May the 3rd, 2022 - Three Croatian regions in different parts of the country are set to get their hands on as much as 506 million kuna in the name of pushing the green and digital transition forward.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the three Croatian regions of Pannonian Croatia, Northern and Adriatic Croatia will receive a separate allocation of 506 million euros for further investments in green and digital transition of their local economies, as was announced on Friday the Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, Natasa Tramisak, at the opening the Conference on Industrial Transition of Croatian Regions held at the Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences in Osijek.

Back in December 2020, the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union (EU) Funds began the process of industrial transition of NUTS 2 Croatian regions, which includes Adriatic, Northern and Pannonian Croatia. Namely, these regions are significantly below the EU development average and have the potential to strengthen their respective competitiveness by using the opportunities offered by global trends to revive economic growth and increase overall productivity.

The transition will be implemented with the help of European Union funds under the new Integrated Territorial Programme, which provides for the allocation of 506 million euros, which will be available only to enterprises owners and businessmen from the aforementioned three Croatian regions.

"We're completing the process of approving operational programmes, of which the plans for the industrial transition of Croatian regions for the period 2021-2027 are an integral part," added Tramisak.

Croatia's more obvious shift at least towards the digital transition occurred primarily as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic which saw very many ''in person'' errands quickly made available online, and more and more can be done administratively from the comfort of the home thanks to the popular e-Citizens (e-Gradjani) portal. That said, Croatia is still very much behind the times in many of these aspects, hence the cash injections aimed at improving this quickly as part of the EU's wider goals as a bloc.

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

May the 2nd, 2022 - Even though the company responsible for constructing the long awaited Peljesac bridge has been working day and night to get the massive project completed by the prescribed deadline, many of us thought the delays would just keep on rolling in for this gigantic Croatian and European Union project which will unite Croatian territory (the extreme south of Dalmatia and the rest of the country) to be completed.

It now seems that we can say with confidence that you'll finally be able to drive across the strategic project at the end of July this year.

Peljesac bridge, which will cut out the need for people driving to and from the extreme south of Dalmatia to cross into neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and then back out again (more precisely through the town of Neum, that country's only piece of coastline), is often referred to as the most significant project since the declaration of Croatian independence.

As Morski writes, Peljesac Bridge is finally scheduled to open this July, along with most of the access roads which have been taking some time to get completed. An HRT team visited the site to look at what stage the works on the bridge were at and whether they were affected by the recent earthquakes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were most felt in the wider Dubrovnik area.

''According to the current plans and dynamics of the works, people will likely be able to drive across Peljesac bridge during the second half of July when the works on the access roads are completed,'' said Jeroslav Segedin, the project manager for the Peljesac Bridge - Croatian roads (Hrvatske ceste).

He added that the technical inspection of the bridge has been performed, and that some minor shortcomings were noticed, which have been eliminated over more recent days. As for the bridge itself as a construction, everything is completely finished now, he pointed out. He also referred to the most technically demanding part - the Ston bypass.

''The construction of the bridge near Ston has been set, welded, and now a concrete slab is set to be built. It is expected to take four months, so in October or November these works should also be completed,'' he said. Segedin said the recent earthquake in Bosnia and Herzegovina didn't affect Peljesac bridge or any of the ongoing works and finalisations.

''When calculating the load-bearing capacity and stability of the bridge structure, one of the parameters is the seismic load, which in this case was much higher than what the earthquake was. We were more worried about how the earthquake affected other facilities along the route - viaducts, the Ston bridge, tunnels, which are still in the construction phase and haven't yet been completed. Fortunately, no damage or indicators were noticed that would suggest that something unexpected may have happened with any of the above,'' concluded Segedin.

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

May the 2nd, 2022 - The Croatian capital city of Zagreb is aiming to withdrawn the maximum amount of European Union (EU) cash possible in order to complete all of its planned projects.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the City of Zagreb is among 100 European Union cities and partner countries that will participate in the so-called ''mission of EU cities'', which aims to reduce the carbon footprint being caused in them to an absolute minimum by the year 2030, for which the European Union will allocate 350 million euros from the Horizon Europe programme. According to the European Commission (EC), 75 percent of EU citizens currently live in urban areas.

These areas account for more than 65 percent of the world's energy consumption, and thus more than 70 percent of its CO2 emissions. It is therefore important that cities such as Zagreb be ecosystems for experimentation and innovation to help everyone else in their transition become entirely climate-neutral by 2050. The European Commission will invite 100 selected cities, including Zagreb, to draw up climate agreements, which will include a general plan to achieve climate neutrality across all sectors.

Zorislav Antun Petrovic, President of the Environment Committee of the Zagreb City Assembly, claims that Zagreb is fully ready for the energy transition.

"A few months ago, we presented precisely how we see the green transition of Zagreb to the Committee. The focus is being placed on renewable energy sources, first of all numerous solar power plants on public buildings, and then on private ones, ecological transport, the energy efficiency of lighting - where a lot has already been carried out.

There is also green integrated planning, a centralised heating system, geothermal energy, an energy efficient block reconstruction of the city following the aftermath of the 2020 earthquake, sustainable social housing, a sustainable urban mobility and ZET as a green energy transit on the list, too,'' explained Petrovic, adding hat he is more than sure that Zagreb will be able to withdraw the maximum amount of funds for its planned projects from this EU project as well.

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

April the 26th, 2022 - Croatian public debt is continuing to fall, so much so that this decrease has placed the country at the very top of the list of European Union (EU) member states.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the public debt across the European Union and within the Eurozone itself, expressed as a share of GDP, decreased in the fourth quarter of 2021 thanks to the recovery of the economy following the coronavirus crisis, and the Republic of Croatia is among the countries with the biggest decline, a Eurostat report showed last week. At the EU level, public debt as a share of GDP stood at 88.1 percent at the end of 2021.

When it comes to Croatian public debt, consolidated general government debt amounted to 343.6 billion kuna back at the end of December, which corresponded to 79.8 percent of the nation's overall GDP.

Back at the end of September 2021, Croatian public debt amounted to 345.3 billion kuna, which corresponded to 82.7 percent of domestic GDP. At the end of pandemic-dominated 2020, it amounted to 330.4 billion kuna, which corresponded to 87.3 percent of GDP. When it comes to other EU member states, Estonia had the lowest level of public debt at the end of last year, standing at a mere 18.1 percent.

In most European Union countries, public debt as a share of GDP was lower at the end of last year than it was back at the end of 2020, the first year of the global coronavirus pandemic, thanks to a recovery in the economy that was spurred by the easing of epidemiological measures in many countries.

Compared to the end of 2020, public debt decreased the most in Greece and Cyprus, by 13.1 and 11.4 percentage points, respectively. Those countries are followed by Portugal and Croatia, whose public debt as a share of GDP in the fourth quarter was lower by 7.8 and 7.5 percentage points, respectively.

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

ZAGREB, 20 April 2022 - The European Union's industrial production recovered in February, fuelled by production of durable consumer goods, and Croatia was among the member states with the largest increases in output, according to Eurostat data released on Wednesday.

In the European Union, the seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 0.6% in February compared with January, when it declined by 0.3%. In the euro area, industrial production increased by 0.7% compared with the previous month when it fell by 0.7%.

Monthly comparison

Production of durable consumer goods increased the most, by 2.4% in the EU and by 2.7% in the euro area. In January, it fell by 0.4% in the EU and by 0.8% in the euro area.

Only the energy sector recorded a decrease, of 0.6% in the EU and 1.1% in the euro area.

Among member states, the highest monthly increases were registered in Italy (+4.0%), Croatia (+2.7%) and Ireland (+2.4%). 

It was the highest rate for Croatia since March 2021. In January 2022, industrial production in Croatia fell by 0.5%.

The largest decreases were observed in Slovenia (-8.3%), Lithuania (-3.8%) and Malta (-2.7%).

Annual comparison

In February 2022 compared with February 2021, industrial production increased by 3.0% in the EU and by 2.0% in the euro area. In January 2022, industrial production stagnated in the EU and declined by 1.5% in the euro area.

The recovery was driven by production of durable consumer goods, which increased by 6.3% in the EU and by 5.8% in the euro area. In January, production in this sector rose by 1.5% in the EU and stagnated in the euro area.

Only capital goods production decreased, by 2.1% in the EU and by 3.1% in the euro area.

Among member states, the highest annual increases were registered in Lithuania (+20.4%), Poland (+17.8%) and Bulgaria (+14.4%), while the largest decreases were observed in Ireland (-14.1%), Portugal (-5.7%) and Malta (-3.5%).

In Croatia, industrial production increased by 4.1% in February 2022 compared with February 2021, following an increase of 3.5% in January 2022.

For more, check out our business section.

ZAGREB, 6 April 2022 - Croatia on Wednesday received two reasoned opinions as part of the April package of EU law infringements, which the European Commission publishes once a month.

Together with Spain and Luxembourg, Croatia has been given a reasoned opinion for failing to ensure complete transposition into national legislation of the Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings.

The directive introduces new elements to strengthen the existing framework, such as minimum requirements regarding the energy properties of new buildings, electromobility and charging stations, as well as new rules on heating and air conditioning system inspections.

The directive is aimed at modernising the construction sector in terms of technological improvements, and increasing the low rates of reconstruction of buildings to improve the energy efficiency of the EU housing stock.

The revised provisions should have been transposed into national legislation by 10 March 2020. In May 2020 all three member states received a formal warning over failure to transpose the directive.

After reviewing national measures, the EC considers that the transposition of the directive into national law in Croatia, Spain and Luxembourg has not been completed and is now sending them a reasoned opinion.

The countries have two months to respond and if the EC does not receive a satisfactory response, it can decide to refer their cases to the Court of the EU.

The second reasoned opinion, which Croatia received along with eight other member states, refers to the Open Data Directive.

The EC wants the nine member states to provide information on how EU rules on open data and the re-use of public sector information from the Open Data Directive have been transposed into national law.

The deadline for this expired on 17 July 2021 and the member states concerned have not stated all national measures despite formal warnings sent on 30 September 2021.

The directive, adopted on 20 June 2019, aims to use the advantages of using open data and help enable the re-use of the public sector's huge and valuable base of data resources.

This will reduce obstacles to the entry of small and medium companies into the market because costs of data re-use will be reduced, more data will be made available and new business opportunities will be created owing to the exchange of data through the Application Programming Interface.

The directive encourages the development of innovative solutions such as mobility applications, it increases transparency by enabling access to publicly funded research data and supports new technologies, including artificial intelligence. If it does not receive a satisfactory response in two months' time, the EC may decide to refer the case to the EU Court.

The EC, as the guardian of the Treaties, launches EU law infringement procedures based on its own investigations or acting on citizens', companies' or other stakeholders' complaints.

Most of the cases are resolved before they are referred to the Court of the EU.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 3 April 2022 - About 150 people in Croatia are annually diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and the survival rate is about 5% below the EU average, a round table on the treatment and quality of life of AML patients heard earlier this week.

"In Croatia, every week three persons are told they have AML, which is 156 annually, according to data from the Cancer Register for 2019. The five-year survival rate is 12.6%, compared to the EU average of 17.2%, which shows that there is considerable room for improving treatment", the participating doctors and patients said at the round table.

AML is the most common type of acute leukemia in adulthood and the most frequent age at diagnosis is 65 years, with increasing incidence after 65 years of age. It has the lowest survival rate compared to other types of leukemia and is treatable in about 40 per cent of patients aged under 60 years, most frequently by bone marrow transplantation from an unrelated donor.

"In Croatia, we have 70,000 bone marrow samples and we can find an unrelated donor relatively quickly, which is why nearly every patient in Croatia has a chance to get a transplant and be cured. The number of transplantations has reached one hundred annually, which is within the European average," haematologist Radovan Vrhovac said.

For more, check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

April the 1st, 2022 - Croatian wages paid per hour rather unsurprisingly fall short of the European Union (EU) average, even with state benefits included in the final sum.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the price of an hour of work, which includes state benefits, stood at a mere 11.2 euros back in 2021, according to a report which looked into the matter by Lider.

The survey, conducted at the level of the European Union, showed just how below Croatian wages paid by hour are when compared to the general European Union average, given that the average cost of labour in the EU stood at 29.1 euros, and 32.8 euros in the Eurozone.

It isn't remotely encouraging that the Republic of Croatia has found itself in an extremely unimpressive fifth place on the list. As in fifth from the end, not from the beginning. In the EU, Latvia has lower labour costs than Croatia does, with costs of 11.1 euros, in neighbouring Hungary, the same costs stand at 10.4 euros, in Romania, the somewhat infamous 8.5 euros remains so, and last on the list comes Bulgaria, where the cost of an hour of work it costs a mere seven euros.

At the same time, Western countries, with which Croatia often likes to (rather unrealistically) compare itself to, are somewhat different.

The highest labour costs can be found in Denmark, where an hour of work costs a far, far higher 46.9 euros. Right behind it are Luxembourg, with 43 euros, Belgium, with 41.6 euros, and then France, the Netherlands and Sweden, with just under 40 euros per hour.

Austria, Germany and Ireland, countries where Croats often head to with hopes of a more stable economic situation and better prospects, are among the best in the European Union when we look at how much employers have to spend in order to have workers.

In Austria, the price of an hour of work stands at 37.5 euros, in Germany it is negligibly lower - 37.2 euros - and Ireland follows them closely with 33.5 euros per hour of labour.

For more on Croatian wages, the domestic economy and working in Croatia, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.

March the 23rd, 2022 - Croatian MEP Biljana Borzan has asked quite the valid question: Why isn't the Croatian Government doing more to lobby for the Croatian label in Brussels as a new rule on food packaging is set to come into force?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the European Union (EU) will soon introduce mandatory nutrition labels for food on packaging, and EU member states are currently vigorously lobbying for their national labels to be chosen. Croatia, quite unsurprisingly, isn't doing the same. MEP Biljana Borzan warned that Croatia is simply ignoring the existence of the "Live Healthy" label in Brussels, which, with co-financing from EU funds, was developed by the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

''Across the EU, eight labels are used on a voluntary basis, Croatia should be proud and take advantage of the fact that one of these is the Croatian "Live Healthy" label, and of course, Croatia should lobby to be elected. However, a meeting of representatives of EU member states was held on March the 11th to discuss this very topic, and according to the minutes taken, our representatives didn't even bother to mention that there is a Croatian label at all, let alone lobby for its use. The meeting was organised by Italy, which harnessed significant diplomatic resources for their so-called "Battery" label, and Croatia is indirectly supporting it with its silence, warned Biljana Borzan, who has long advocated the introduction of a single EU label.

At the end of 2022, the European Commission (EC) will propose a single label system for the entire European Union (single) market, in order to better inform the public and combat the growing problem of obesity and other such related diseases. This is part of the "From the field to the table" strategy, for which vice president Biljana Borzan is in charge on behalf of the Eurosocialists.

''More than 950,000 people died across the EU in 2017 as a result of eating an unhealthy diet, mainly from heart disease and cancer, and Croatia is worse than the average. The new labels will help customers find more nutritious products on store shelves. These new labels must be noticeable, easy to understand and based on scientific knowledge. These are the characteristics of "Live Healthy", which is well known to the Croatian food industry. Significant amounts of money from EU funds have been invested in its promotion, and the inactivity and lack of information of the representatives of the Croatian Government in Brussels is all the more inadmissible,'' Biljana Borzan believes.

The MEP added that the Eurobarometer survey showed that 82 percent of respondents in Croatia fully or mostly agree with the statement that there should be one logo that would signal that food is healthy and sustainable.

"Unfortunately, this situation reminds me of the debacle with the candidacy for the seat of the European Medicines Agency, when Croatia withdrew Zagreb's candidacy in favour of Italy. The explanation was that we didn't have a great chance and that Italy would somehow repay us, but of course, there was nothing of that to speak of. Slovakia also insisted on Bratislava's candidacy and a year later gained the seat of a new EU labour agency. The EU is a community that provides opportunities, but they don't benefit the modest, self-denying and inert, but those who fight for their slice of the cake", concluded Biljana Borzan.

For more, check out our politics section.

March the 9th, 2022 - The Croatian EC request for the payment of the first tranche of cash amounting to a massive 700 million euros still hasn't been sent, it has emerged.

As Ana Blaskovic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, despite announcements from the government that it intended to get it sent out by the end of February, this Croatian EC request still hasn't been submitted. This cash would be paid out by the European Commission (EC) from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

This Croatian EC request should finally be submitted over the next few weeks, when some more technical details are polished up, but there are no major objections to be heard in regard to the first set of measures, as has since been learned from several informed sources.

The main precondition for the first Croatian EC request, a document that a member state can request the first payment of that sum with, was that the National Operational Arrangement had to be signed in early February. In essence, it is an accompanying technical document which elaborates in detail the key stages, timeline and values ​​of these individual planned measures.

In the first transitional period, Croatia undertook to complete a set of 31 reform measures and 3 investments, the successful implementation of which depends on each subsequent injection into the budget, following last year's advance.

The advance of 818 million euros, or 13 percent of the approved plan, is the only unconditional payment, and Croatia received it back at the end of September 2021. When it submits this new EC request, the European Commission should pay the money out in the next four months.

Transparency is imperative

Those familiar with the process close to the European Commission say that the details will be ironed out in the next few weeks, but that there are no major objections as yet. When asked, however, whether it means that they're satisfied with what has been presented, they're refraining from going so far as to say a resounding ''yes''. Among the details the European Commission insisted on was adapting the country's IT system.

Its base is the existing platform of EU funds, but a much higher level of transparency was required from Brussels. For example, that the name of the end user of the money can be found in the system in order to prevent potential conflicts of interest over time. Solutions in this direction are of crucial interest to the Croatian public, as the National Recovery and Resilience Plan is worth 47.5 billion kuna in total and is, at least relatively speaking, the largest in the European Union (EU).

The chance of a ''less than transparent'' way of spending this sum of money will be challenging for all member states, the Commission assures, and not only for Croatia, which is at the very bottom of the European Union in terms of corruption indicators and poorly functioning state institutions. Interlocutors also pointed out that this isn't an issue that only the European Commission insists on, but that it is also in the focus of the European Parliament.

Regular consultations on the Zagreb-Brussels route on the Recovery and Resilience Plan, which should bring with it several substantial reforms, already have some difficult topics on the agenda, such as the reorganisation of the healthcare system and greater efficiency of the judiciary.

Some details of the proposed healthcare reform, specifically the functional merging of hospitals and the transfer of authority over them to the national level, have already resulted in strong resistance at the local level.

Signals from Brussels make it clear that this is an issue that will be insisted on, arguing that there is no alternative to improving access to and efficiency of the Croatian healthcare system, cutting waiting lists, and also cutting costs such as unifying the (now dispersed) public procurement process.

The same goes for the integration of local water companies; the reform of the water utility system envisages cutting their number from 200 all the way down to a much less 43. This idea has also angered local leaders, but more than 5 billion kuna in investment totally depends on it.

Finally, Russia's invasion of Ukraine raised questions about whether the European Commission would give in and give member states a little bit of room for maneuver in order to redirect some of that money to mitigate the indirect damage from the war. The answer to that question, at least at this point, is no. The national plans set out the necessary reforms to strengthen the resilience of economies to the specific recommendations for each member state.

For more information on this Croatian EC request and much more, check out our politics section.