ZAGREB, 25 Nov 2021 - The opposition Croatian Sovereignists want the Civil Protection System Act to be amended so that parliament could approve decisions made by the national COVID-19 crisis management team, and began on Thursday to collect signatures to table the motion.

The party wants the decisions the team makes to protect people from infectious diseases to enter into force only after being approved by parliament.

The crisis management team is an artificially created body with artificial powers which, by its decisions, restricts citizens' liberties, and only parliament should decide on that, MP Marijan Pavliček told the press.

MP Vesna Vučemilović said parliament should take a more active part in decision-making on COVID rules, adding that a more active engagement by all political actors would defuse the tensions in society.

Members of parliament should say what they think of any measure proposed by the crisis management team, said MP Hrvoje Zekanović, adding that "decisions should be made in parliament, not by some para-body."

MP Marko Milanović Litre said the government must take responsibility for the team's decisions.

Asked about Austria's initiative to ban the Bleiburg commemoration, Pavliček said Croatia's diplomacy must fight for the commemoration to continue to take place, adding that "in the past few years, that gathering was dignified, without any World War II insignia."

The gathering is held annually in Loibach Field near Bleiburg, Austria to commemorate soldiers of the Nazi-allied Croatian Ustasha regime and civilians killed there at the end of WWII.

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ZAGREB, 18 Nov 2021 - In the past 24 hours Croatia has registered 7,270 new COVID-19 cases and 63 deaths, the national COVID response team reported on Thursday.

There are 39,034 active cases in the country, including 2,513 hospitalized patients, 324 of whom are on ventilators.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there have been a total of 558,270 registered cases of contagion and the death toll has climbed to 10,113. A  total of 509,123 people have recovered from the novel coronavirus, including 5,317 in the past 24 hours. Currently, there are 26,602 people self-isolating.

To date, 3,320,983 tests have been performed, with 17,230 samples taken in the past 24 hours.

As of 17 November, a total of 3,931,774 doses of a vaccine had been administered, with 51.63% of the total population, or 61.67% of the adult population, having been vaccinated.

On Wednesday alone, 33,122 doses of a vaccine were administered, with 18,574 people receiving the first dose.

To date, 2,095,085 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 1,881,107 people, or 55.60% of the adult population, have been fully vaccinated.

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ZAGREB, 15 Nov 2021 - Minister of Labour and Pension System Josip Aladrović on Monday said that there is no rational reason to reject being tested for coronavirus, underscoring that employers would decide on the fate of those who refused to be tested.

"We can try and have understanding, for a certain period of time, for people who do not wish to get vaccinated. However, there is no rational reason to reject testing and I think that we all need to show responsibility here," Aladrović told reporters.

Speaking ahead of the introduction of COVID certificates in all state and public service facilities on Tuesday, Aladrović underscored that the healthcare and welfare sectors, where COVID certificates were introduced in October, had demonstrated a high level of responsibility, adding that he did not believe other systems could encounter any major problems for introducing the certificates either.

Asked what will happen to employees who refuse to be tested, Aladrović underscored that their employers would be the ones to decide.

"The related lay-offs so far have been at the level of statistical errors. I expect a vast majority of employees will be responsible, however, employers will be the ones to decide in cases of non-compliance," he said and added that this was in line with the law.

Commenting on ongoing protests against COVID certificates, he said that they were exclusively politically motivated. "It is really difficult to find any rational reason for the protests," the minister said, adding that he expected them to wane at one point.

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ZAGREB, 7 Nov 2021 - The Homeland Movement (DP) party on Sunday condemned the plan to require COVID certificates and testing for entry into the Croatian Parliament building, saying that under the Constitution power derives from the people and not from the national coronavirus response team.

"The Homeland Movement considers the announced violent introduction of so-called COVID certificates and testing in the Croatian Parliament by a para-state body called the national response team as the nullification of the will of the people expressed in elections and the most dangerous encroachment yet upon basic human and political freedoms, civil rights and the most important values of Croatian parliamentary democracy," the party said in a statement.

The DP said that decisions by the national coronavirus response team can by no means be above Croatian laws, in particular the Constitution, condemning any form of segregation of citizens on any grounds, including on the grounds of whether someone has been vaccinated or not.

"Despite the media hype and censorship, it is an undeniable fact that the virus is spread both by people who have been vaccinated and by those who have not, so this cannot be used as an argument by the response team to nullify the will of the people," the statement said.

The party said that relevant studies questioned the efficiency of the vaccines and that this was also confirmed by case numbers. "We are not saying that the vaccine helps or does not help, but why are those who are imposing it by force not willing to accept responsibility in the event of possible side-effects?"

The Homeland Movement expects the president of the republic, church dignitaries, and all members of Parliament, regardless of their ideological views, to oppose this "violent act that is being prepared."

"Those who fail this test must be aware that by doing so they take their part of historic responsibility for nullifying the fundamental values on which the modern and democratic Croatia is based," the party said.

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November 6, 2021 - 'It is my right to have a virus, I did not and I will not be vaccinated or tested', said Homeland Movement MP Zlatko Hasanbegovic, as he announces that he will not comply with the new measures imposed by the government, and will stop attending parliament indefinitely.

As reported by Net.hr, Homeland Movement MP Zlatko Hasanbegovic said after the introduction of new measures that include covid confirmations that he would no longer come to Parliament.

"That is impossible. Even if the deputies themselves made such a decision by a two-thirds majority, it would be marginal, and to prevent us from coming to Parliament on the basis of an administrative decision of some headquarters is completely unacceptable. Someone will certainly file a constitutional complaint because of that. The Constitutional Court will rule. I have not and will not be vaccinated, and I do not want to be tested. It is my right to have the virus. As long as these measures are in force, my foot will not step into Parliament'', Hasanbegovic told Novi list.

Measures apply to everyone

Let us remind you, after the Headquarters yesterday prescribed that COVID certificates are valid for all civil and public servants, Parliament Secretary Davor Orlović said that these measures would also be applied to MPs. Simply put, anyone who wants to be in Parliament will have to be vaccinated, tested, or recovered from the virus.

"It is known what will be the way to enter the Parliament building, either on the basis of COVID certificates or the appropriate test. There is absolutely no difference between officials and employees. No details are known yet, next week the Parliamentary Presidency will discuss new measures'', Orlović said.

''We can’t separate MPs from others'', he added.

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November the 2nd, 2021 - The epidemiological controls in Croatian shopping centres, cafes and bars have been ramped up as infections climb and hospitals begin to face the same situation they did last year.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, despite the daily number of new cases of coronavirus infection approaching the five thousand mark, there are no vaccinations being carried out until Tuesday under the explanation that the interest is still weak, so mass vaccination points aren't going to be in operation on weekends. At the same time, there is now an intensified monitoring of the implementation of epidemiological measures in force.

Donna Diana Prcic from RTL has found out how many fines and warnings have been issued since Monday across Croatian shopping centres, bars and cafes.

"The inspectors came to visit us once and everything we were doing was in accordance with the provisions, our tables were separated from each other, people were wearing their masks when indoors and so far there have been no problems," said Ivan Udovic, the owner of a restaurant in Pula.

The epidemiological controls carried out by inspectors don't appear to bother residents or tourists visiting various cities and controls have also been stepped up here in the capital. One of the Croatian shopping centres was recently paid a visit by inspectors.

“We went through everything point by point for four hours. They were interested in when the ventilation system in the centre was last cleaned. They were interested in whether all entrances have mandatory notices on the doors about the obligatory wearing of masks, whether we have disinfectants at each entrance, whether employees wear masks, how the covid police service is organised and so on,'' said Marko Zupa, the communications manager of the shopping centre in question.

Just this week, the police had more work on their hands...

The Croatian police had to warn 147 individuals about not wearing masks, almost five times more than was the case last week. They also issued multiple fines, seven of them to be precise, and five others last week. Regarding violations of the decisions enforced by the Civil Protection Directorate, there were 7304 inspections and 16 violations were recorded. Civil Protection inspectors are also out in the field, and of the 1702 inspections they carried out, nine irregularities were found.

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