manager, Guillaume de Forceville, said that within one year, the fund had made considerable investments in co-generation.

"We have arrived in Croatia due to its favourable regulative framework," De Forceville said.

He added that they had plans to make some more investments but stopped short of specifying the possible amounts.

The current projects, including these three plants, have created roughly 600 jobs, he added.

The economy and sustainable development ministry's state secretary, Ivo Milatić, said that such investments "are perfect for the Croatian energy sector".

These three plants are also important as they are a stable source of energy, Milatić added.

The electricity produced in the plants is sold to the Croatian grid through a state-guaranteed long-term power purchase agreement with the national operator. They also provide heat.

Milatić noted that these plants have the status of energy producers with preferential treatment, and there are many such producers in Croatia, generating 3.4 terawatt hours of electricity annually, while the annual consumption of electricity in Croatia comes to 18.5 terawatt hours.

French Ambassador to Croatia Gaël Veyssière said that the investments of the Pearl group were an example of good economic cooperation.

This is an important moment in the French presidency over the EU, and it is important to contribute to efforts to change the economy in the EU deeply so as to make the Union greener and more sustainable, and biomass is a component in that regard, said the ambassador.

Croatia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan envisages 40% of investments in green and sustainable economy and these plants are part of that, he said.

For more, check out our business section.