September 14, 2021 - The first Croatian STED microscope purchased and owned by the Ruđer Bošković Institute (IRB) in Zagreb offers new opportunities for Croatian scientists and researchers.

The super-resolution microscope (STED) worth 4.5 million kuna has become a new edition to the selection of delicate but useful equipment the Ruđer Bošković Institute (IRB) uses to tackle the hottest questions faced by modern science.

As IRB reported in its press release, the microscope made its way to Iva Tolić's lab with thanks to the European Union funds.

"Stimulated Emission Depletion microscopy (STED) is a super-resolution technic of fluorescent microscopy and one of the methods of overcoming the limitations of visible light microscopes in observing matter structures of incredibly small sizes. German physicist Stefan W Hell received the Nobel Prize for developing STED in 2014,'' informed IRB in its press release. It also stated this is the first microscope of its kind in all of Croatia.

''With the help of this STED microscope, we can see three times the amount of small structures in a cell than we could before with the standard microscopes. We'll use them for observing cell division, more precisely for chromosome division. When it comes to division, it's very important that the chromosomes are well-connected microtubules, which are protein pipes that tie chromosomes and pull them onto separate parts of the cell. With this type of microscopy, we'll be able to determine how microtubules are connected to chromosomes in various phases of spindle formation, which is still a mystery,'' explains Iva Tolić.

As TCN previously reported, Iva Tolić's team already made a significant contribution to cell biology and spindle research when their work led them to new information on microtubule-sliding.

In addition, back in 2014, the then-president of Croatia Ivo Josipović awarded her the Order of the Croatian Danica (the medal which boasts an image of a famous scientist, Ruđer Bošković) for her particular contribution to the promotion of science in Croatia and abroad.

''Tolić earned her international reputation due to her research into complex cellular processes. Namely, not so long ago, in cooperation with her colleagues from the Max Planck Institute, Tolić discovered the first potentially immortal organism – a special kind of yeast, which was isolated from African beer. This type of yeast is very special because it rejuvenates every time it reproduces. In the case of most other yeasts, the mother cell creates a young daughter cell while it ages and eventually dies. Contrary to that, the mother cell of this yeast splits into two equal daughter cells, which remain young throughout their divisions,'' wrote IRB on its website at the time of the ceremony.

With Tolić's international reputation and well-established name, as well as scientific findings found by other scientists at IRB, it is understandable that European Union funds supported the further development of IRB's equipment.

''The outstanding power of STED microscopy allows researchers to discover complicated processes in cell structures. These understandings are the basis for further research on how specific medications, chemical compounds or bacteria and viruses affect processes in a live cell,'' concluded IRB's press release.

Learn more about Croatian inventions and discoveries from Tesla to Rimac on our dedicated TC page.

For more about science in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

September 13, 2021 - The Museum Practicum Project by the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb (MSU) will teach 30 selected young people aged 15-25 about the professions of curator and other museum jobs, as well as contemporary art while giving them a chance to promote their own work.

With the many good practices of additional education and popularising scientific and educational fields for young people (such as the SCOPE Project by the Višnjan Observatory), the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb is also making its contribution in line with their field. Their Museum Practicum project that started on September the 1st and will last until June the 30th, 2022, wants to introduce young people aged 15-25 to contemporary art, and to the basics of curator practices and other types of museum work. Thirty selected people will be mentored by the project team, partners, and hired experts and artists.

''The work with these young people will be held via online platforms, and it will include moderated conversations, mentorships, and co-creating virtual exhibitions from MSU holdings and exhibitions of their own work in the medium of photography created within the project,'' says MSU's website.

In this way, the project wants to provide young people with the opportunity to develop their own creative skills and knowledge through a virtual space and open space for both their expression and self-promotion.

''Even though curriculum reforms have already started, the need for young people interested in developing their social and creative skills is strong, as the education system does not provide that enough. Additionally, there is the insufficiency in regional representation and the limited participation opportunity of young people in art and culture activities due to the lack of extracurricular activities, all of which has been additionally worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic,'' says MSU, addressing the importance of the Museum Practicum Project in light of the many issues faced by Croatian schools.

The further recognition of the importance of the project is evident by the financial support of the EU from the European Social Fund, and the total budget of the project is 201,092.83 kuna.

The Museum Practicum Project and its wider goal of educating young people in preparing virtual exhibitions is similar and in line with the Women and Technology Program at the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum, about which TCN previously wrote. Add in the overall challenges in the Croatian education system, from a lack of extracurricular activities to the previously mentioned problems of the straight A epidemic, and projects like these seem like welcome solutions to help young people recognise their worth and find passion in their lives.

Learn more about Zagreb on our TC page.

For more about education in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

September the 1st, 2021 - We have been receiving many reports of resident Brits in Croatia having their UK passports stamped at the border when entering and/or exiting Croatia. While this shouldn't be happening, these stamps are just a meaningless little souvenir and will not have any effects on your rights under the Withdrawal Agreement (WA).

Brexit has been done and dusted, and while there are still growing pains, the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic has overshadowed most of the infighting and arguing between the bloc and the Northern European island nation. With the economic part of the new relationship between the bloc, of which the UK was a powerful member for 40 years, and the UK still finding its feet, the situation with citizens' rights which plagued those affected for years has all but been cleared up.

There are, just like with everything else, certain issues still. One issue is resident Brits in Croatia having their British passports stamped upon entry and exit. It is important to state that this isn't happening all the time, but it is still happening where it shouldn't be. Here's how you can try to avoid it, and if it does happen, don't sweat it.

If you are a resident Brit in Croatia covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, you'll already (hopefully anyway) have your new ID/residence card which documents that right under Paragraph 4, Article 18 of the Agreement. This protects you and your acquired rights as you had exercised them under the freedom of movement laws which once applied to you as an EU citizen.

When crossing the Croatian border (either entering or exiting), you should always show your Croatian ID/residence card along with your British passport to the border guard in order to avoid any questioning as to your reason for entry/your reason for having been in the country and to showcase your rights.

We've been receiving reports, as stated previously, from Brits who are covered by the WA, some of which had permanent residence before Brexit even happened, who are now having their passports stamped by Croatian border guards. Naturally, this makes them worry for their rights and wonder why they, as legal tax paying residents, are being lumped in with visiting British tourists.

We have investigated why this is happening and have been assured that although it shouldn't be, it isn't anything to be concerned about and it doesn't affect your rights in any way whatsoever. The stamps can be looked upon as a little souvenir which carry no weight. As long as you can evidence that you are a legal resident of Croatia, any stamps you might have collected on your trips in and out of Croatia are meaningless.

Hopefully, as the consequences of Brexit settle and the UK and the EU's new relationship becomes the norm, such situations will stop happening. In any case, there is no need to worry about Croatian passport stamps in the UK passports of resident Brits in Croatia.

If you're a serial stamp collector despite having shown the border guard your ID/residence card and this article fails in easing your concerns, you can contact the British Embassy in Zagreb and voice your worries by clicking here.

For more, make sure to follow our politics section.

August the 30th, 2021 - The Croatian company Mi-Plast has a five billion euro solution for plastic waste up its sleeve which could save the a lot of time and money in the future.

As Novac/Vedran Marjanovic writes, Jelena Miketa from the Croatian company Mi-Plast, based in Rijeka, says that she considers it to only be a matter of time before this type of technology comes to life throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

This Rijeka company, with its close cooperation with Spanish partners, has developed a new technology for the decomposition of plastic - Ecometilal. Starting from the fact that within the European Union alone, a quarter of plastic waste ends up in landfills, these Croatian and Spanish partners launched the developmental phase of the Ecometilala project back in 2016 from European Union funds, which was all concluded back in March this year.

"The total research budget of Ecometilal stood at two million euros, and the results of the project showed that the combination of gasification and synthesis is sustainable for recycling plastic waste of a complex composition from different sources," said a report on the topic.

After the completion of the research, the next step is to offer this technology to the economy, and in support of the assessment from the beginning of the text, Jelena Miketa has cited some concrete examples of market interest in Ecometilal.

''Our Spanish partner in the project, Blue Plasma Power, the owner of the KHGP technology patent, is already in negotiations with European investors who see a lot of potential, so the plan is to construct an industrial space in Spain over the next few years, and there are also stakeholders from Saudi Arabia,'' revealed Mi-Plast's Jelena, which is otherwise a family company owned by Davorin Miketa Petek.

The Croatian company Mi-Plast was moved back in 1991 from Banja Luka to Rijeka, and since 1993, it has been engaged in the production, distribution and recycling of polyethylene packaging used in industry, households, construction, agriculture and tourism.

When asked if other Croatian companies are interested in Ecometilal technology, Jelena Miketa said that several companies in the country have expressed interest and support.

''Here in Croatia, support was given to the entire project team and the idea of ​​a new type of chemical recycling of waste, which results in the creation of a new eco-product for a wider purpose. However, Croatian companies still suspect that the initial investment is too expensive, and the procedure is too complicated, and that the initial incentive should come from government agencies that will recognise the long-term benefits for Croatia in the technology of the Ecometilala project,'' she explained.

The aforementioned interest of the state in encouraging the production and use of methyl for the decomposition of plastics stems, among other things, comes from the fact that back in January this year, the Council of the European Union began to apply the relevant EU directive on such waste in landfills.

According to Jelena Miketa, the aforementioned tax amounts to 800 euros per tonne of unrecycled plastic waste, and given the fact that here in Croatia, about 40 thousand tonnes of such packaging is disposed of in landfills, the tax liability of the country for non-recycled plastic waste would amount to a massive 32 million euros per year.

''The estimated value of the use of Ecometilal and the annual operating cost are approximately several times less than the amount by which the EU would additionally tax Croatia for its plastic waste,'' commented Jelena.

Given the additional taxation and other costs of disposing of non-recycled plastics, the estimate of a 5 billion euro market for the Croatian company Mi-Plast's Ecometilal technology seems quite reasonable indeed.

''The application of methyl is wide and diverse in the chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and petroleum industries. These industries consume most of the methyl due to the low level of toxicity, the high dissolution power and low viscosity,'' explained Jelena, adding that this is applicable not only as a solvent, but also as a chemical reagent, a base material, as well as as a substitute for other types of solvents in various chemical processes.

''Methylal is also used as a special purpose fuel, as an additive to gasoline fuel. In any case, what's crucial is that the raw material from which this high-potential and widely applicable chemical product is obtained is waste, more precisely, that waste that can't really be recycled by conventional recycling methods, so such waste usually ends up in landfills,'' said Jelena.

Waste that can be used in plants developed by the Croatian company Mi-Plast and its Spanish partners includes, inter alia, multilayer food packaging, heavily soiled packaging, plastic from electrical and electronic devices containing inorganic materials for strength and insulating properties, and plastic from the automotive industry that comes combined with foam, sponge and other textiles.

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

ZAGREB, 19 Aug, 2021 - The latest report on the absorption of funding from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) shows that since its EU entry in 2013 until 11 August 2021, Croatia absorbed HRK 43.15 million more from the EU budget than it paid into it, the Regional Development and EU Funds Ministry has said.

In the 2014-2020 period, Croatia had €10.7 billion from ESIF at its disposal, the ministry said in a statement on the report presented by Minister Nataša Tramišak and adopted at a closed-door government session on Thursday.

Until 11 August 2021, contracts were signed for projects worth €13.12 billion or 122.22% of the allocated amount.

Payments were made in the amount of €6.32 billion or 58.89% of the allocation and €5.27 billion was verified, or 49.13% of the allocation.

In the period from 2013 to 11 August 2021 the difference between EU funds paid into Croatia's budget and national funds paid into the EU budget amounted to HRK 43.15 billion (€5.75bn) in Croatia's favour, the Ministry said.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page

August the 19th, 2021 - Croatian state inspectors will be able to use secret identities under new rules and new powers as Croatia aligns itself with another new EU regulation.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to the bill that has just been put up for public consultation, Croatian state inspectors will be able to purchase samples, including under secret identities, when checking the technical requirements and assessing the conformity of industrial products out on the market, and the costs will be borne by the responsible companies.

This is part of the process of harmonising Croatian legislation with the new European regulations, which came into force this summer and which complements and strengthens product supervision on the European Union's single market.

As stated in the explanation of the proposal of the Croatian Law on Technical Requirements for Products and Conformity Assessment, the bill is set to regulate the manner of prescribing technical requirements for products, the obligations of economic operators, the prescribing of the requirements which need to be met by conformity assessment bodies, product contact points, single liaison office and cross-border mutual assistance, and inspection and misdemeanor provisions.

Its adoption is proposed by urgent procedure because EU Regulation 2019/1020 has been in full force since the 16th of July, and Croatia has an obligation to ensure the proper conditions for its implementation as soon as possible.

Of course, the inspection of products upon import for their placement on the EU market is performed by the Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance, and the powers of the Croatian state inspectors themselves and the administrative measures related to them are prescribed in detail.

This European Union regulation provides for the granting of these powers to market surveillance authorities, and this is especially applicable, as has been stated, in cases where products are sold at a distance, ie via the Internet. The EU regulation itself enumerates a number of powers for market surveillance authorities, including the power to purchase product samples under a secret identity "in order to inspect those samples and reverse engineer them to establish non-conformities and gather evidence".

The misdemeanor provisions state that a fine of 50,000 kuna to 1 million kuna will be imposed in the case of violations carried out by manufacturers and authorised representatives if they place a product out onto the market that isn't designed and manufactured in accordance with the regulations, if they fail to test samples, if they don't provide the competent inspector with all data and documents, if they don't affix the prescribed CE marking or if they're marked with markings that are similar to the CE marking and may mislead consumers, as well as for a number of other infringements.

For them, the responsible person from the company will be fined from 20 to 50 thousand kuna. The importer will be fined from 25 to 500 thousand kuna, and the responsible person from 15 to 50 thousand kuna, writes Jutarnji list.

Penalties are also provided for distributors, and "order providers" are also listed. These are all those who offer warehousing, packaging, addressing and shipping services within the trade, excluding postal services.

For more, follow our business section.

August the 19th, 2021 - The Croatian Chamber of Notaries is involved in an international project called ''Undisputed Trials in Europe/ Nesporno sudovanje u Europi'', which is being co-financed by the European Commission (EC).

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, the project the Croatian Chamber of Notaries is involved in has the purpose of studying and analysing the procedures within the jurisdiction(s) that Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia have all respectively entrusted to notaries.

In the first place, this refers to probate proceedings which in almost all of the aforementioned countries, to a greater or lesser extent, are carried out by public notaties as commissioners of the Municipal Courts in whose territory they have their seat.

The project also includes CNUE - Council of Notaries of the European Union, which has developed the European Notary Network (ENN), a platform that serves notaries public in 22 European Union member states (which have a public notary services available in them) for mutual communication and assistance in all situations when working on cases with an element of foreignness to them.

In addition to the above, they were also involved in the project "Inheritance in Europe/Nasljedjivanje u Europi'', and the purpose of that was to analyse the application of the EU Inheritance Regulation over the past five years in the territory of 22 EU member states and to identify the European Commission's recommendations for the procedure of future amendments to that same regulation.

The results of the analysis are expected in the second half of 2022, and the application of this regulation through one procedure for all assets avoids the implementation of special probate procedures in all member states of the bloc.

The transfer of ownership of property to heirs under a decision on inheritance from another country is carried out according to the European Certificate of Inheritance (EPN), which was also introduced by the same regulation.

Here in the Republic of Croatia, it is issued by a public notary who issues a decision on inheritance and it isn't necessary to conduct long and expensive procedures for recognising a foreign court decision, which speeds up the process and reduces the costs of claiming inheritance.

For more, follow our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 17 Aug, 2021 - The GLAS party on Tuesday requested that at today's extraordinary meeting of European foreign ministers, Gordan Grlić Radman of Croatia advocate a proactive role of the EU in taking care of refugees and protecting the human rights of Afghan citizens, especially women and girls.

"The images from Afghanistan must not leave us indifferent, nor can we pretend that is not our concern," GLAS said in the press release and requested that Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Grlić Radman openly advocate a proactive role of the EU in taking care of refugees.

"In its foreign policy and action within the EU, Croatia must build recognizability on the promotion and protection of human rights as well as on empathy and advocacy of human life as the highest value. Our experience of war destruction and suffering gives us not only an additional moral obligation to always be the first to advocate these values, but in such traumatic situations it can also be an important contribution to the EU policy and activities it plans to take," the opposition party said in the press release.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

August the 13th, 2021 - Original Croatian products have been placed on a brand new European Union (EU) portal, putting a spring in the step of the many much loved domestic products this country traditionally produces.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the European Commission (EU) has created an online portal on products with special geographical labels called GIview, which provides an overview of these products protected by and across the European Union, including designations in the process of protection and geographical indications of non-EU countries.

It is brand new a portal where product information is presented in the form of what's known as a GI card containing the contact details of groups of manufacturers of geographical labels and their control bodies, the product's production area shown on the map, photos and the product's description, the geographical area and any sustainability statements.

As the youngest member state of the European Union, the Republic of Croatia and as such original Croatian products are currently in ninth place in terms of the number of registered names of agricultural and food products, and the first on the list of products with this sought after label was prosciutto from Krk.

Croatian producers of these products, in addition to recording an increasing trend in sales on both domestic and European markets, point out that protected geographical labels and authenticity are not only important for product recognition, but also have the function of protection from the threat of the grey market.

Today, there are 31 protected original Croatian products, 21 more name protection procedures are underway, and the last to be registered as far as Croatian wine goes was Muskat Momjanski, which has been labelled since the beginning of August.

For more information on original Croatian products, special European Union labels and much more, make sure to check out our Made in Croatia section.

ZAGREB, 27 July, 2021 - Croatian President and Armed Forces Commander in Chief Zoran Milanović met on Tuesday with General Claudio Graziano, the Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, the President's Office said in a press release.

Graziano thanked Milanović for the participation of the Croatian Armed Forces in EU-led missions and operations.

They talked about the Strategic Compass document which is expected to give the EU clear security and defence guidelines in the coming period.

The talks also focused on battle groups, operations and missions led by the EU, cooperation between the EU and NATO, and the development of the Union's defence and security capabilities, the press release said.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page