ZAGREB, 5 May 2022 - The €372 billion InvestEU programme, providing the Croatian private and public sectors with opportunities for green and sustainable investments, innovation and new jobs, was presented on Thursday at a conference by the European Investment Bank and European Commission Representation in Croatia.

"InvestEU aims to provide more than €372 billion to public and private investors in the European economy in the period from 2021 to 2027. These investments will be enabled based on an EU guarantee of €26.2 billion, which will be used to support investments by InvestEU implementing partners such as the European Investment Bank (EIB)," it was said at the conference, organised by the EIB and European Commission (EC) Representation in Croatia in cooperation with the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).

The InvestEU programme builds on the successful model of mobilising investments, introduced by the Investment Plan for Europe, or the Juncker Plan, and combines the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and 13 other EU financial instruments.

As a member of the EU, Croatia has an opportunity to accelerate its green and sustainable development based on long-term financing to be provided by InvestEU, primarily through investments in digital infrastructure, innovation, technology and skills, the EIB said in a press release.

This will empower citizens and EU economy with new generation technologies and accelerate the implementation of the EU Green Deal and "mobilise private investments for the EU's policy priorities such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition," the bank says.

The conference, held for representatives of state, public and private sectors, was addressed via video link also by Finance Minister Zdravko Marić.

The event discussed opportunities InvestEU provides and its priorities, components and available financing as well as consultancy in identifying and preparing projects, provided by the EIB Group as the lead implementing and advisory arm of the InvestEU programme.

InvestEU consists of three building blocks: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal.

EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwinska said the programme will provide a significant stimulus to investments in many critical areas of the economy throughout the EU.

The programme is a key element of what so far is the EU's largest package of measures that will boost recovery from the COVID pandemic and will help build a greener, more digital and more resilient European economy, Czerwinska said, adding that InvestEU will also help Europe meet new challenges, including those related to the war in Ukraine.

The EIB will be a vital component in implementing the programme, which will increase investments in clean energy, education, digitisation and urban infrastructure, she said, calling on Croatia's public and private sectors to learn how to absorb as much funding as possible from this programme in cooperation with the EIB.

For more, check out our politics 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.

28 March 2022 - The European Commission on Monday approved Croatia's €7.5 million state aid scheme for the maritime sector, transport and transport infrastructure affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state aid will be used to cover fixed costs incurred from March 2020 to June 2020.

Enterprises that suffered at least a 30 percent decline in their revenue in this period compared to the corresponding period in 2019 are eligible to this aid.

The maximum amount of aid is HRK 12 million, and the aid should be approved by no later than 30 June 2022.

The temporary framework for state aid was adopted on 19 March 2020 at the start of the pandemic when the enterprise sector faced difficulties due to a lockdown.

14 March 2022 - If the present demographic trend continues, the share of Europeans in the world will fall from the present six per cent to four per cent, European Commission Vice-President for Demography Dubravka Šuica told Hina in Strasbourg where she attended a conference on the future of Europe in the European Parliament this weekend.

"If the present trend of our births and deaths continues, Europe will represent only four per cent of the world population, which is worrying," Šuica said, noting that specific measures for demographic renewal fall within the competence of member states.

Although she mostly deals with young people, and 2022 has been declared the European Year of Youth, Šuica said that the focus should be not only on young people, given that life expectancy is increasing.

"We need the knowledge of older people, their expertise and wisdom, and we should foster intergenerational solidarity," she said.

By 2070, average life expectancy at birth will be 90 years for women, up from the present 83.7 years, and 86 years for men, compared with the present 78.2 years, Šuica said in a report on the basis of which the Green Paper on Ageing was drawn up.

In 2070, 30 per cent of the European population will be older than 65 years, compared to 20 per cent in 2019, and 13 per cent will be older than 80, up from the present six per cent.

Šuica said that 80 per cent of European territory was covered by rural areas, where only a third of the European population live, which is similar to the situation in Croatia. She said that the smart use of regional funds and cohesion policy could improve Europeans' quality of life.

Šuica said that rural areas provide huge potential for children and young people, but unfortunately they often lack adequate services, health care, kindergartens and infrastructure. "Above all, there is no broadband internet, which has become a precondition for job creation. It is no longer a question of where you live, but are you well connected," she concluded.

ZAGREB, 18 Feb 2022 - Croatia embarrassed itself by not spending any of the post-earthquake reconstruction money, so Brussels charitably extended the deadline, but is denying charity to Croats in Bosnia, President Zoran Milanović has said, blaming that on the incompetence of the foreign minister and the premier.

It's not a "total embarrassment," just an "embarrassment, he said on Friday, commenting on the European Commission's decision to extend the deadline until June 2023, to spend the money from the European Solidarity Fund for the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb.

The president said reconstruction took time and that he accepted that not all the money could have been spent because "that's impossible."

Milanović said he had defended the government from attacks for the slow spending of those funds, but added that the government "has practically not absorbed anything" and that he "would have been proud had we utilized 50%."

He said that in Brussels Prime Minister Andrej Plenković "had to buttonhole someone, sponge" and that perhaps they laughed at Croatia and said, "give them this charity."

However, he said, Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina "can't be in a situation to ask for simple moldy charity."

They must not be accused of being a disruptive factor because BiH cannot exist without them, Milanović added.

For months he has been accusing the government of not being successful in Brussels in defending the demands of Croats in BiH for changing the election law in order to stop the Bosniak majority from electing their Presidency member and deputies in the Federation entity's upper house.

As an EU member state, Croatia has its vote and can oppose Brussels' decisions, he said.

Zagreb has not exercised that right to defend Croats in BiH, the president said, pointing the finger at Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman.

Croat representatives will have "my full support," Milanović said, adding that the Croatian government "can" and "must" block elections in BiH unless the election law is changed as demanded by local Croats.

He said it was unacceptable of foreign diplomats to say that the elections would be held regardless.

Criticisms against foreign minister

The president also commented on the failure to appoint Croatia's military envoy to NATO, saying that he was being asked only to sign the appointment, without directly participating in the process.

He said the foreign minister was the reason why he and the prime minister had not decided, even after six months, to relieve of duty all the ambassadors whose four-year terms had expired.

Milanović added that Grlić Radman "will do everything just to be liked by his boss."

He dismissed claims that Croatia does not have ambassadors because he, as the president, was pushing members of the Social Democratic Party as candidates.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 17 Feb 2022- Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković called on Bosnia and Herzegovina's Croat and Bosniak leaders on Thursday to make the extra effort to agree on a fair election law in that country.

"I once again call on the leaders of the Bosniak and Croat political parties, especially before a meeting of the Croat National Assembly in Mostar on Saturday, to try and resolve this problem in a fair and constructive way, and Croatia, as a friendly country, will help Bosnia and Herzegovina on its European path," Plenković said in Brussels.

Ahead of an informal EU summit on the Ukraine crisis and an EU-Africa summit, Plenković met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, discussing the extension of the deadline for the use of EU funding for the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia's journey towards membership of the Schengen area and the euro zone.

"Our position is clear: it is vital for the next election (in Bosnia and Herzegovina) to be held under a new, fair election law that will ensure legitimate representation, rather than hold the election at any cost, as a result of which the Croats might again be left feeling bad and the state would not be functioning well," Plenković said.

As for Croatia's Schengen bid, he said that the process was now "in the final stage of decision making." 

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 17 Feb 2022 - Croatia will be able to use money from the European Solidarity Fund for earthquake relief until June 2023, which is one year longer than the initial 18 months, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said after they met in Brussels on Thursday.

The commission will approve the use of EUSF for earthquake reconstruction in Zagreb until June 2023, which has been adjusted to the period for the use of the allocation because of the earthquake in Banovina and progressive damage caused, Plenković tweeted on Thursday.

Von der Leyen tweeted a similar message

“Glad to meet Andrej Plenkovic today. We discussed reconstruction work supported by the EU after the Zagreb and Petrinja earthquakes. Given the exceptional circumstances, the Commission will look favorably at the request to align deadlines for absorption of EUSF funds to June 2023," tweeted von der Leyen.

Croatia was granted €68.37 million for earthquake relief which according to the provisions of the European Union Solidarity Fund can be absorbed until June this year but that has now been extended for another year after Plenković met with von der Leyen.

We appreciate that the Commission has taken into account the specific situation Croatia was faced with after the two devastating earthquakes that struck this area while we were simultaneously dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a force majeure, Plenković added.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 10 Feb 2022 - Farm Minister Marija Vučković said on Thursday the European Commission's call on Croatia to ensure an effective monitoring, control and inspection of bluefin tuna farms referred to audits from 2017-19 and that Croatia had since significantly improved its agriculture legislation.

"Croatia has two months to prepare a response. We'll see if the Commission will recognise all that we have done. I think we have done plenty," the minister told the press in Sveti Đurđ in Varaždin County.

As part of this month's infringements package, Croatia received a letter of formal notice after an audit and verification by the Commission "identified serious shortcomings in monitoring the transfer and caging operations of bluefin tuna."

"National authorities should ensure that data are cross-checked, accurate and validated, and should investigate potential non-compliance cases and take administrative or criminal measures against those responsible for infringing EU law," the Commission said, adding that Croatia "has not taken the necessary steps to address these deficiencies."

Croatia has two months to respond to the letter and take the necessary measures, the Commission said, adding, "In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion."

The press asked Vučković to comment on fisheries inspector Marko Pupić Bakrač's statement after the letter of notice, that she should resign or the prime minister should replace her.

The minister is meddling in the work of the inspectorate and telling us what to do, while documents on tuna imports in Croatia are being falsified, he said.

As reported by Slobodna Dalmacija daily, Pupić Bakrač said Croatian tuna farmers were being favored by being made to register tuna imported from Libya only after they exported it to Japan.

Meetings on that are held at the Agriculture Ministry, attended by a dozen ministry employees, and the minister, in agreement with farmers, tells inspectors how to act, he said, calling it abuse of office. He also warned about suspicious activities in the unloading of forage fish intended for tuna farms.

Vučković said Pupić Bakrač was "lying incredibly. He claims that I regularly met with farmers and fisheries inspectors to instruct them on how to conduct fisheries inspections. He's lying... I have never done it. Let him find one inspector or one farmer who will back him up."

She also said proceedings had been instigated against Pupić Bakrač at the Civil Service Tribunal "for violating regulations" and that this was not the first time.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 10 Feb 2022 - The European Commission on Thursday significantly revised up its forecast for Croatia's economic growth in 2021 to 10.5%, which is the second-highest growth rate in the European Union after Ireland, while downgrading its projections for this year and next compared to its autumn outlook.

The European Commission released its Winter Economic Forecast on Thursday, saying that the Croatian economy achieved a full V-shaped recovery in 2021, surpassing the level registered prior to the 2019 crisis.

After a fall of 8.1% in 2020, the Croatian economy is estimated to have grown by 10.5% in 2021. The only other EU member state with faster growth is Ireland, with a rate of 13.7%.

In its autumn forecast, released in November 2021, the Commission projected Croatia's growth for last year at 8.1%.

As far as inflation is concerned, it is forecast at 2.7% for 2021, 3.5% for 2022 and 1.6% for 2023. These figures are at the level of the euro area average and slightly lower than in the EU overall.

The Commission expects the Croatian economy to grow at a rate of 4.8% this year (compared to 5.6% forecast last autumn) and at 3% next year (the autumn forecast was 3.4%).

After strong growth in the second and third quarters of 2021, growth is expected to have slowed down in the fourth quarter based on short-term indicators of economic activities and price increases.

Exports of commodities and services contributed to the recovery, with tourism playing a key role as well as personal consumption.

Although a strong increase in demand for finished products led to a growth of imports, the contribution of net exports to growth will remain positive.

Investment is also expected to increase, reconstruction should be stepped up after the earthquakes in Zagreb and the Banovina region, as are favourable financial conditions and the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO).

The revised budget indicates that government spending will make a positive contribution to this year's growth.

The risk balance is slightly tilted to the downside, mainly due to problems in implementing projects following the earthquakes. which could negatively affect investments.

This year, inflation could be 3.5% compared to 2.7% last year, mostly due to increased commodity prices. The high inflation rate in the first half of the year is expected to slow down in the rest of the year. Inflation will be most affected by prices of energy and unprocessed food. It is expected to fall below 2% in 2023.

The Commission estimates that after a growth of 5.3% last year, the EU economy will grow at a rate of 4% this year and 2.8% next year. Growth in the euro area is forecast at 4% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023. The EU as a whole reached pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter of 2021 and all member states are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels before the end of 2022.

ZAGREB, 28 Jan 2022 - The EU should also work on a European health union and prepare for future crises, which cannot be done without young people, European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica said in Zagreb on Friday.

Speaking at the opening of the Conference on the Future of Public Health in Croatia and Europe, Šuica said that it was important to draw lessons from the coronavirus pandemic and start working on a future European health union.

She added that the pandemic had shown that the EU could respond to crises together, citing the procurement and distribution of vaccines for all EU members as the best example.

The crisis has also shown that the EU depends too much on medicines from third countries and that it should work on strategic autonomy, self-sufficiency and own production of the necessary medicines, she said.

We have to prepare for future crises, we want to prepare Europe for the new generation, together with young people, Šuica said.

The conference, held at Zagreb's Music Academy, brought together politicians, experts and Croatian representatives at EU citizens' panels, who will discuss public health challenges from the point of view of law, medicine and communications.

The debates will serve as a contribution to the process and goals of the Conference on the Future of Europe, launched to enable citizens to participate in debates about the reform of the European Union and future EU policies.

The success of that big democratic project will largely depend on how much European citizens' recommendations and proposals are implemented.

Šuica called on EU citizens to put forward their ideas and proposals on the Conference on the Future of Europe multilingual digital platform by the end of February, which in the future could become a permanent tool in connecting citizens and politicians.

Šuica said citizens' suggestions would be taken into account when EU policies were eventually adopted, underlining the significant role of young people in that pan-European democratic project.

The Conference on the Future of Public Health in Croatia and Europe was organised by the European Parliament Office in Croatia and the European Commission Representation, in partnership with the Zagreb School of Law and Hina, and it will end with a student debate on public health in the EU.

For more, check out our politics section.