ZAGREB, 4 March (2022) - The GONG nongovernmental organisation on Friday opened a three-day online conference "Open data against infodemic" on the occasion of the 9th Open Data Day, to promote the importance of publicly available, open data which the NGO describes as a valuable social resource.

GONG executive director Oriana Ivković Novokmet said the conference would include three panel discussions, one of which would focus on the coronavirus infection and disinformation during the pandemic.

Experts from the universities of Rijeka, Osijek and Dubrovnik will be discussing how false coronavirus information is spread and who the most influential disinformers are.

The second panel, entitled "Data only for the rich," deals with the availability of spatial data, environmental data and data on public companies.

Ivković Novokmet said the latest amendments to the Right to Access Information Act, seeking to align the law with the EU Open Data Directive, was a step backward in terms of access to information standards because data on public spending would require the proportionality and public interest tests in a whole set of cases. GONG also considers as disputable the fact that public companies that make their income on the market, like FINA or Zagreb Holding, would be able to charge for the use of their data.

The third panel, entitled "Who is paying you," deals with the financing of civil sector organisations, Ivković Novokmet said, recalling a "defamation campaign" against civil society organisations during the 2021 local elections.

The event will also include workshops, as well as a discussion on Croatian, Hungarian and Russian officials' real estate in Croatia and the financing of media by the state and local budgets.

Lana Podgoršek of the Code for Croatia civic hackers' group said the conference would provide an opportunity for citizens to ask about anything regarding open data, public procurement transparency, civic hacking and the group's community projects.

Code for Croatia is an initiative that brings together activists and programmers and everyone else interested in open data and socially useful community projects.

Podgoršek also presented the group's new project, called "Fix it," a portal where citizens can report any damage to public infrastructure.

The "Open data against infodemic" conference can be followed on GONG and Code for Croatia's YouTube channels and on GONG's Facebook account.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 4 March (2022) - Data by the World Health Organisation show that in the past four decades obesity in the EU has tripled, and according to Eurostat data, Croatians are one of the fattest European nations, endocrinologist Maja Baretić has warned on the occasion of World Obesity Day.

This is due to the size of meals consisting of sweets, snacks and soft drinks having increased by 20%-100% compared to the 1960s, and the fact that the average European spends more than five hours a day sitting, says Baretić, who heads the Health Ministry's Centre for Obesity Treatment.

The expert notes that the situation has been additionally aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with people spending more than five hours a day sitting and eating increasingly big meals, which, she says, may well result in more than half of Europe's population being obese by 2030.

The slogan of this year's World Obesity Day is "Everybody needs to act", and the Croatian campaign will include awareness-raising events in Zagreb, Osijek, Rijeka, Solin and Sinj.

As many as 65% of adult Croatians overweight 

According to data from the Croatian Public Health Institute, in 2019, 34% of adult Croatians had a normal body weight, 1% were undernourished, and as many as 65% were overweight or obese.

The higher the age group, the higher the share of overweight people. That share is the lowest in the age group 18-24, 25%, and it is the highest in the age group 65-74, 79%.

A particularly worrying fact is that one in three children aged 8-9 are overweight, which puts Croatia among the five European countries that fare worst in that regard, says Baretić.

Obesity requires treatment because 44% of cases of type 2 diabetes can be attributed to excessive weight, as can 23% of cases of ischemic heart disease. Between 7% and 41% of certain types of cancer are caused by obesity.

Every year up to 7% of health budgets in EU member states is spent on diseases that can be linked with obesity.

Treatment requires a change of lifestyle, including introduction of a proper diet and regular physical activity. If that proves ineffective, drug treatment and surgery are introduced, and many patients also need psychological support.

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ZAGREB, 26 Feb 2022 - Croatia can provide for 3,500 persons from Ukraine at the moment and plans are being made so that up to 17,000 can be accommodated, Davor Spevec of the Civil Protection Directorate said in Slavonski Brod on Saturday.

The first six persons from Ukraine arrived in Croatia yesterday and they did not need the assistance of public services as they had private accommodation, he said.

"We have plans and places. They are hotels, hostels, dormitories... throughout Croatia," Spevec said, adding that if necessary bigger accommodation capacity will be provided.

He was in Slavonski Brod to attend a ceremony marking European 112 Day, International Civil Protection Day and Croatian Civil Protection Day.

ZAGREB, 26 Feb 2022 - In the last 24 hours, there have been 1,871 new cases of the infection with coronavirus in Croatia, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said on Saturday.

Also in the last 24 hours, the infectious disease has taken 22 more lives, bringing the COVID-related death toll to 15,012, which has thus passed the grim mark of 15,000 deaths in two years since the first registered case of the infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the country on 25 February 2020.

There are currently 16,610 active cases of the coronavirus infection, and of them 1,389 are hospitalised patients, including 104 placed on ventilators.

Since the start of the pandemic in Croatia, over 4.5 million tests have been conducted, and 5,666 in the last 24 hours. The data collected by the national COVID-19 crisis management team show that there have been a total of 1,053,568 cases of coronavirus in Croatia.

So far, 65.48% of adult Croatian have fully been vaccinated.

ZAGREB, 26 Feb 2022 - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Saturday thanked Croatia for its support to Kyiv and to sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Kuleba held a telephone conversation with Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman.

"Zagreb recalls the early 1990s when Ukraine helped Croatia through practical decisions during the Homeland War. Croatia is now reciprocating for our support. I thank Croatia for its support to the EU sanctions against the Russian invaders," the Ukrainian minister tweeted.

On 11 December 1991, Ukraine recognised Croatia, being thus the first United Nations member state to do that. Ukraine did it after Slovenia and Lithuania, which also at that time had not still gained international recognition, recognised Croatia.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 26 Feb 2022 - The head of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Križevci, a diocese of the Catholic Church for Eastern Catholics of Byzantine Rite in the northern Croatia, on Friday expressed solidarity with all in Ukraine affected by the war.

Bishop Milan Stipić issued a letter in which he expressed "Christian and brotherly solidarity" with the Ukrainians.

Last October, the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Križevci, marked the 120th anniversary of the arrival of ethnic Ukrainians in Croatia, and in attendance at the ceremony was Ambassador Vasyl Kyrylych. Ukrainians started settling in Croatia at the beginning of the 20th century, most of them had come from western Ukraine in Craotian areas that used to be parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time.

The reverend recalls that his eparchy included believers of the Ukrainian ethnicity and that they are very concerned about the destiny of their family members and relatives in Ukraine.

"We, together with the whole Christian world, appeal to world leaders for finding a peaceful solution to the current conflict and for the end of the hostilities in Ukraine as well as for making efforts to prevent the spillover of this conflict to other parts of the world," Stipić says in his letter.

The Caritas charity of this eparchy is also collecting funds for the assistance to Ukraine.

The Greek Catholic Church is a Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See.

ZAGREB, 26 Feb 2022 - Croatia's Tax Administration estimates that the amount of tax returns this year will be similar to last year when approximately HRK 1.89 billion (€252 million) was reimbursed to taxpayers for excess amount paid to the state budget.

The tax filing deadline expires on 28 February, while the reimbursement of overpaid tax starts on 2 May.

In response to an inquiry from Hina, the Tax Administration has said that until 20 February 2022, the procedure of the assessment of tax base and tax liability concerning the income tax was conducted for 694,674 tax payers. It has been established that 633,278 of them paid excess amount as tax and they are entitled to the tax refund in the amount of 1.73 billion kuna, while 50,006 are expected to pay an additional HRK 107.25 million as tax in arrears. The remaining 11,390 tax payers had nothing for reimbursed tax refund or for additional payment.

Persons obliged to fill out their own tax returns are owners of enterprises, freelancers or for instance,  seafarers on international shipping lines and Croatian residents who earned income abroad in previous years.

After income tax was abolished for young people up to 25 years of age and taxation for those between 26 and 30 was cut by 50%, about 142,000 young people were covered by this scheme in 2020 when they received about HRK 700 million in tax returns based on changes to taxation in the fourth round of reform which entered into force at the start of 2020.

The Tax Administration expects the similar number of tax refunds and the similar amount of reimbursement under this scheme this year, too. 

The Tax Administration is the administrative unit within the Ministry of Finance whose basic task is to implement tax regulations and regulations concerning the payment of obligatory contributions.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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

ZAGREB, 26 Feb 2022 - The size of the areas sown with crops during the 2021 autumn sowing season in Croatia increased 2.8% to 260,000 hectares, compared to the previous autumn season, according to the data provided by the national statistical office (DZS).

During the 2021 autumn sowing, the areas sown with cereals increased 5.8% on the year.

Broken down by type of cereals, wheat amounted to 67.8% of sown cereals last autumn. It was planted on 160,000 hectares or 10.3% more on the year.

Barley follows with a share of 23.7% , being sown on 56,000 hectares, up 1,8%.

Oilseed rape was planted on 24,000 hectares, down by 20% or by 6,000 hectares fewer than the year before.

The sowing of oilseed rape amounted to 9.2% in the total areas sown with crops during the 2021 autumn sowing season.

ZAGREB, 25 Feb 2022 - Croatian medical organisations on Friday strongly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, expressing solidarity with Ukrainian doctors and people.

The Croatian Medical Chamber, the Croatian Medical Association and the Croatian Medical Union pointed out their readiness to provide humanitarian and medical assistance to Ukrainian refugees and wounded people.

"Croatian doctors today stand firmly with their Ukrainian colleagues and the Ukrainian people," they said, recalling the assistance Ukraine had provided to Croatia during the 1991-1995 Homeland War.

ZAGREB, 25 Feb 2022 - Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine represents the violation of all principles of international law and bears a resemblance of the aggression on Croatia in 1991, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Brussels on Friday.

"Aggression of this type against Ukraine represents a denial of all values on which the international order is based, and is violation of all the principles of international law," Plenković said.

 He described Russia's aggression on Ukraine as brutal.

Commenting on the Ukrainian President's appeal, Plenković said that the situation resembled what happened to Croatia in 1991.

It is very similar, however, this invasion is of a much larger scale, said the Croatian PM.

This is a clash between democratic systems and the systems that do not change the authorities very often, he said.

Sanctions imposed on Russia without impact on Croatia

The leaders of the European Union on Thursday reached agreement on new sanctions on the Russian financial, energy and transport sectors.

Russian banks Sberbank and VTB  hold an interest in the Croatian Fortenova retail and food group, and Plenković said that he did not believe that this kind of the sanctions against the Russian banking system would produce a large impact on the ownership of Fortenova.

In general, Plenković does not think that Croatia's economy would suffer from big consequences of the sanctions on Russia.

There are discussions on cutting Russia off from the SWIFT global interbank payments system as part of their sanctions against Moscow for invading Ukraine.

We are ready for the sanctions concerning SWIFT, just as most of the EU members are ready, Plenković said in Brussels.

However, media outlets speculate that Germany, Italy, Cyprus and Hungary oppose such sanction.

Concerning the restriction on the delivery of Russian gas supplies, Plenković said efforts were being made to procure gas supplies from Norway, Azerbaijan and Libya and to procure liquefied gas.

In the long run, a new network of gas supplies provision is being created, he said.