ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - Documents resulting from the Strategic Transformation in Agriculture and Rural Space (STARS) project will help determine how around five billion euros that have been made available for Croatia's agricultural sector will be spent, Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković said on Thursday.

The Agriculture Ministry and the World Bank cooperated on the STARS project, and the agreement on project cooperation was signed in October 2018.

Analyses, studies and guidelines made during the project have thus been significantly used also in making a draft agricultural strategy for the period until 2030, which has been put to public consultation, and in making a national aquaculture development plan for the period 2021-2027. Both documents are aimed at enhancing the sectors' competitiveness and adapting them to current conditions.

Numerous domestic and foreign experts, sector stakeholders, employees of the Agriculture Ministry and other Croatian institutions and universities cooperated on the project, with Vučković noting that the start of work on the project had coincided with debates about the future of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, which will affect financing priorities and development of agriculture in all member states.

The project served to reexamine the situation and needs of the Croatian farm sector, as well as the measures that are being implemented, and its documents will be used in deciding how the roughly five billion euros intended for Croatian agriculture will be used, Vučković said.

Great chances for development of Croatian farm sector

Project coordinator Svetlana Edmeades of the World Bank said that the World Bank strongly believed that Croatia had great chances for the development of its farm sector.

Farm producers have central place in the project, which identifies as national strategic goals an increase in productivity and in the resilience of farm production to climate change, stronger competitiveness of the agricultural and food sector, revival of rural economy and improving living conditions in rural areas.

Edmeades underlined the importance of knowledge and innovations, noting that the development of Croatia's agriculture should be green, resilient and inclusive, which includes, among other things, production of organic food, sector resilience to shocks, as well as greater involvement of smaller producers in existing value chains.

She said the project achievements were a number of reports that should serve as guidelines for the ministry and farm producers towards a green, resilient and inclusive agriculture.

The World Bank official said that the analyses were expected to significantly contribute to the government's programme with regard to specific targets in the farm sector, in the making of a national agricultural and rural development strategy, participation of agriculture in the national recovery and resilience plan, and national strategic planning within CAP.

Value of agricultural production to be raised to HRK 30bn by 2030 

State secretaries Tugomir Majdak, Zdravko Tušek and Šime Mršić presented the draft agricultural strategy for the period until 2030 and the national plan for the development of aquaculture in the period 2021-2027.

The officials said that the projected effects of the strategy until 2030 were an increase in labour productivity of 60% and the consequent increase in the value of farm production to HRK 30 billion, for which funds in the amount of €7.5 billion were envisaged.

This should be achieved, among other things, by a 35% increase in the number of locally bred fattening pigs, a 20% increase in cattle breeding, expanding areas under permanent crops by 5,000 hectares and areas where crops are grown under glass by 500 hectares, a 20% increase in the share of the food industry in GDP and a 30% increase in the number of producers in short supply chains.

The national plan for the development of aquaculture in the period 2021-2027, which is being made, will put emphasis on stronger competitiveness and the creation of 15% more jobs in the rural and coastal economies in the aquaculture value chain, including an increase in total production volume of 30%, a 35% increase in added value in the processing of aquaculture products, and an increase in the average annual consumption of aquaculture products per capita by as much as 50%, the Agriculture Ministry said.

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ZAGREB, 8 April, 2021 - The government on Thursday made decisions on the implementation of programmes for financing local infrastructure and rural development projects in areas populated by national minorities, for which HRK 20 million was earmarked in this year's budget.

The programmes pertain to areas that are markedly below the national development average in which national minorities make up at least 5% of the population according to the 2011 census.

Regional Development Minister Nataša Tramišak said the programmes would ensure the minimum standards of municipal and social infrastructure as well as financial instruments for family farms.

The government also adopted a regulation on the financing of national minorities' public needs to enhance their rights and protect as well as promote their cultural, national, linguistic and religious identity.

Waters Act amendments

Also today, the government sent to parliament amendments aligning the Waters Act with EU legislation.

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March 30, 2021 - The talk of the new marina for super yachts in Rijeka, Porto Baroš, brings both the hype of development and concerns for public interest.

Porto Baroš in Rijeka, a marina with the potential of 500 ties, is the subject of a public call to be assigned the concession for the next 30 years. The call offers the possibility of expanding to the travel port's entire area, reports the Rijeka-based Novi List daily newspaper. The call was open a month ago. The decision is expected to be known in the following ten days, after which the Ministry of Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure will decide to assign the concession that will be delivered to the Croatian government.

The trading company ACI-Gitone, owned by ACI (Adriatic Croatia International Club) and Lürssen (German yacht company), answered the public call with an investment offer of 363,7 million kunas.

As Novi List learns, ACI- Gitone plans to ask for the expansion of concession to the area owned by Rijeka Port Authority and currently functions as „the port for big yachts". If approved, the Rijeka marina would become the biggest in all of Croatia.

Oleg Butković, minister of the Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure, is very happy about the offer of ACI-Gitone.

„This investment makes me happy as we know that with such a marina capable of hosting megayachts comes a series of additional services. Rijeka and its surroundings must take such opportunity", said minister Butković.

Mayoral candidate critical of the offer

On the other hand, the left-green party Možemo! (We can!) mayoral candidate for Rijeka Nebojša Zelić is opposed to the investment, says Novi List.

Zelić adds he has no problem with the concession for Baroš, but he has issues with the idea of expanding concession to the larger area of Travel coast and Molo Longo.

Nebojša Zelić, screenshot / Možemo! Politička platforma

„This is against public interest given that the concession is given to a minimum of 30 years and there is a possibility that the citizens could be denied access to the sea. That's problematic as it opposes the law of concessions which forbids changing the subject of the public call and in this case that is the expansion of the concession", said Zelić.

He points out that Rijeka's waterfront and Molo Longo unlike Baroš are not nautical tourism and that experience showed how much these places are valuable to the locals. „If these places are shabby, that's the problem of bad management by Rijeka's Port Authority and citizens can't be the hostages of bad management by the Port and the City of Rijeka", said Zelić. He also accused the leading party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) for controlling the most valuable city property through Port Authorities. Zelić's party colleague Sandra Benčić said that the current General Urban plan in Rijeka disables nautical tourism port on Rijeka's waterfront and Moro Longo. She says that can change and that HDZ is counting on it if they get the majority in the city council on the upcoming local elections in May.

„I believe that Rijeka citizens will know to say no to denying access to the sea. We will publicly step out in front of the government to disrupt the expansion of the concession and prevent HDZ's interest being above the public's interest, and we will fight in the parliament too", announced Benčić.

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ZAGREB, 16 March, 2021 - The refurbished building housing Rijeka's Maritime Crisis Centre for Faster Response to Any Disaster off Croatia’s Coastline was officially opened on Tuesday.

The investment into the upgrade of this offshore emergency response centre in the biggest Croatian seaport totalled US$ 480,000, and the lion's share of the investment was provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

During the ceremony, the state secretary of the Croatian Sea, Transport and Infrastructure ministry, Josip Bilaver, thanked the U.S. administration and military as well as the US Embassy in Zagreb for this donation in the amount of HRK 3.2 million.

The ministry has invested a million kuna, while the local county authorities provided 100,000 kuna for the project.

"The U.S.-Croatia partnership at sea is essential to the two countries’ NATO military cooperation and shared security. That is why the United States, through the U.S. Military’s European Command (EUCOM), provided assistance to the Croatian Ministry of Sea, Transportation and Infrastructure and the Rijeka Harbor Master’s office to advance training and emergency-response capabilities at sea," the embassy said on its website.

The U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Victoria Taylor, who today joined State Secretary Bilaver for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, expressed satisfaction with the completion of this project.

Over the last decade, the USA has set aside HRK 4.5 billion to support numerous civilian and military projects in Croatia, she said.

The Rijeka centre is described as a a renewed facility that will become "the central point for planning, training, and management in response to emergencies at sea, from supporting persons and vessels in need to addressing maritime accidents and oil pollution."

"The upgraded center will therefore play a critical role in maintaining the safety and environmental stewardship of Croatian coastal waters, ensuring quick action in response to a potential environmental disaster. Protection of the environment is a key priority for both Croatia and the United States, and joint capacity to mitigate against incidents and accidents at sea can make all the difference in a crisis."

The embassy recalls that "Rijeka is already a hub for U.S.-Croatia cooperation, with the port city benefiting economically from nearly 900 million kuna in contracted services by the U.S. Navy for ship maintenance and support since 2011."

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ZAGREB, September 1, 2020 - The European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) will invest more than €70 million in three venture capital funds in Croatia - Prosperus Growth Fund, Adriatic Structured Equity Fund and Croatian Mezzanine Debt Fund, which will start operating this autumn.

The three funds will facilitate access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-cap companies and provide an alternative source of funding and more flexible transaction structures, the HBOR and EIF said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

As of this autumn, Croatian companies will be able to approach these funds which will decide on individual investment projects. It is expected that the average investment will range between €2 million and €8 million.

The source of joint investment is the €80 million Croatian Growth Investment Programme (CROGIP), jointly launched by the EIF and HBOR in 2019 to provide Croatian SMEs and mid-caps with new sources of funding to boost growth, development, innovation and competitiveness and to support the development of the Croatian venture capital market, the statement said.

The EIF and HBOR each set aside €40 million for this programme, which is expected to accelerate private sector investment in the venture capital funds and thus reach €205 million which these funds will invest in companies.

EIF Director-General Alain Godard said he was pleased that the CROGIP and the partnership with the HBOR would provide Croatian companies with access to new sources of funding. He also expressed satisfaction with the EIF's contribution to the further modernisation of the Croatian financial market in accordance with EU standards.

Godard expressed hope that the EIF would remain one of the key drivers of the sustainable development of Croatia, especially by supporting SMEs and mid-caps in recovering from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic as quickly as possible.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for an Economy that Works for People, said that the Commission and the European Investment Bank Group were continuing to help SMEs cope with the socio-economic consequences of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our aim is to better protect companies and jobs so that the economic recovery can be faster. This investment will significantly help companies in Croatia, both SMEs and mid-caps, by giving them access to €205 million at the time of the crisis, Dombrovskis said.

Tamara Perko, President of the HBOR Management Board, said they were very proud that the HBOR was involved in creating funds that would provide an alternative form of funding to businesses.

Since the venture capital market in Croatia is still underdeveloped, the HBOR has launched a series of activities to promote this form of funding, Perko said, citing last year's launch of a venture capital fund for start-ups.

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In these turbulent times dominated by the global coronavirus pandemic, it looks as if we'll need to wait until the warmer summer months pass before we know the true state of the Croatian hotel and investment market.

As Gordana Grgas/Novac writes on the 18th of June, 2020, for greater security, Valamar Riviera has reduced the capacity of its hotels for this season by 20 percent, they're not thinking of attracting guests by lowering prices but by offering additional services, and after the borders with Austria and Germany are opened, guests no longer have to be quarantined upon returning home.

Croatian hotels are managing to open their doors considerably earlier than what was initially planned, bookings are going better in Istria than they are in Croatia's southernmost city of Dubrovnik because Istria is a car destination. Camps are more full up than the hotels are, while among hotels - those of a higher category are doing better. The above briefly but accurately explains the situation in Croatia after the lockdown due to COVID- 19.

"We've prepared quite well and we have no intention of working with losses. We're opening our hotels with the dynamics that support it,'' Denis Prevolsek of Valamar Riviera notes. Most Croatian hoteliers have announced this year that they expect results at around 30 percent of what 2019's were.

What are the opportunities for the tourism and hotel industry in the years to come? Questions like this were asked at the Colliers virtual round table called ''Tourism 2020-2022: What to expect? What to hope for?'' which was held on Wednesday. The guest speaker was Dirk Bakker, the director of hotel services at Colliers International EMEA.

Hotels were generally an attractive target for investors before the coronavirus crisis struck, and this investment market was discussed, among others, by the member of the Management Board of the PBZ CO pension company Goran Kralj, which has invested a lot in tourism in recent years. He emphasised that the investment market will be very cautious until the situation around the business of hotel companies in 2020 is clarified, since those who are more heavily indebted will probably find it quite difficult to find their feet again.

"What autumn is going to look like is questionable, and the overall macroeconomic situation is important here. It will be interesting to see what the demand for accommodation will be in the next year, and what the implications in the end for tourism will be,'' said Kralj when referencing the Croatian hotel and investment market.

The lockdown will be followed by a year in which the business focus is on surviving and recovering from the coronavirus crisis, says Zagreb City Hotels CEO Josipa Jutt Ferlan, who manages Hilton hotels in the region, and whose biggest source of income is congresses and business travel. They opened three Hilton hotel facilities in the City of Zagreb, held training sessions for the local congress industry in the new epidemiological conditions and are already seeing results.

"We're rational with business and our costs, but we have to start somewhere. We can't wait for the ideal conditions because we don't know when they're going to come,'' she added. They have also acquired a license to operate Marriott hotels, so there are also expectations of that. Commenting on hotel prices for guests, it's a question of a cause-and-effect relationship between supply and demand, lowering price levels can't be the sole driver of the market.

Marina Franolic, regional manager of the international company BenchEvents, says that the autumn will show the real situation on the Croatian hotel and investment market. It will be quite difficult for everyone.

"This is an extremely good moment for new products and projects," said Marina Franolic, adding that the problem is that no one knows how long the situation with the coronavirus epidemic will last. As for hotels in Croatia, she believes that large, branded companies will be more successful because it will be easier to convince guests of their safety, while others will find that somewhat of a challenge. She also believes that there could be a separation between the ownership of hotels and their management, which she considers to be something which would lead in a very positive direction.

For more on the Croatian hotel and investment scene, follow our business page.

As Barbara Ban/Novac writes on the 19th of March, 2019, Pula's biggest hotel group, the Arena Hospitality Group announced the continuation of its large investment cycle yesterday, the amount of which will be about half a billion kuna. These are investments in the hotel Brioni (Brijuni) and the apartment resort of Verudela Beach in Pula, the Kažela camp in Medulin, and the doing up of the Art'otel Berlin Kudamm over in Berlin, Germany.

Namely, this Pula hotel company is the only one which owns hotels in Germany and Hungary at the moment. The Arena Hospitality Group recalled that by mid-2017, via a public offer on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, they raised about 750 million kuna to continue their investment cycle.

''We're continuing with our investment cycle, which will be around half a billion kuna from 2018 to 2022. Some of the investments have already been done, some have started, and some are just beginning. Last year we renewed camp Pomer, which became the first glamping site in the country, and we believe it's one of the best in the world. That investment stood at 70 million kuna,'' said the Arena Hospitality Group's Reli Slonim.

With that move, the path to rejuvenating their camps is definitely wide open, which is a sector of theirs which they haven't invested significantly in before last year, as they devoted themselves to raising the quality of their hotels and apartment resorts, as well as their numerous acquisitions in Europe. Part of their facilities are also branded as Park Plaza.

''This year we started with the complete doing up of the Kažela camp in Medulin, and this investment is worth 128 million kuna, which is our biggest investment in the camps. After the completion of the investment, the camp will offer its guests 1,300 spacious places and 164 new luxury mobile homes. In addition, the camp will get a new entrance and reception, new beach bars, and entertainment and sports facilities,'' Arena Hospitality Group's Reli Slonim said.

It is interesting to note that mobile homes in this camp will be made up of ecological and recycled materials, and each of them will be about 40 square metres in size. This will be one of the biggest investments in camps this year in the country, and it should be finished by this [tourist] season.

A member of the management of the Arena Hospitality Group, Manuela Kraljević, also added that along with all of their current investments, they are preparing for the renovation of the Verudela Beach apartment complex too, which will begin in autumn this year. As of now, they have refurbished a ten-unit building, which is an example of how the other apartments will look when finished.

In the tourist resort of Verudela Beach, the plans are to invest about 60 million kuna during the second half of 2019. Ten accommodation units will be upgraded by this season, while the remaining 146 units and 20 villas will be renewed in time for the 2020 summer season. After the completion of the investment, the resort will be under the brand of Arena Hotels & Apartments, Kraljević said.

They also announced the reconstruction of Hotel Brioni, which for the time being, remains the only hotel in Punta Verudela that hasn't been given a ''fresh face''. It is a cult hotel which was built back in the 1970s, primarily for American guests. So far, only two showrooms have been done up, which will be somewhat larger than the existing ones, but this won't change the number of rooms.

''We have decided that we're not going to change the size of this hotel, but we will rebuild it as it is, and the room sizes will be about the same. We will invest 190 million kuna into it, and we'll start doing it up in 2020 after the [tourist] season. The hotel will be finished in one year and [everything] will be completed by 2022,'' Slonim said. In addition to investments in Croatia, this year the Pula hotel group is also renovating its hotel in Berlin, investing the equivalent of 53 million kuna into it. The hotel is located in Berlin's famous Charlottenburg district and is dedicated to the works of the famous pop art artist Andy Warhol. The investment will include a total accommodation capacity of of 152 rooms, as well as all of the other hotel facilities one might expect.

As Luka Cvitan said, the German part of the portfolio is extremely important to the Arena Hospitality Group because it gives them stability and doesn't depend solely on tourism flows in Croatia. Last year, hotels in Germany saw the largest growth, while in Croatia, things unfortunately stagnated somewhat. Business last year amounted to 758 million kuna, and was higher than last year's gain by 30 percent. That is why the Arena Hospitality Group is also thinking about further acquisitions in Belgrade in Serbia, as well as in other countries in the region.

''Also, since we have a portfolio abroad, we can offer our employees full-time employment,'' said Cvitan.

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Click here for the original article by Barbara Ban for Novac/Jutarnji

The InvestCro conference was opened by the editor-in-chief of Poslovni Dnevnik, Vladimir Nišević, who stressed the fact that this project opens up discussions topics that are of great importance to our society.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of March, 2019, the "InvestCro: Investment in (Non) Opportunities in Croatia" conference, whose central theme is rather depressingly inspired by missed opportunities, ie planned investments that have not been realised, as well as obstacles investors encounter and also possible improvements to the arrival and treatment of foreign investors, is being held at the Westin hotel in Zagreb.

This conference is the second in a series of four conferences as part of the all-year-round multimedia project headed by Croatian news and media outlets Večernji list, Poslovni Dnevnik and 24sata entitled "InvestCro: Kako do ulagača" which discusses how investors can be attracted.

The President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, stated that the current results of foreign investments don't match the desired image. She said that lessons should be learned from the mistakes alreayd made to avoid repetition.

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said that Croatia was missing out on so-called Greenfield investments and has proposed five specific guidelines to the Croatian Government in order to attempt to tackle that problem.

"The results of direct foreign investment don't match the desired image. In 26 years, 33.5 billion euros has been invested in Croatia, but the problem is that the investments were mostly Brownfield [investments] and focused on ''nontradeable'' sectors. We're missing out on Greenfield investments, investment in the production of goods and services that will create quality jobs and be more export-oriented,'' said the president at the InvestCro conference in Zagreb.

She feels that the direction of development can be directed in the desirable direction if the appropriate lessons learned from the mistakes made are properly taken into consideration. "First of all, I'm thinking of investment woes, the shortage of people involved in attracting investors, the lack of approach planning and coordination," she said.

On their way directly from Pantovčak to the Croatian Government are five key guidelines for the faster and easier growth of investments in Croatia. It is necessary to consolidate the competences of all those responsible for attracting FDI (foreign direct investment) at a single national level, to create an investment attracting strategy aligned with other economic strategies, to focus on new models and soft investment incentives for added value and to constantly create an attractive investment climate.

The five recommendations include the continuation of work on a better overall image of the Republic of Croatia and the promotion of the country as a destination for investment, not just a tourist destination. In this regard, Grabar-Kitarović announced that the working group who deal with branding Croatia will come out with guidelines within a month.

"We decided to do something for our society, as well as for those who will still be here when we're gone. Without healthy investments, we will remain without investors, and for this reason we have just decided to speak [on the subject] through various conferences, just like this one today.

''I hope this conference will contribute to the progress of Croatia,'' Niševic said.

'' the last two years, two-thirds of greenfield investments in the EU took place in just six European countries. I believe that Croatia will raise its rating in 2019 and come over to the side of these six countries, with the help of new laws and a better quality framework for stimulating investment,'' said Minister of Economy Darko Horvat at the InvestCro conference.

"The share of investment in GDP is growing, we're at the average of EU countries. The third quarter in 2018 was, according to current information, optimistic, as there was a 4.9 percent rise. Croatia needs economic growth of five percent. Step by step, we're strengthening competition, there is no instant solution, and changes need to be deeply rooted.

We should help entrepreneurs to retain as much of their own funds as possible for the new investment cycle. We're digitising business and the state, in order to reduce the burden on entrepreneurs. Therefore, I expect growth in production, especially in the private sector. Through the Investment Incentive Act alone we attracted 16 billion kuna, with 12,750 new jobs being planned. We know exactly what kind of educational profile we need, we need to make sure we've got young people who will be employed there. We need a synergistic effect with cities and counties," the minister said, hinting at the need to all be on the same level.

"We want investments with new technologies and added value. Despite the global boom in the digital economy, less than 20 percent of such investments fell into the ICT sector. We are not only looking at the volume, but also the character and type of investment, as well as the quality of jobs which is what our young people who are leaving are looking for abroad. We need a bit of courage and some enthusiasm in order to turn these issues into a chance.

The Ministry of Economy has announced five new tenders, which is an innovation opportunity for domestic entrepreneurs. I'm sure that 303 million euros will be invested in Croatia's investment potential and that this year will end with development,'' concluded Horvat, adding the encouraging fact that this week, the representatives of several Swiss companies are browsing northwestern Croatia and looking for business zones that are ready for them to move part of their business to.

Mladen Fogec, president of the Association of Foreign Investors in Croatia, noted that Croatian pessimism could affect foreign investors very much.

"The rating agencies are constantly positioning us at the end of the second-third on the doing business scale, but they all get their perceptions from talking to our political parties, non-governmental organisations, and we're very inclined to being negative - we have to turn to optimism. When it comes to the perception of corruption... we're not in the best position, but when you ask a person whether or not they bribed someone, the answer is always that they didn't. Please spread optimism because Croatia has a lot of potential. In principle, there's an enormous problem with our mentality, the capacity for change isn't big enough, we're still not ready to start to change, and we're living in the era of digitisation and computerisation,'' Fogec said.

"We've spent far too much time wrestling with the past, we spent an actual minister of economy on Agrokor, and her successor is now spending most of his time trying to deal with Uljanik, which is also grappling with the past. We need to deal with the future. It's good that we have introduced a law on strategic planning. It's not a question of whether foreign investors want to come to Croatia, but whether or not we actually want foreign investors,'' claims Fogec.

He noted that the association he leads didn't issue the so-called ''white book'' for business for 2019 because the problems still remain exactly the same as they were before. "Nothing has changed, or it has changed at a slower rate compared to changes in neighbouring countries, so our latest edition is still valid," he concluded rather sarcastically.

For those of you who understand Croatian, here's a video of what has been said, suggested and discussed at the conference:

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Could Croatia soften its laws on the acquisition of citizenship for foreign investors bringing money, jobs and other benefits with them to Croatia? It's a sensitive topic for many, but more and more people in business circles are beginning to believe that this could be one answer to Croatia's increasingly bleak demographic picture.

As Boris Oresic/Novac writes on the 17th of March, 2019, the value of a passport is measured by the number of countries to which its owner can travel without the need for a visa. On the World Passport Index, the Republic of Croatia holds a high ranking of sixteen because the owners of its travel documents enjoy visa-free travel to 169 countries across the world.

According to the latest research by the Swiss agency Henley & Partners, which helps individuals who want to acquire the nationality of a country, the most powerful passports are Japan and Singapore, which allows visa-free access to 189 countries, with Germany coming second with just one number less. Following that come Finland, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Denmark.

From year to year, more and more countries abolish visas for Croatian passport holders, making the blue passport with the Croatian coat of arms more and more sought after in general. However, unlike some European countries, the Croatian state has not yet decided on what is considered by many to be a controversial move - selling its citizenship to those who want to pay good money for it and don't pose a risk to national security.

Portugal, Austria, Malta, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria are some of the EU countries which, under varying conditions, do offer such opportunities to foreigners. By selling their passports or permanent residence permits, these countries manage to earn significant income from East Asia, Russia and the Middle East who aren't lacking money and who want EU documents which automatically enable them to move freely and operate in 28 member states, some of which fall into the most powerful countries of the world.

The European Commission doesn't take such a bright view at such practices, and at the end of January it warned EU member states that third-country investors seeking such so-called ''golden passports'' and ''golden visas'' increase the security risk throughout the EU. This criticism is mostly related to Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria, which have the most liberal laws on the matter. For example, Malta charges 650,000 euros for its passport, and the applicant must have possessed 350,000 euros worth of real estate on its territory for five years. Cyprus offers its citizenship to those who invest 2 million euros and have real estate worth more than 500,000 euros. As one of its arguments for deterring the practice of selling citizenship, the European Commission cites the potential problems of Russian capital of suspect origin.

The former government of SDP's Zoran Milanović discussed the idea of major investors being allowed to acquire citizenship back in 2015, but such notions appear to have been quickly given up on and there is no indication, at least at the moment, that these regulations could change significantly. In business circles however, there are plenty of people who think that it's high time that Croatia softens its rigid attitude, because by selling a certain number of passports, it would not have lost anything and could in turn gain many benefits. With the country's demographic image becoming more and more bleak, many believe a softened stance wouldn't hurt.

Globus's interlocutor, who is otherwise very well-versed in this topic, argues that when looking for security and business opportunities, the Croatian passport is most likely to be sought after by businessmen from Asia and Russia.

''The Agency conducts an investigation to make sure the applicant isn't a criminal, that he isn't in political asylum, that he doesn't abuse taxation... Then it's handed over to the country whose official services also do their part before deciding whether or not to comply with the request,'' says Globus's source, adding that this year alone, Croatia has raised its quota for the employment of foreign workers from non-EU countries to as high a figure as 65,000.

''How can we know that there are no criminals among these people? It's hard to believe that some rich man would come to Croatia with the intent of blowing it up with explosives. It's not known that anyone with a Maltese passport is linked to some terrorist attack. Security risks don't exist,'' explains a Croatian entrepreneur who is well acquainted with some very wealthy business people and others who would like to spread their wings, their work and their money into Croatia if they were to gain citizenship.

The number of people who can be granted citizenship can be limited by each country or by set quotas. Globus's source believes that a quota of the first thousand passports offered for sale would be completed within a year to a year and a half. This would mean that 300 million euros would be pumped directly into the state budget, which roughly covers the entire value of Pelješac bridge. Advocates of such ideas believe that several thousand wealthy foreigners would acquire all of the rights and obligations of all other Croatian citizens, and would not undermine the demographic picture of Croatia, which is already as grim as grim can be. Most of them, however, would probably not spend much time here in Croatia, and they would certainly not vote in national elections.

The Ministry of the Interior (MUP) is responsible for all issues related to the acquisition of Croatian citizenship, yet most member states do have rather vague legislation, however difficult it might be to come across, that points to discretionary procedures for naturalisation. In such proceedings, a state may freely grant nationality to a foreigner based on its national interests, that is typically related to outstanding achievements such as those in the field of culture, science or sport, but it can also be equated with economic interest.

There is a legal possibility for a foreign entrepreneur or an investor to acquire Croatian citizenship in a more privileged manner if the competent ministry feels that it is in the interest of the state to grant it. The Ministry of the Interior notes that the process of amendment to the Law on Croatian Citizenship is indeed in progress, but it does not foresee an amendment to Article 12 in order to facilitate the acquisition of citizenship for foreigners who want Croatian nationality purely for investing in Croatia.

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Click here for the original article by Boris Oresic for Novac/Jutarnji

If one goes in search of a definitive answer to the question of what type of business concept with great market potential and small initial investments is currently worth investing in in the Republic of Croatia, few people would be able to give you the real answer, and the real answer is as bland as laundry. No, really.

As Jasmina Trstenjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of March, 2019, the current estimates are that the number of overnight stays realised by foreign tourists, especially in private accommodation, will increase in Croatia this sumemr season, and such commercial facilities will have virtually no real outlet to deal with proper cleaning, washing, drying and the general supply of products for accommodation units like hotels do, which is an increasing problem with each passing season.

Along with the strengthening of the position of Croatia as an attractive tourist destination far from Europe's shores all the way over on distant markets such as China and Korea, it's expected that this guest profile will visit more than one destination within the country. As the trend of short overnight stays of course goes hand in hand with doing a lot of laundry, this is a big challenge for renters along the coast and beyond.

In Croatia, numerous hospitality and accommodation facilities rely heavily on laundry services to enable them to operate smoothly throughout the season. Although such facilities, which until rather recently only appeared in American films, are becoming more and more of a common sight here in Croatia. Regardless of the fact that they're making more ''regular appearences'', there still aren't enough of them currently in operation.

Mario Martinek, the owner of the Bijeli svijet (White world) company that has been doing business successfully on both the domestic and European markets for many years now, says that a significant number of Croatian workers are working abroad now, and lack of service staff is one of the main obstacles to overcome:

"Because of this, there's often a lack of people to do the basic activities such as the frequent washing and drying of bedding,'' says Bijeli svijet's owner. In the last four years in Croatia, Martinek's company has worked to open more than 80 such facilities, through which more than 200 people were employed.

"In addition to hotels and campsites, there are many families looking for an independent source of income, and we're particularly proud of that,'' he added, noting that no special technical skills or previous entrepreneurial experience are needed to run a laundry service.

They offer their clients free education, assistance with self-employment, and a step by step guide through the entire whole process: from collecting grants to starting work and opening and working in their own facilities. On the other hand, hotels, camps, restaurants and other larger facilities, by incorporating professional equipment, manage to realise significant savings on energy, such as on electricity and water. Savings on electricity consumption are 25 percent, and on water, a significant 44 percent per year.

According to the Bijeli svijet's data, in 90 percent of cases, laundry facilities are profitable business-wise all year long, and the process from idea to realisation takes a mere two months on average.

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Click here for the original article by Jasmina Trstenjak for Poslovni Dnevnik