ZAGREB, June 11, 2020 - The engagement with the six Eastern Partnership states remains an EU priority and almost €4 billion in aid has been mobilised for them, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said on Thursday after a video conference with his counterparts in the initiative.

"We confirmed that the engagement with these six states remains a European Union priority," he said after two video conferences, one on tourism and the other an informal meeting of EU and Eastern Partnership ministers.

The EU is solidary with those states, as shown by the mobilisation of €962 million as part of the Team Europe package for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and €3 billion in additional macro-financial assistance, said Grlic Radman.

He said he was especially pleased that this meeting took place during the Croatian presidency after the Zagreb Summit with Western Balkan countries in May.

The meeting was held ahead of a June 18 video conference of the 27 leaders of EU member states and the six leaders of the Eastern Partnership states Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

"I supported the efforts the six Eastern Partnership states are investing in reforms," said Grlic Radman. "I encouraged them to continue on that path because their achievements also contribute to our security, stability, and prosperity."

"In particular, I pointed to the need to deepen economic cooperation, invest in youth and connecting and environmental protection projects, strengthen the ability to respond to crises such as the current pandemic," he said.

He underlined that Croatia was commended for its Council of the EU presidency, which ends on June 30, to be taken over by Germany.

ZAGREB, June 10, 2020 - Croatia was ranked sixth among 30 European countries in terms of the number of measures for preserving the stability of the economy and the financial sector, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) said on Wednesday.

Croatia is also one of the nine European countries that have temporarily banned insurance companies from paying dividends.

At today's meeting, HANFA's board discussed measures to preserve financial stability taken in the European Union following the COVID-19 pandemic and measures and recommendations by the Croatian financial regulatory authority issued to companies in Croatia.

"According to the analysis of data published by the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) on measures taken by national financial regulatory authorities due to the pandemic, Croatia stands above the European average with about 40 measures, and it was ranked sixth among 30 analysed countries of the European economic belt," the press release said.

At the European level, most measures concerning the non-financial sector were aimed at companies, while those concerning the financial sector were aimed at credit institutions, securities, and markets, as well as the insurance sector.

Croatia is one of nine European countries, which, in addition to other measures, have adopted a measure temporarily banning dividend payments to insurance companies, and is at the top of countries with the highest number of measures for the insurance sector, HANFA underscored.

The board said that HANFA's measures and recommendation for the Croatian non-banking financial sector and its users were adequate and timely. However, the economic consequences of the pandemic for the international financial market still cannot be fully comprehended. Current data hint about the first signs of recovery - from investors making payments into investment funds to mandatory pension funds returning to their levels before the world coronacrisis, HANFA underscored.

They said that at European level, as well as in Croatia, HANFA would "continue to act in accordance with the European Systemic Risk Board's guidelines and make additional independent recommendations (such as the recommendation for moratoriums for leasing companies), depending on the economic state in the country and the influence of international and domestic circumstances on the financial services market."

ZAGREB, June 5, 2020 - The Franak Association reported Croatia to the European Commission, for the breach of the treaty with the European Union, the association said on Friday, claiming that the Supreme Court's multiple arbitrary actions during the so-called model proceedings amounted to the breach.

Calling for the action to be taken against Croatia at the EU Court, the Association made accusations against the Supreme Court noting that there were no grounds for initiating the model proceedings and that a series of misinterpretations and wrong conclusions were presented during the proceedings about consumer protection on the basis of the EU legislature.

"The report contains a short presentation of the history of court rulings in the Swiss francs loan conversion case, and a description of the Swiss francs conversion into euros based on the amendments to the law on customer credit. On the basis of all those facts, an explanation was given for what the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia had done incorrectly in the model proceedings ruling which declared the conversion agreements valid," stated the head of the Franak Association's office, Sandra Ziga, at a news conference in Zagreb today.

ZAGREB, June 2, 2020 - Croatia's Ambassador to Serbia, Hidajet Biscevic, said in Subotica on Monday that Serbia's progress on the journey to the European Union was in Croatia's interest.

During his visit to the city of Subotica in Vojvodina where a sizeable Croatian community lives, the ambassador said that Serbia's accession to the EU was in Croatia's interest and therefore the two countries "are supposed to make sure that their outstanding issues are not an obstacle."

Some of the issues about the status of the ethnic Croat minority can be in the foreseeable future be connected with the negotiating process between Serbia and the EU, the diplomat said after his talks with representatives of the local Croat community.

"We do not want to find ourselves in a situation when the unresolved issues concerning the exercise of (ethnic Croats') rights can make Serbia's EU membership talks harder or slower, Biscevic said, promising that he would work on making the bilateral relations more dynamic.

The Croatian National Council (HNV) leader, Jasna Vojnic, said that Croatia's diplomatic effort could help ethnic Croats in Serbia to solve the problems which adversely affect their status. In this context, she mentioned the problems with textbooks and schoolbooks, education for Serbian Croats, and efforts to provide adequate facilities for the Croats' societies in the Serbian capital city of Belgrade. 

 During his visit to Subotica, the ambassador was also received by Mayor Bogdan Laban.

ZAGREB, May 20, 2020 - The EU Farm to Fork Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy 2030 need to take into account that Croatia has already met many ecological standards recommended to European farmers, but farmers need financial support to adapt to new plans, the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture said on Wednesday.

The European Commission on Wednesday adopted two new strategies on ecologically and acceptable food system and a biodiversity strategy which comprehends part of the European Green Deal.

The Farm to Fork Strategy includes several targets that need to be met by 2030 - reduce the use and risk of pesticides by 50%, reduce the use of fertilizers by at least 20%, reduce the sale of antimicrobials for farmed animals and in aquaculture by 50%, and reach the target of at least 25% of the EU’s agricultural land under organic farming.

The new biodiversity strategy recommends that at least 30% of land and seas be transformed into effectively managed protected areas bringing back at least 10% of agricultural area under high-diversity landscape features.

"Funding of EUR 20 billion/year will be unlocked for biodiversity through various sources, including EU funds, national and private funding," the European Commission said in a press release calling on the European Parliament and Council to support the two strategies and their obligations and inviting citizens to engage in broad public debate.

The Croatian Chamber of Agriculture (HPK) commented on the latest documents presented yesterday recommending a smaller budget for agriculture while introducing greater demands saying that this was concerning for farmers throughout Europe.

HPK underlined that Croatia has already met numerous ecological standards that the EU has put to farmers - a clean environment (more than 50% of the Natura Area) GMO-free farmland, economic diversification as an advantage.

HPK believes that the new strategies need to take account of three pillars of sustainability: economic, social, and ecological.

"If farmers are to additionally contribute to this ambitious plan they need to be provided with adequate financial support and a transition period to adapt," HPK said.

Environment Minister Tomislav Coric welcomed the biodiversity strategy describing it as one of the key elements of the European Green Deal, underlining that in the latest circumstances the strategy was more relevant than ever.

April 28, 2020 - A video conference including Tourism Ministers of the EU Member States, chaired by Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli, was held as part of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Index.hr reports that issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for the tourism sector were discussed at the conference.

Ministers and senior officials from all EU Member States and European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton attended the video conference. At the invitation of the Croatian Presidency, Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), presented UNWTO initiatives on tourism activation at the conference.

Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said there must be a joint plan at the EU level to tackle the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which would include, among other things, adopting a standard travel protocol and a "COVID-19 passport", which would be valid for all EU countries on the departure and arrival of tourists.

"We must allow as much as we can to open the borders, but with the protocol on how exactly it will be implemented, and we must then respect it all," says Cappelli.

Travel would include road, rail, sea, and air travel, and while insisting on adopting a standard protocol, Cappelli says a cooperation agreement is also possible bilaterally.

Cappelli hopes that by the end of May, at least at the bilateral level, they could agree to open some kind of tourist borders with some countries, with a respectable number of countries already interested. However, the countries must meet the health and safety aspect, where epidemiologists are the main focus.

He says that individual countries have begun to prepare individually, adding that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has already talked to the prime ministers of individual countries, including Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who is interested in opening borders through road or air corridors.

Cappelli notes that in the first proposals of the multiannual European budget until 2027, tourism did not have prominent importance in terms of finances, but after the COVID-19 crisis, it has completely changed. "It is the unique view of all countries that tourism will have to make one big step forward in this budget, as opposed to what was planned," Cappelli says.

He also said that tourism is crucial in saving and strengthening certain European economies, such as the Italian and Spanish ones, which, like Croatia, have a high share of tourism in total GDP.

Cappelli also recalled the Croatian initiative to better position tourism within the EU, presented at the 2018 meeting of tourism ministers in Sofia. The initiative also included the creation of a special fund for tourism, for reasons of potential problems that some countries might have, such as the refugee crisis, floods, and now the coronavirus pandemic.

He points out that support has been obtained for this and that financial and all other mechanisms are put in place in order for tourism to take a different position than it has so far.

At the ministerial meeting, Cappelli pointed out that tourism represents 10 percent of the EU GDP, employs a total of almost 12 percent of employees, and is also the fourth EU export category, with consumption generating more than €400 billion in revenue.

"It is therefore important to encourage the creation of joint solutions for the crisis in the tourism sector caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but also to create programs and plans for combating similar threats in the future. For this reason, I am particularly pleased that the meeting of the European Council members last week agreed on setting up a Recovery Fund, which will target the hardest-hit sectors and geographical parts of Europe," said Cappelli.

In addition to representatives from all EU Member States, the meeting was attended by European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Thierry Breton, as well as Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Zurab Pololikashvili.

Breton stressed that emergency measures and resources made available by the Commission should support Member States' efforts to maintain stability in the short and medium-term. He urged the members to take full advantage of them and to provide the opportunities they offer to workers who are most affected by the current situation.

"We will need extraordinary resources to overcome this crisis. We need a new Marshall Plan with a strong EU budget that will accelerate the path to European recovery and a stronger and more resilient Union," Breton said

Pololikashvili called on the Commission to prioritize tourism within the EU's recovery plan.

Cappelli also answered journalists' questions, saying that the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) had developed a marketing program to attract and retain domestic tourists, including a "Cro card". When accommodations open in 15-20 days, Croatia should be ready for foreign but especially domestic tourists, he said.

"We are trying to find as many models as possible to keep everyone who could spend something in Croatia and have them use our benefits and models," says Cappelli, adding that domestic tourists make up about 13 percent of total tourism spending.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

February 14, 2020 - The Municipality of Podstrana can boast that it has implemented projects, worth approximately 20 million kuna, co-financed by European and national funds.

“Employees of the Administrative Department for Public Procurement, Economy, Social Affairs and EU Funds of Podstrana Municipality work hard to apply and implement projects co-financed by European and national funds,” said Mayor Mladen Bartulovic.

Vecernji List writes that one of the most valuable projects is the sea-river promenade and the Podstrana walk & bike track, worth around 10,000,000 kuna. It was funded by the European Union from the Cohesion Fund for 8,500,000 kuna.

As part of the project, a bicycle path and promenade from the mouth of Zrnovnica to the sports harbor Strozanac were constructed and equipped, along the left bank of the river.

“This project created a recognizable appearance of the Podstrana Municipality, and thus enriched the tourist offer of our municipality as an attractive tourist destination,” emphasized Bartulovic.

Podstrana municipality is a leading partner of the ECOMAP project, which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund as part of the INTERREG ITAL-CRO cross-border cooperation program. Six other Italian and four Croatian partners are participating in the project. ECOMAP is a project for environmentally sustainable management of marinas and tourist ports, with a total value of around 2.8 million euro. The EU finances 85 percent of the project's value, and the remaining 15 percent each partner finances by themselves.

The aim of the project is environmental protection to improve the quality of the sea and the coastal area. The Municipality has submitted a project for the construction of a sewage system to be constructed as part of the coastal zone from Strozanac to the Lav Hotel, worth approximately 619,000 euro, of which the EU funds 526,000 euro. One of the project partners is the Strozanac Sports Fishing Association, which will acquire and install equipment for chemical and physical treatment of wastewater generated during ship washing, as well as provide a device for pumping and receiving fecal, i.e., black water, from boats and yachts.

Significant for all Podstrana residents is the construction of the Perun Recycling Yard, an ongoing project worth 9,160,000kuna, co-financed by the European Union from the Cohesion Fund, in the amount of 4,200,000 kuna. Related to this is the Thinking ECO project, worth around 1,200,000 kuna, co-financed by EU Cohesion Fund (85 percent). The project promoter is the City of Solin, and the municipalities of Podstrana, Klis and Dugopolje are co-owners of the activities. The Thinking ECO project is designed as a program of information-educated activities aimed at raising the environmental awareness of the residents of the towns involved about their active role in reducing and preventing waste.

The reconstruction of the intersection of Hercegovacka Street and King Zvonimir Street, worth approximately 1,380,000 kuna, is co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development of 894,388.41 kuna.

The project Zaželi, worth around 6,100,000 kuna, of which 1,697,449.20 kuna refers to the Municipality of Podstrana, was financed by the European Social Fund. For the preparation of project documentation for the sports center Miljevac, the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds approved 600,000 kuna, and for the amendments to the Strategic Development Program of the Municipality of Podstrana, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development approved 48,000 kuna.

Podstrana Municipality has submitted 20 projects for various tenders, of which 20 projects have been approved for co-financing: improving the coastline from the mouth of the Zrnovnica River to Strozanac, Phase 4 to be co-financed by the Ministry of Tourism in the amount of 225,000 kuna; fixing the beach with stone material co-financed by the Split-Dalmatia County of 400,000 kuna, as well as repairing damages in the coastal area in the municipality, which again is co-financed by the County in the amount of 100,000 kuna. The Split-Dalmatia County co-financed the arrangement of roads in the Podstrana area for 36,500 kuna. Podstrana Municipality has been granted a voucher of 15,000 euro to provide free wi-fi access to the public areas of the municipality to local residents and visitors.

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

A big cash cow will be coming to Zagreb early next year, just after Christmas, when thousands of European diplomats and officials who need accommodation will arrive in the city for Croatia's six-month EU Council presidency.

Up to 30,000 EU Officials Expected

According to Deutsche Welle, official sources are saying that about 25,000 people will descend on Zagreb in early 2020, while other estimates say that the figure will be closer to 30,000. Many won't be staying in Croatia for the entire six months nor will they all be arriving at the same time. In any case, this is creating real chaos in the tenant world. Simply put, Zagreb landlords can earn more by expelling their current tenants and renting their apartments to EU officials.

Zagreb does not have many hotels. In fact, Jutarnji List notes that there are only 24 four or five-star hotels in the city, which is by no means enough capacity to accommodate the large number of high-level diplomats and EU officials arriving soon.

Zagreb Landlords Are Evicting Tenants

Stanka, a student from Zadar, experienced the nightmare of moving because of the upcoming EU Council presidency, according to Zagrebinfo on December 2, 2019. She had just moved to Zagreb to pursue her college degree.

“My landlady bought my apartment and acquired me with the inventory. During our negotiations, she indicated that she would be upgrading the furniture and raising the rent. She also disclosed that we would not be signing a lease because she had plans to rent the apartment to diplomats in early 2020 for a much higher price. However, then she decided to completely renovate the apartment prior to their arrival, so I had to move out in September,'' the student reported, and claims she had less than a week to move everything out of an apartment where she had lived for only three months.

With the boom in Zagreb tourism over the last few years, a sizeable chunk of apartments which used to be rented monthly, are now being rented out to tourists by the day. This has greatly increased the average apartment rental rates.

“Of the approximately three and a half thousand who are officially registered, there are perhaps ten thousand available beds. And I believe that a large portion of this housing pool is ready to respond to the demands of the Eurobureaucrats," said Zoran Dragun, administrator of the Zagreb Private Landlords Association to Jutarnji list.

He claims that Zagreb has now become a year-round tourist destination, but also believes that rents in Zagreb have not increased as much as publicly reported. The current focus for private landlords is Advent (December); then they'll begin preparing for the big EU opportunity.

No Tenant Rights

Nedjeljko Marković, president of the Pragma social association, has a different opinion.

"The unpredictability of market movements is our biggest problem, because nobody in Croatia oversees these changes. We simply do not have any public housing policies,” he emphasized while referencing the unfortunate circumstances that many Zagreb tenants will soon face.

He claims that his sources from the association, which deal with tenant issues, have already received reports that scores of Zagreb tenants are facing eviction, and will soon be without a roof over their heads due to the arrival of EU bureaucrats and diplomats.

For more information on the housing situation in Croatia, check our our Lifestyle page here.

As Jutarnji/Frenki Lausic writes on the 11th of August, 2019, the enormous cultural and economic differences between the north and south of Europe, northern individualism and distance, and the classic Mediterranean familiarity and communitarianism are unlikely to ever be completely overcome. Croatia's ''flaws'' are highlighted when looking at the EU as a whole.

Nevertheless, one must look into the cultural and economic consequences of the functioning of these social ideal types, including the Croatian one. On Monday, August the 12th, we mark International Youth Day, and this is certainly an occasion to once again question the impact of European societies on young people.

It has been known for many years that family ties in the south of Europe are much more important in everyday life than they are Northern Europe, that young people tend to live with their parents longer. In fact, many critics of the Mediterranean lifestyle believe that this type of family, which they consider to be almost tribal, relationship hinders the development of individualism and the idea of taking individual responsibility, while "Mediterraneanists" resent Northern Europe's typical way of ''alienation and emotional coldness''.

It is likely that new data from Croatia's Central Bureau of Statistics, which says that 73.2 percent of Croats between the ages of 18-34 lived with their parents in 2017, which is also the highest share in the European Union, would be a good cause for such controversy.

Specifically, according to 2017's figures, almost half of the EU population in the age group of 18-34 lived with their parents, while in Finland only 18.7 percent of the population in the same age group lived with their parents.

This data is linked to another negative indicator - Croats leave the parental household the latest, and according to the latest available data for 2018, when they decide to move, on average, they are around 31.8 years old. Slovaks (30.9 years), Maltese (30.7 years) and Italians (30.1 years) are also over 30 years old, while the European average in 2018 was 26.0 years.

The youngest were the Swedes, who on average left the parental household at 18.5 years of age, followed by the inhabitants of Luxembourg (20.1 years) and Denmark (21.1 years).

Therefore, the Croats are the champions of the Mediterranean way of life, but the big question is how much, at least in the last ten years, is this a result of cultural patterns of behaviour and how much more of it is to so with a harsh six-year recession. It could be expected that, due to lack of work and good living wages, young people will continue to stay on living with their families for longer. If that's the case, then it could be seen that these statistics will move in the near future, as more and more jobs become available, and hopefully wages will increase, too. Not to mention the quality of the services provided by the dreaded state institutions.

The fact that the recession and economic slowdown in the EU has left an impact on the entire bloc's young people, it's more than enough to state that just under half of working-age people are employed in the EU. The employment rate of young people in the EU in 2018 stood at 49.8 percent, an increase compared to 2013, when it was the lowest in the last nine years (45.9 percent).

In Croatia, the employment rate in 2018 stood at 41.3 percent (8.5 percentage points less than the EU average), an increase of 9.7 percentage points compared to the record low in 2013 (when the rate was 31.6 percent). The highest youth employment rate is in the Netherlands (70.9 percent) and the lowest is down in Greece (30 percent). Therefore, along with the economic divisions, we can clearly see the north/south divisions in youth employment here, too.

This is also evident in the employment statistics of recent graduates. Specifically, this category refers to persons in the age group of 20-34 who are not in education or training and have completed their education in the last three years. In 2018, the EU employment rate for recent graduates was 81.6 percent. It was highest in Malta (94.8) and lowest in Greece (55.3).

When it comes to the Croats, the employment rate of recent graduates in 2018 was 71.2 percent, down ten percentage points from the EU average. More discouraging yet, almost a third of them have not found a job even though they have completed their education recently, more specifically within the last three years.

Another indicator is worrying. The share of young people who are not employed, educated or trained in Croatia was 16.2 percent in 2018, slightly above the EU average (14.1 percent). Italy has the highest share, the largest within the EU, with a fifth of young people (24.8 percent) not working, studying or training, while their share is the lowest in the Netherlands (6.8 percent).

Finally, the CBS provided another piece of information that can be viewed in two or three ways: as a consequence of economic impoverishment, demographic disadvantage, or as evidence of the decline of "individualism" in Croatia. Specifically, when comparing data for 2017 and 2010, the number of young drivers in the 19-24 age group is declining. In the mentioned period there were as many as 28.4 thousand fewer drivers in this age group - in 2010 there were 207.349, and in 2017, there were only 178.989 of them.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more.

As Lea Balenovic/Novac writes on the 3rd of June, 2019, the Croatian Ministry of Economy recently awarded Croatian entrepreneurs twenty contracts totalling an enormous 85 million kuna. To be more specific, these are contracts funded by non-refundable EU funds for which the tenders were announced at the end of last year.

The aim of these tenders, as Minister of Economy Darko Horvat explained, is to "increase production and exports and create jobs, as well as to strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises through the presentation of their products and services on the international market".

One of the companies that which will use these opportunities for job creation and business optimisation is certainly the Croatian company IT-Graf, which deals with printing, and which has plans to invest almost 15 million kuna. Non-refundable EU funds in the amount of 6.6 million kuna were awarded to that particular Zagreb-based company.

"We'll all invest in new machines and modernisation, ie, the automation of printers, with the goal of going to foreign markets and exporting, and our sophisticated products will mean we need high quality staff and we will open about twenty new work positions,'' stated Tomislav Ivičinec, Managing Director at IT-Graf, who doesn't have any issues with the lack of a workforce in Croatia or finding workers because, as he himself said, "you just need to pay the man and then there's no problem".

In addition to this Croatian company, Hangar 18 has also received funds to increase its overall international competitiveness, which is due to its permanent investments remains "a permanent guest of such events", according to Damir Kralj, the director of the company.

''We're dealing with information technology and mobile technology, ie, we produce smartphones, TVs and all of their accessories, and we'll use this 950,000 kuna to present our products at the Barcelona fair,'' said Kralj, adding that Hangar 18 is planning to build a new factory in Koprivnica in which an additional fifteen to twenty people will be employed.

With the help of these tools, Neon Bjorn, a Zagreb-based company offering a software solution for travel agencies, as well as for travelers who prefer to organise their own travel plans, has the opportunity to internationalise their business and product presentation. As explained by the director of this Croatian company, Vesna Kota, "it helps in the overall process and shortens the time involved in travel organisation".

''With the allocated 433,000 kuna, we'll place our product on foreign markets and sell it in far-off locations. We're expanding to Cape Town, Dubai and Beijing and in European destinations such as Barcelona and London, and the solution is available to tourists who wish to visit destinations both in Croatia and those outside of it,'' Kota explained, adding that their desire "to bring more tourists to Croatia''.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and politics pages for much more on Croatian companies, Croatian products and services and the measures put in place to aid Croatian entrepreneurs.