ZAGREB, April 7, 2019 - More than 2,000 people gathered in front of Europa Cinema in Zagreb on Saturday afternoon to show support for the cinema’s management, as the future of the Zagreb movie theatre Cinema Europa (Kino Europa), which is the oldest active cinema in Croatia, seems uncertain.

On Friday, the cinema’s management announced that they would close the cinema this weekend after they received notice from the City of Zagreb that they would need to exit the premises on 1 June 2019 due to renovations.

Cinema Europa management said in a statement that the City was using the guise of the renovations to get rid of the cinema’s current management and bring a new tenant in.

However, on Saturday afternoon, the Zagreb Film Festival director Boris T. Matić admitted that their reaction a day before was a result of their shock and surprise.

He said that 10 years ago when they were awarded the lease, the cinema was in a state of dilapidation. Matić insisted that under the concession agreement, they were supposed to invest two million kuna, and they had invested five million kuna to date.

On Saturday afternoon, the city authorities said that the renovation of the premises was necessary and refuted allegations that there were plans to repurpose the building, located in Zagreb's Cvjetni Square.

Matić said that he would hold a news conference on Tuesday to inform the public about the details of the investments the current management had made so far.

Croatia’s Minister of Culture, Nina Obuljen Koržinek, on Saturday morning also raised her voice against the closure of Cinema Europa. She called on the two sides to show their good will and reach agreement on the future functioning of the cinema.

The City of Zagreb said in a statement on Saturday that the current management’s lease expires on 1 June and the premise would remain a cinema after renovations are complete.

Cinema Europa said a second protest would be held on Tuesday, 9 April at 5:30 pm outside the cinema.

Cinema Europa, which turns 94 years old this month has been extremely successful over the last ten years, holding over 14,000 projections with over one million visitors. In 2016, Cinema Europa won the European Best Cinema Award. The cinema is a protected cultural heritage and national treasure of Croatia.

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

We will not wait for European funds. The new National Children's Hospital will be built with funds from the state budget “because sick children cannot wait.” This was said last year by Minister of Health Milan Kujundžić, announcing that the construction works in the Blato district in Zagreb will start this year, reports Večernji List on April 7, 2019.

However, it is clear that there will be no construction works this year and that the sick children will indeed have to wait, probably for at least a decade. That can be seen in the documents which will be signed by the state and the city authorities on April 15. The documents define the co-operation in the development of the future children's hospital. The first stage includes preparation of all necessary documentation in order for the construction to begin at all.

The paperwork will cost 42.3 million kuna, of which the City of Zagreb is responsible for covering 26 million and the Ministry of Health 16.3 million kuna. They will actually spend considerably less, since 85 per cent of the cost, or a total of 40 million kuna, has been granted by the European Union funds, so the city will allocate for the preparatory works only four million and the Ministry 2.4 million kuna. The deadline for all the documents to be ready is 57 months starting from last March.

In other words, the deadline is December 2022, while the money for the hospital construction itself would be withdrawn from European funds "in the next programming period," which will last from 2021 to 2027.

One of the documents expected is a study which will show whether the new hospital should be located in an entirely new building, or whether the never-finished University Hospital located at the site could be used for this purpose. Through the decades, 157 million euro has been invested in the complex of the university hospital which was never completed. In the 1980s, all citizens of Zagreb paid 1.5 per cent of their personal income for the university hospital. By 1992, about 50 per cent of the building was completed, and then everything stopped. The current owner of the site is the City of Zagreb.

The construction of the children’s hospital would cost around 130 million euro.

There are funding problems with another major city project, the new Sljeme cableway which is currently being constructed. The city will reportedly transfer the project to the ZET public transport company, and it that way “find” the funds missing for its completion. The project is supposed to be completed by the City Day next year, but the budget includes just 80 million kuna for the cableway, which covers just one-fifth of its total cost. The plan is to secure additional funds with a loan which should be taken out by ZET.

Translated from Večernji List (reported by Mateja Šobak).

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

A touch of Africa in the heart of Zagreb, more precisely on Ilica 73 in central Zagreb, as Okoli Kikelomo from Nigeria officially opens her new (well, sort of) African restaurant ''MamaVeek's Kitchen''. ''We don't have a pricelist, people who don't have any money can come and eat for free,'' stated the warm-hearted Okoli.

As 24sata/Anamarija Milos writes on the 6th of April, 2019, the African bistro ''MamaVeek's Kitchen'' which moved from Ilica 69 to Ilica 73, was initially opened six years ago by Okoli Kikelomo who came to Croatia from Nigeria in search of a better life than what she felt Nigeria could offer her.

The opening of her new-yet-old restaurant officially began at 16:00 and Okoli said that there is no price list in her restaurant, people are free to leave donations, and those who don't have any money are more than welcome to come and eat for free, she also added that she would continue to serve only traditional African recipes in her kitchen.

Okoli arrived here in Croatia six years ago in search of a better life, and since then, she hasn't stopped - she founded a humanitarian association, organises various art workshops, she volunteers, but in spite of all her many activities, this ''jack of all trades'' is mostly devoted to cooking African food at ''MamaVeek's Kitchen''.

Okoli is a talented cook, and she learned it all from her grandmother, and she made her very own first dish eight years ago. Her passion for African cuisine is so strong that her desire is to transfer it to her visitors through her hard work in her African restaurant. The food served there is mostly bought at the Zagreb's Dolac market, but the exotic spices with which she enrich her traditional African dishes are sent to her from her mother who is back in Nigeria.

Despite her love of African cuisine, Okoli has taken on the task of learning to prepare and cook Croatian cuisine.

"In these past six years, I've learned how to prepare sarma and tripe in Croatia. I know how to make fish paprikaš too, but for my guests, especially for the opening, I'll prepare an African soup with meat and a special fish dish,'' Okoli noted.

Make sure to stay up to date by following our dedicated lifestyle page. If it's just the capital you're interested in, give Total Zagreb a follow.

Click here for the original article by Anamarija Milos for 24sata

ZAGREB, April 6, 2019 - The exhibition about Polish Jews under the title "They Fill No Space: Reviving the Memory of Polish Jews" will be staged outside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb on Saturday within the 13th edition of the Festival of Tolerance that officially starts on Sunday.

The exhibition presents a selection of murals that can be found in public spaces all across Poland that speak about the past of Polish Jews, the festival says on its web site.

The exhibition is prepared in partnership of the Jewish Film Festival Association with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Institute Adam Mickiewicz from Warsaw, Poland and with the support of the Museum of Contemporary Art from Zagreb.

Festival of Tolerance – JFF Zagreb has been developed from the Jewish Film Festival as a unique cultural and educational platform,

"The 13th edition of the Festival will be held from 7 April to 13 April 2019 in the cinemas SC, Kinoteka and Tuškanac, while the ancillary programme will be held from 1 April to 17 April 2019 in public spaces of the City of Zagreb in the form of outdoor exhibitions," according to information on the festival's website.

"Over the past 13 years, the Festival has been fostering critical thinking and the creation of a more tolerant society, in an attempt to open up a dialogue between opposing sides and to contribute to the development of a healthier social environment."

This year, over 70 films will be shown during the event.

Admission is free.

More news about Croatia’s museums can be found in the Lifestyle section.

The Europa Cinema in Zagreb will close its doors on Sunday, according to the decision made by the cinema’s management and Boris T. Matić, director of the Zagreb Film Festival (ZFF), the art organization that has been managing the oldest Zagreb cinema building for the past ten years, reports tportal.hr on April 6, 2019.

This means that the Festival of Tolerance, which was supposed to start on Sunday, will not be held at the Europa Cinema, and the same goes for the Subversive Film Festival in May and the Animafest Zagreb in June.

The Zagreb Film Festival employees on Friday received a letter from the Zagreb City Office for Property Affairs which informed them that their 10-year lease agreement expires on June 1 and that they must hand over the Cinema Europa building to the city authorities on that day. Otherwise, in accordance with the Law on lease and sale of business premises, "further legal action will be taken." The letter includes a detailed explanation.

“Considering that, during inspections and according to your requests, it has been concluded that the renovation of the building is necessary, the town authorities have undertaken preparatory measures for the cinema’s renovation (adaptation), including renovation of the roof of the building. The equipment and chairs in the main hall are run down and do not meet the technical and safety standards, and parts of the plaster ceiling are falling. Also, the boiler room operates using heating oil, which endangers the safety of the visitors and increases the heating costs,” says the letter signed by office head Damir Lasić, adding that the works are expected to last for six months.

The cinema management explains that they have already partially renovated the building. Also, in October they send a letter to the city authorities asking for the contract extension, but no reply was received. The decision to close the cinema was made spontaneously. “No one talked with us during the last six months, despite our requests filed within the deadlines, and now, two months before the expiration of the contract, we realise that they want to expel us under the guise of renovations. Reality and emotions are mixed,” says Boris T. Matić.

The City Office for Culture has granted the Zagreb Film Festival the usual annual grant in the amount of 420,000 kuna for operations, but this money is almost entirely repaid to the city through the rent for the cinema.

“Cinema Europa costs the City of Zagreb zero kuna. As a matter of fact, all the income we make is again invested in the cinema building. And then they send us the letter to leave by June 1. They will supposedly renovate the facility within six months, although we know that no budget has been foreseen to renovate the cinema. What does this mean for future events, for Animafest, which was supposed to start on June 2? If we leave, who will organise this programme?" Matić asks, adding that ZFF employees heard two years ago that Cinema Europa would become a folk music club, and that nobody has convinced them to the contrary.

Translated from tportal.hr (reported by Silvana Srdoč).

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

The Croatia water polo team defeated Greece 13:11 (1:2, 5:4, 4:1, 3:4) in the Europa Cup quarterfinals, which was held in Zagreb on Friday, reports HRT on April 5, 2019. 

Croatia nervously entered the duel and did not take advantage of their first five situations with an extra player in the pool, giving Greece a constant advantage during the first two quarters. However, Croatia resolved the match in the third quarter. In that period, Croatia had three consecutive goals and did not allow Greece to get above a two-goal difference until the end. Greece scored their first goal of the second half seven minutes into the half, and Croatia ended the third quarter with a goal by Fatović for an impressed lead of  11:7. Greece could no longer return.

Loren Fatović scored three goals for Croatia, with Maro Joković, Josip Vrlić, Anđelo Šetka and Javier Garcia each scoring two, and Luka Lončar and Ivan Buljubašić scoring one. Ioannis Fontoulis led Greece with three goals, and Alexandros Gounas and Angelos Vlachopoulos added two.

“We did not expect an easy win. However, when we settled the defense and led by three points, we were able to keep the advantage,” said Loren Fatović.

Fatović also announced the upcoming game against Spain.

“It will be a tough match; they broke Serbia in three quarters.”

In the semi-final on Saturday, Croatia will play against Spain (20:15), who beat Serbia on Friday in the quarters 13:12 (5:4, 3:1, 3:4, 2:3), while Hungary and Italy will play in the other semi-final at 18:30. Hungary defeated Montenegro 11:9 (4:2, 2:3, 1:1, 4:1) , while Italy was better than Russia with 11:9 (3:3, 3:2, 1:3, 4:1).

The Croatian water polo team is defending the title won last year in Rijeka. The top three teams of this tournament will compete in the World League finals, hosted by Belgrade from June 18 to 23. Despite losing to Spain, Serbia automatically qualifies in the World League finals as they are the host of the tournament. The winner of the World League finals will advance to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Of the European teams, Serbia will join the Europa Cup finalists and the winner of the third place in the tournament in Belgrade.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Cheap, modern apartment, located in a green area and just ten minutes by bus from the city centre. The ad for the 60-square-metre apartment available for rent in the Remete district for only 350 euros has been viewed more than 2100 times since Monday. For a good reason, since it is one of few such apartments available in Zagreb. However, it is not available for everybody, reports Večernji List on April 5, 2019.

When a journalist called the owner pretending to be a mother of a two-year-old child, she was immediately rejected. Children are not welcome in this apartment. The same thing happened with about twenty other internet ads that the journalist came across. When asked why they did not want kids, owners gave different answers. The apartment is allegedly more suitable for students and workers, schools and kindergartens are not close enough, neighbours are mostly without kids so they would be bored.

Owner Jakov Buljević does not want children because they could damage his apartment. “Of course, you should not admit a family with children in a newly-renovated apartment, perhaps only if it is a modest and not renovated flat,” he said, which has been confirmed by other apartment owners, as well as parents who have spent months searching for apartments for themselves and their families.

Romana Tahirović has been trying to find accommodation for herself and her child since June but without success. “My child is about to start school, and I want to find an apartment close to a school, but as soon as I mention having a child, the person on the other side starts explaining that the apartment is too small or not adapted for the kids. And if I mention I am a single mother, they start asking how I am going to pay for the apartment, despite having a regular income,” she explained.

The most common reason for the rejection is the owners’ fear that they would not be paid. “I had a family with children, and they did not pay me for half a year. I could not force myself to have them evicted, but I do not want to go through that again,” one of the landlords said.

Boro Vujović, the director of a real estate agency, confirmed that families with children have a difficult time finding an apartment. “While living in an apartment, the family has a hold over it. Owners cannot just evict them by force, but they have to sue them, which can take years. People do not want the risk, and therefore they reject families with children,” he explained.

Rental rates are another problem. The average rent of a 60-square-metre apartment is about 600 euro, or a little less than 4,500 kuna. The highest rent is in the city centre, Ravnice and Maksimir, where it reaches up to 800 euro per month, while the cheapest ones are in Sesvete, Dubrava and Gajnice, where a 60-square-metre apartment costs about 400 euros. This is much higher than it used to be when the average rental price of a flat of 60 square metres was about 350 to 400 euros.

The reason for the lack of rental apartments is the growth of flats offered for daily rent. But the better days are coming, claims Vujović. “There has been hyperinflation of daily rental apartments. But people will soon realise that it is not worth it and they will against start renting them for the long-term, and this will bring the rates down.”

Translated from Večernji List (reported by Hana Ivković).

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, April 3, 2019 - Croatian associations of architects, urban planners, landscape architects and art historians sent an open letter to Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić on Tuesday, saying that the recently published plans for the implementation of the Zagreb Manhattan (or "City within the City") project were unacceptable from several points of view.

The plans ignore the legal procedure and are completely disputable from a professional point of view, the organisations said in the letter, noting that the project had not been put to public consultation.

The project is not in line with the Urban Development Plan or with the Master Plan, they warned, stressing that procedural and professional conditions should be met for the implementation of the project.

The purpose of the "City within the City" project is to transform the area of 1.1 million square metres covering the Zagreb Trade Fair complex and the Hippodrome horse racing venue into "a new innovative mixed-use urban zone for various complementary purposes," according to a call for expression of interest.

The call for expression of interest said that Novi Zagreb, the part of Zagreb south of the River Sava, does not have sufficient public, social, cultural, entertainment, commercial, sports and recreational facilities to meet the needs of its 120,000 residents, and that the planned project would improve the overall quality of life in the city.

Eagle Hills, a company based in the United Arab Emirates, has been selected as a possible partner for the "City within the City" development project, the Zagreb mayor's office said in a press release early in March.

More Zagreb news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

April 3, 2019 - It's not an April Fools’ joke – the 1st Business Café International event was held on Monday evening in Zagreb, gathering more than 50 experienced Croatian and foreign entrepreneurs. 

Business Café International was established to highlight the opposite of migration trends, i.e., showing examples of entrepreneurs who moved here and started their businesses in Croatia. It is a joint effort to make Croatia a country that is not just great to live in, but also an attractive place for doing business. 

Kristina Ercegović, Business Café founder, promoted her vision of Croatia as one of the best places to live and work. 

Paul Bradbury, a Brit who used to live on Hvar and now lives in Varaždin and the owner of Total Croatia News, and Natalia Zielinska, a Polish entrepreneur and the author of Natalia u zemlji čudesa/Natalia in Wonderland from Ogulin, shared their entrepreneurial stories. They also talked about the reasons why they moved to Croatia and how they do business here. 

Paul owns several portals, while Natalia is an EU consultant who also runs Entrepreneur Academy in Ogulin. 

The conclusions were that we should all STOP complaining, accept the term UHLJEB for the moment as some kind of a TAX which we all need to pay for living here, and do what we can. 

Nepotism and injustice were identified as the biggest problems and the reason why people emigrate. Additionally, many things don’t move forward because the problem starts at the lowest political level. Also, although Croatians complain a lot, it seems that they are too passive. 

Paul finished his talk by saying: “Don’t expect to change Dalmatia/Croatia, rather expect Croatia to change you.” 

He said we all go through three phases, especially foreigners upon their arrival. First, there is joy and you are happy to be here and you enjoy the beauty and quality of life here. Then there is sorrow – you can’t believe this is happening. And finally, you accept reality and you do something to change at least one thing in your bubble or area of influence. 

He said he has seen many initiatives - holding Business Cafés being one of them – and that there is a need to connect them all to show that there definitely is a better and more positive Croatia. 

We all agreed there were many initiatives and entrepreneurial stories which should be shared and presented daily because that is the way mindset is changed, and that children should be shown that success is possible here as well. 

After their talks, the audience had a chance to talk to Paul and Natalia. Attendees also used the opportunity to present themselves, connect with others and network. 

Besides entrepreneurs, representatives of the US and Swedish Embassy were present at the event as well. 

Sponsors are Diglossia Translations Company, Lisak Catering, as well as Domelly. Media coverage is provided by Total Croatia News, Croatia2go, Samo pozitivno, Media Marketing, and WIA. 

Business Café events have been organised for the past nine years, in 7 countries and 25 cities. There have been more than 20,000 visitors, 300 guest speakers/entrepreneurs sharing their stories, more than 30 million euro deals have been made, countless friendships have started up, as well as some partnerships and investments. 

For more info, please visit: www.businesscafe.info 

Next scheduled events: June 3rd, August 26th, and October 14th, 2019. 

For more information, please contact 

Kristina Ercegović, EMBA

www.businesscafe.info 

+385 91 1555228 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

To read more about Croatia's foreign entrepreneurs, follow TCN's dedicated page. And if you'd like to be featured, send us an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

April 3, 2019 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zadar, Pula, and Zagreb.