ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Tuesday that today's meeting with drug wholesalers was a clear sign that the government wanted to solve the debt problem, while Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said additional payments might be made so that drug supply ran smoothly.

"Today's meeting is a clear signal that we wish to solve this problem through joint effort. The meeting was constructive and Minister Marić left open the possibility of additional funds to make sure that drug wholesalers supply the health system regularly," Beroš told the press, reiterating that increasing health contributions was not being considered.

The meeting focused on short-term solutions and the debt repayment schedule, but the government is discussing healthcare reforms that will lead to long-term solutions, Beroš said.

"We presented to drug wholesalers our determination to embark on reforms and our willingness to settle the debt," he said, but added that the Croatian Health Insurance Fund had to redirect HRK 2.5 billion for the treatment of COVID-19 patients instead of regular healthcare.

"This government will do everything so that not one citizen remains without the medicines they need. Last week we found a way through direct payment for medicines necessary for life-threatening conditions, including for cancer patients."

The HRK 900 million ensured for drug wholesalers last week is part of the search for a solution, Beroš said.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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

ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The Minister of Family and Social Policy, Josip Aladrović, on Tuesday announced amendments to the Foster Care Act to facilitate foster care for children.

The minister made the announcement after meeting with representatives of the "We Have Something to Tell You" initiative Marta Divjak and Antonija Skender. Divjak and Skender were also received by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Aladrović said that the two representatives presented a good initiative to address several key issues to relax adoption and foster care procedures.

Aladrović said that the duration of adoption or foster care cases showed how difficult it was to adopt or foster a child in Croatia. He said that he would initiate amendments to the 2019 Foster Care Act to promote deinstitutionalisation and make it easier for children staying in care homes to be taken into foster care.

As for the adoption of children by same-sex couples, Aladrović said that this issue would be put to public consultation. "The child's interest comes first and that's how it will be with the social care system."

Aladrović said that the meeting also focused on possible legislative and procedural changes concerning the social care system, as well as future cooperation on legislative amendments and ideas.

Divjak said that she herself had been adopted and her colleague Skender had been raised in a foster family. They had launched this initiative to raise public awareness of problems faced by fostered and adopted children.

Divjak said that they raised nine issues and that Prime Minister Plenković said that Minister Aladrović would take a position on them within the next three weeks. Among the issues raised, she cited the need to speed up the adoption procedure, establish a family court to deal with the interests of children, and promote foster care.

"We are leaving this meeting with a lot of expectations and hope that this will be the first government that will manage to fully reform the social care system," Skender said. 

Speaking of the case of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl from Nova Gradiška who had died from severe head and bodily injuries inflicted by her mother, Skender said that they could not speculate what had gone wrong because they did not have the information on the criteria the biological family had to fulfil.

"It is certainly not encouraging to take a child from a foster family in which it feels good and send it back to the medium-risk biological family," she added.

Aladrović condemned the graffiti on the wall of the Social Welfare Centre in Nova Gradiška calling social workers "murderers". He said that such calls for a lynching were inappropriate and would not help improve the system.

"The system needs reforming, but reforms will not happen by lynching and violence. Reforms will not be successful unless all social stakeholders are satisfied," the minister said.

The adoption support organisation Adopta issued a statement on Tuesday emphasising the need for a comprehensive reform of the social care system that would include regular annual reports on its work, civil oversight and amending the 2015 Family Act.

"Croatia needs a comprehensive reform of the system so that any child without adequate family care can get maximum government support in seeking a family," Adopta said.

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

ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The SSSH trade union federation has joined a global union drive to declare COVID-19 vaccines a common good on which private profit should not be made.

The appeal was signed by more than 110 unions, social movements and civil society organisations on the occasion of World Health Day, 7 April.

Huge public funds have been invested in developing the COVID-19 vaccine, so it is a political and moral obligation to ensure vaccination for all of the world population without discrimination on the grounds of income or nationality.

The serious health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic is destroying millions of jobs while making others precarious, which results in an increase in poverty and deprivation and economic and social inequality around the world. The global crisis requires and calls for saving lives and protecting jobs, reads the appeal.

The signatories call for mobilising workers around the globe on World Health Day and demand from governments and agencies to take action based on the "vaccine for all" criterion by guaranteeing universal and urgent access to vaccines for all people around the world.

They seek implementation of international law based on global justice, right to health and prevention of vaccine nationalism.

They also demand programmes and financial resources for the transfer of technologies and knowledge necessary to manufacture the vaccine in all regions and states as well as access to medicines, supplies, programmes and equipment necessary to treat COVID-19 patients.

The signatories to the appeal believe that financial support should be secured for all workers, farmers, family businesses and families who live and work in an informal economy and who have lost their income, in the form of minimum pay, and that a comprehensive emergency investment plan should be implemented for the recovery of millions of lost jobs and job preservation.

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

ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The president of the Croatian Association of Social Workers, Štefica Karačić, asked on Monday where the responsibility of Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović was in the case of the deceased two-and-a-half-year-old girl from Nova Gradiška.

The (local welfare centre's) director was dismissed and then, in a week, it was forgotten that the centre needs other forms of help and support to work in such a complex and difficult area of activity as child protection, Karačić told the Nova TV commercial broadcaster, and she asked why the minister wouldn't also be removed, if the responsibility was hierarchical.

She told Nova TV that the minister had made the same move as the previous one, so "by dismissing the director, he thinks that he has solved all his problems in the social welfare system".

Asked what has changed in the social welfare system after several difficult cases -- of a father who threw four children from the balcony of his house on Pag island and of a beneficiary who killed two of her colleagues in Đakovo, Karačić said that nothing had changed.

"Nothing has changed, the voice of various activists who have an easier and simpler access to policy makers than experts can be heard. We are always under suspicion, we are always the ones responsible. If the director is responsible hierarchically, then I wonder -- where is the minister's responsibility," Karačić asked.

She suggested that before meeting Jelena Veljača and her colleagues from the #spasi me (Save Me) initiative tomorrow, Minister Aladrović should have a look at what she had posted on her profile regarding the social welfare system and that he keep in mind that he is also a part of that system.

Asked whether an inspection has found any irregularities in the work of the centre in Nova Gradiška, she said that she and a colleague had been in the Centre for Social Welfare in Nova Gradiška on Friday and that they had not completed the inspection yet.

"Our preliminary inspection... does not indicate there were gross omissions in the work of the centre. However, I cannot say there weren't any until the procedure is completed," she noted.

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

ZAGREB, 2 April, 2021 - Croatia is the only EU member state outside the euro area to have recorded a decrease in hourly labour costs in 2020, a Eurostat report shows.

Last year, hourly labour costs rose by an average of 3.1% in the EU and by 2.9% in the euro area.

Among the non-euro area countries, the highest increases in hourly labour costs expressed in the national currency were observed in Hungary (+7.9%), Bulgaria (+7.8%), the Czech Republic (+7.4%) and Romania (+7.2%). The lowest increases were registered in Sweden (+1.1%) and Denmark (+2.0%). 

Croatia was the only non-euro area country to see a drop in hourly labour costs (-1.0%).

Among the euro area member states, the highest increases in hourly labour costs were reported in Portugal (+8.6%), Lithuania (+7.5%) and Slovakia (7.0%). The lowest increases were observed in Luxembourg (+0.5%), Finland (+0.7%) and the Netherlands (+0.8%). Decreases were registered only in Malta (-4.7%), Cyprus (-2.7%) and Ireland (-2.7%).

Last year, the average hourly labour cost was €28.5 in the EU and €32.3 in the euro area, compared to €27.7 and €31.4 respectively in 2019.

The differences among the countries were huge, with the hourly labour costs in Bulgaria being seven times lower than those in Luxembourg.

The lowest hourly labour costs in the EU were recorded in Bulgaria (€6.5), Romania (€8) and  Hungary (€9.9). They were followed by Lithuania (€10.1), Latvia (€10.5), Croatia (€10.8) and Poland (€11).

Among the euro area countries, the lowest hourly labour costs were registered in Slovakia (€13.4), Estonia (€13.6) and Portugal (€15.3). In Slovenia and Spain these costs were around €20, while in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria they ranged between €30 and €40. The highest hourly labour costs were reported in Denmark (€45.8), Luxembourg (€42.1) and Belgium (€41.4).

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

ZAGREB, 2 April, 2021 - Two grant agreements worth HRK 6.7 million were handed over in Petrinja on Friday for projects by the local development agency PETRA and the Red Cross office in Sisak.

Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović said that the first agreement was financed with EU funds in the amount of HRK 2.5 million and was intended for the establishment of a centre for social entrepreneurship in Petrinja.

The other grant agreement, worth close to HRK 4.2 million, is intended to help alleviate poverty in the region of Banovina and northern Croatia, through donations of food and/or basic material assistance.

Attending the ceremony at which the grant agreements were handed over were also War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved, who heads the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake in Sisak-Moslavina County, and local officials.

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

ZAGREB, 1 April, 2021 - The National Recovery and Resilience Plan for 2021-26 is the government's plan for the reform and transformation of Croatia, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday, presenting the plan after a cabinet meeting.

Investment in education, science and research, labour and welfare legislation, healthcare and post-earthquake reconstruction is estimated at HRK 18 billion.

The plan will contribute to the development of a quality education and science system, the stimulation of excellence and innovativeness in children, youth and scientists, and the creation of new and innovative employment policies, Plenković told press.

The plan will also contribute to enhancing the pension system, to quality social protection, the modernisation of healthcare, and to energy-efficient and earthquake-resistant buildings, for which additional funds have been ensured, he said.

Modernising science and education system for more resilient economy

The government plans to reform the education system and raise research and innovation capacities, strengthening scientific excellence and stimulating open science and cooperation with the business sector.

The plan also envisages raising the quality of vocational programmes relevant to the labour market. Another objective is to increase investment in the research infrastructure, strengthening Croatia's innovativeness.

Investment in education, science and research is estimated at HRK 7.5 billion.

Increasing employability of all age groups

The general objective of the labour market and welfare component is to keep workers employed and increase the employment rate, create prerequisites for job creation, reduce unemployment and curb unreported labour.

The plan aims to facilitate access to adult education and reduce in-work poverty by redefining minimum wage and ensuring just pay.

The government plans to improve the pension system by increasing pension adequacy as well as the social welfare system by reducing poverty risk and social exclusion and ensuring additional and better accommodation in care homes.

Investment in the labour market and welfare is estimated at over HRK 2 billion.

Increasing healthcare system's resilience

As for the healthcare component, goals include strengthening the system so that it can respond to the challenges posed by chronic non-infectious and emerging infectious diseases and ensuring accessible and quality healthcare, said Health Minister Vili Beroš.

The system will be modernised, among other things, through accelerated digitalisation and the application of new methods and technologies, hospitals will be functionally integrated, while the reduction of their number and the expansion of public procurement is expected to cut costs and markedly improve the financial viability of the system.

Investment in the healthcare component is estimated at over HRK 2.5 billion.

Full transformation of building sector

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan also envisages the reconstruction of buildings, also as a contribution to economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, reducing the environmental impact of energy consumption and pollution, and increasing the energy efficiency of buildings.

Other goals include meeting climate targets, efficient and coordinated post-earthquake reconstruction and increasing earthquake-resistant construction.

Investment in this component is envisaged at nearly HRK 6 billion.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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

ZAGREB, 1 April, 2021 - War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved, who heads the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake in Sisak-Moslavina County, has said that local communities could take over, through local hospitality service providers, the preparation of meals for people affected by the quake.

This past weekend the Croatian Red Cross (HCK) distributed 21,000 tonnes of food, 14,000 warm meals and 5,675 litres of water, Medved said at a government session on Thursday.

He said that local government units had been suggested to take over, if possible, through local providers of hospitality services, the preparation of meals, which would help local employers and enable employment of local workers.

Medved noted that the state would continue to pay for the meals as long as necessary.

He added that water in the entire area was safe for consumption and that the HCK and the Croatian Firefighters Association were working on pumping out and rehabilitating wells, with 63 wells having been pumped out and 42 rehabilitated.

The local water supply network is being reconstructed and a new network of arterial water mains is being built, he said.

"Requests have been submitted for the removal of 560 buildings and 6,447 requests have been submitted for renovation work," Medved said speaking about the situation three months since the 6.2 magnitude earthquake.

So far, 1,805 housing containers and small houses have been installed and 2,141 have been connected to the power grid.

Five new mobile network stations have been installed to improve mobile signal strength.

By 28 March, 37,954 facilities were inspected, and of them 4,602 were found to be unfit to live in, 8,180 were found to need repair work and 25,000 were found to be fit to live in, Medved said.

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

ZAGREB, 1 April, 2021 - Croatia's general government debt reached HRK 329.7 billion at the end of 2020, an increase of 12.6% compared with the end of 2019, with the general government debt to GDP ratio rising to 89.1%, the latest Croatian National Bank (HNB) data shows.

At the end of December 2020, the general government debt increased by HRK 526 million (+0.16%) from the previous month and by 36.8 billion (+12.6%) from December 2019.

At the end of last year the total debt amounted to 89.1% of the annual GDP, compared to 72.8% at the end of 2019.

The general government debt to GDP ratio had been falling since 2014, when it stood at about 85% of GDP. After decreasing to 72.8% of GDP in 2019, the needs for financing the measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak and the GDP decline led to the general government debt to GDP ratio increasing to 89.1% in 2020.

The general government debt includes the domestic and external debt components of central government, social security funds and local government.

HNB analysts noted that the debt increase was mostly due to a rise in the domestic debt component, which had gone up by HRK 4.1 billion (+1.9%) since November 2020 and by HRK 26.0 billion (+13.2%) since December 2019.

At the end of December 2020, the general government debt totalled 223.7 billion on the domestic market, while the external debt component amounted to nearly HRK 106 billion. The external debt component fell by HRK 3.6 billion (+3.3%) month on month and increased by HRK 10.8 billion (+11.3%) year on year.

The general government debt structure is dominated by long-term debt instruments. At the end of December 2020, the debt comprised bonds (64.4%), long-term loans (29.1%), and short-term loans and securities (6.5%). Compared with December 2019, the short-term debt rose by HRK 8.4 billion (+63.1%), while the long-term debt increased by HRK 30.5 billion (+10,9%).

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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

ZAGREB, 1 April, 2021 - On the occasion of the 12th anniversary of Croatia's admission to NATO, Defence Minister Mario Banožić stated on Thursday that his country proved to be a trustworthy and reliable ally and partner.

"Over these 12 years since it became a full member of NATO, Croatia has proven to be a trustworthy and reliable ally and partner," the minister said in his message on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of Croatia's entry into the alliance.

Croatia participates actively and on an equal footing in the alliance's decision-making and its troops, together with troops from other member states, contribute to peace-building efforts worldwide, the minister said.

He recalled that membership of NATO was one of the two most important objectives in Croatia's foreign policy.

 "Croatia has thus become part of the strongest military and political alliance in the history of humankind. Therefore, Croatia's security and stability is guaranteed not only by its own army but also by the armed forces of friendly countries from the NATO alliance," Banožić said recalling that the journey to the full membership had been difficult and demanding after Croatia had won the war which had been imposed on it and after it had to develop its own armed forces.

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