March 31, 2020 — The Croatian government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak includes several violations of constitutional rights, according to Judge Andrej Abramović, who sits on the nation’s top court, according to Jutarnji List. 

The judge claims the National Crisis Directorate did not have the legal right to limit citizens’ movement, forcing them to stay place in their legal residences. The Law on the Civil Protection System, as well as its amendment adopted by Parliament on March 18, did not give such authority to the National Directorate, he argues. 

Abramović presented his arguments in “Constitutionality in the Age of Virus,” on iusinfo.hr.

Measures to combat the spread of coronaviruses are necessary but should deployed using existing procedures and laws in the Croatian constitution, the judge writes. An amendment to the Civil Protection System Act cannot delegate to the Civil Protection Directorate the powers of all government bodies because it means the suspension of democracy, the de facto dictatorship.

Abramović argues that the purpose of his text is not to polemicize the measures that are being taken but "to warn who is taking them,” arguing bypassing the constitution could cost “those values ​​that are even more important than human lives in a democratic society."

Abramovic, in the published text, also argues against the way the island of Muter was put into quarantine. The decision was made on March 25 by the Civil Protection Staff of Šibenik-Knin County. 

"Physical barriers were put on the access roads. Like during the war,” the judge writes, warning that the decision is illegal on several levels.

According to the Law on the Protection of the People from Infectious Diseases, quarantine, according to the judge, can only be forcibly accommodated individuals, not entire areas. In addition, the quarantine can be determined only by the Minister of Health. Also, those forcibly placed in quarantine are due compensation, he adds.

"None of the above," Abramović points out, "is the case here. If necessary, [the measures] must first be provided for by law and then introduced in the manner prescribed by law. This is how residents are at the mercy of activism of some kind of directorate."

The Constitutional Court judge also discusses the way in which the authorities determine the measure of self-isolation defined by the Law on Infectious Diseases Treatment as "isolation and treatment in the apartment".

It is quite questionable to the judge whether one's constitutional rights can be restricted when it is beyond doubt that there is a test that confirms or denies infection. 

"Detaining people in their own homes without testing puts them in a precarious position: neither healthy nor sick, they are stigmatized to the extent of being threatened by most."

By problematizing the way in which the concrete measures were enacted, Abramović seeks to draw attention to the essential constitutional issues raised by the  COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken by the authorities to suppress it.

In his article, he raises doubts that the ruling majority in Parliament deliberately avoids applying constitutional and legal norms, in order to allow itself to manage the crisis by means of laws passed by a simple instead of a two-thirds majority.

He analyzes the maneuver that the governing have resorted to in order to avoid the automatic activation of Article 17 of the Constitution relating to emergency situations, whose activation of all decisions affecting constitutional human rights would have to be approved by the Parliament by a two-thirds majority, as long as that legislative body can meet.

Abramovic clarifies the amendments to the Civil Protection System Act that was passed by Parliament on March 18, introducing the concept of "occurrence of special circumstances" even though the description of "special circumstances" is identical in substance to the state of "catastrophe" that the law already contains. "Why did the government not declare the disaster foreseen by law?”

Abramovic suspects that by this maneuver, the government sought to avoid the obligation to seek a two-thirds endorsement of the parliament for measures that encroach on constitutional human rights.

Abramović also chastised his fellow constitutional judges. “The Constitutional Court systematically, using lack of an explicit constitutional norm, refuses to participate in interpreting the Constitution in the a time of crisis, insists on deciding post-festum, when the eventual determination of the disproportionality of the measures taken will no longer mean anything to anyone."

The judge says that as a layman he does not know, nor does he dare to predict, what the consequences of such treatment will be to combat the pandemic. But the consequences will be bad in relation to guaranteed human rights - he is quite sure of that.

"There is no such necessity that justifies acting beyond the laws and the Constitution because both the Constitution and the laws regulate the state of emergency,” he wrote. “In the long run, the damage to democracy is greater than the damage caused by any virus. "

There is no doubt for this constitutional judge that Croatia is in a state of emergency as defined in Article 17 of the Constitution. "Where will you find a greater state of emergency than the global pandemic, the cessation of human and commodity circulation, quarantine and isolation of all kinds and every step of the way?”

Abramovic points out that it is frighteningly widespread that Parliament is no longer acting in the event of a state of emergency. "This is a wrong assumption,” he explains. Article 1 of the constitution states that it does not act only if it cannot meet. "Such a false perspective that the Parliament is not functioning in a state of emergency offers the wrong answer: if the legislature is no longer Parliament, then it will be someone else, possibly also a body that manages the crisis on behalf of the Government. And then it is a coup.”

March 31, 2020 — The coronavirus may have brought Croatian society to a halt, but the switch over to the Euro keeps moving forward.

Croatia will not follow the lead of other EU member states and pause or slow down its introduction of the Euro currency, the Croatian National Bank told Poslovni Dnevnik.

Unlike Bulgaria, which has halted preparations for the introduction of the euro due to the coronavirus pandemic and its consequent economic consequences, Croatia's preparations to enter into the exchange rate mechanism are running smoothly, the Bank (CNB) told the newspaper.

Asked by the Poslovni whether the expansion of COVID-19 altered Croatia's plans for joining the eurozone, the Croatian National Bank said that despite the current challenges of Croatia's preparations for entry into the exchange rate mechanism, they were still proceeding with the Action Plan.

"All the measures we have committed ourselves to will be fully implemented on time,” the bank said. “In that sense, we expect to be an extremely serious candidate for entering the exchange rate mechanism in the second half of the year.” 

Croatia was hoping to enter the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM2) sometime after the scheduled parliamentary elections. Before the coronavirus, the European Commission Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis said Croatia could achieve this goal "as early as the second half of 2020".

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Zvonimir Savic, coordinator of activities related to Croatia's Eurozone entry, said the pace of implementation of the listed measures is "quite good”. The Croatian National Bank hopes to maintain that pace despite outside factors and other economic indicators such as employment and GDP taking a hit this year.

The entry into the ERM II exchange rate mechanism is followed by a period of at least two years during which other criteria must be met, the bank added, though it’s unclear if Croatia will meet those standards.

Bulgaria will delay the preparatory phase for joining the eurozone until 2021 because of the global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, central bank Governor Dimitar Radev said on Monday. 

"The deadlines set for joining the banking union and for participating in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism are no longer realistic," the governor of Bulgaria’s central bank said in a statement, Reuters reported. "That doesn't mean work has to stop. If we continue as before… despite the current difficult and complex environment, the delay until 2021 will not be fatal,” he added.

According to Radev, Bulgaria should not repeat the mistake of the 2009 global financial crisis and delay its entry into the ERM-II and the banking union until a new cycle, which could take more than 10 years. 

"We should not repeat this mistake because the costs for both people and companies would be much higher this time," the Bulgarian governor said.

March 31, 2020 — The coronavirus’s first non-medical victims are 8,000 workers facing unemployment, as well as 300,000 others facing steep paycuts down to minimum wage, according to Vecernji List.

The stark The Tax Administration yesterday said it received 39,047 requests from companies and craftsmen to delay their payment of taxes; one-third of the requests came from the hotel and catering industry.

In addition to companies and entrepreneurs who are banned from working, others with a drop in income of more than 20 percent, including the self-employed can count on government assistance in paying wages.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s government met on Monday to create a new package of measures to alleviate the problems of entrepreneurs during the coronavirus epidemic. The measures reportedly include a freeze on administrative fees and compulsory contributions to the Ministry of Economy. Officials expect the plan will be adopted this week.

Under the proposal, oft-lamented fees would not be charged over the next three months, with an option to extend the measures if necessary. The cutback on compulsory payments would also include government fees for water usage, radio frequencies, and membership fees for the Croatian National Tourism Board, among others.

Sources told Vecernji some fee cancellations experienced headwinds, particularly the compulsory charge for Croatian Radio Television (HRT) service.

The Economic Ministry says some of the benefits now being discussed will be permanently abolished, in line with the plans for administrative relief already in the works before the crisis.

There are also rumors from Brussels that the minimum support given by the European Commission will be raised from the current €200,000 will be raised to €1 million.

In the two weeks of isolation, the number of unemployed citizens registered with the Employment Service increased by more than 6,000, but also information that three thousand workers had found a job. The fees cancellations would come as many small businesses worry for their future.

Croatia has approximately 100,000 active legal entities and about 80 thousand craftsmen. Already in the first week of implementation of the coronavirus measures, every fourth craftsman and every fifth company requested a tax deferral. 

The hospitality and tourism sector had 12,804 requests, the most of any.  More than 800 entrepreneurs from the health and social care systems, 762 from information and communication activities, and 639 from real estate businesses are also seeking a delay.

There is a lot of focus on public sector salaries as well. The Institute for Public Finance calculated that reducing public sector salaries would do more harm than good at the moment. 

Cutting the salaries of employees in institutions and companies where the government is the predominant employer would bring relatively modest savings of 0.38 to 1.22 percent of GDP annually, while the negative consequences would be much greater.

The negatives include a fall in citizens' living standards, a fall in spending, a loss of staff, the collapse of public institutions, and an even greater decline in GDP. However, the authors of the analysis do not dispute that, when the crisis is over, public sector wage cuts will eventually come to a head.

ZAGREB, March 31, 2020 - Twenty-seven COVID-19 patients are currently on ventilators, Croatia has 803 ventilators and 250 new ones will be imported gradually, Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Monday.

There are offers of ventilators from the East but the machines must be inspected first, he said at a press conference of the national civil protection authority.

"Our fate is in our hands. The number of patients can be lower by the day. It's all up to us, to me, to us all," Beroš said.

Persons ordered to self-isolate must notify sanitary inspectors or epidemiologists when self-isolation measures end.

The terms under which a patient can be discharged from hospital to isolate at home are being reviewed, said Alemka Markotić, head of Zagreb's Fran Mihaljević Infectious Diseases Hospital.

Initially, more patients were young or middle aged and they recovered more quickly, she said, adding that those infected "are positive for coronavirus about 24 days and they will be under supervision 28 days because they aren't expected to be positive after that period."

More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, March 31, 2020 - United Group, which includes several telecom and media companies operating in Croatia, decided to donate 5,600 COVID-19 test kits, 150,000 protective masks, 4,000 protective glasses, seven ventilators and other protective gear worth a half million dollars, the N1 broadcaster said on Monday.

United Group, a multi-play telecom and media provider in Southeast Europe, will donate $3 million worth of protective gear to the seven countries in the region in which it does business: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.

The delivery of the donations starts this week. The donated protective gear and medical equipment was paid on 15 March.

The companies within this group that operate in Croatia are Tele2 Croatia, and United Media with channels: Nova, Doma, N1, Sport Klub, Fight Ch, Grand, Pikaboo, Vavoom, Mini, Lov i ribolov and IDJ.

More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, March 31, 2020 - Total industrial turnover in Croatia in January 2020 was 5.6% up from January 2019, while according to seasonally adjusted data, it was 2.4% down year-on-year.

In January, total seasonally and working-day adjusted industrial turnover on the domestic market was 8.9% higher while on the foreign market it was 1.5% higher than in December 2019, according to data from the national statistical office.

Year-on-year, total seasonally adjusted industrial turnover on the domestic market dropped by 0.1% and on the foreign market by 5.9%.

The sale of durable consumer goods dropped by 16%, the sale of non-durable consumer goods by 7.5% and the sale of capital goods by 1.2%. The sale of energy rose by 16% and that of intermediate products by 1%.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

March 31, 2020 - Tourism might be on hold right now, but there are still virtual ways to travel - meet the original Badass Women of Zagreb. 

Terrible times in the Croatian capital at the moment, as it battles the triple whammy of corona on the outside, earthquake aftermath on the inside, and economic downturn everywhere. 

But Zagreb and Croatia will survive, because Croatians are very resilient and full of character, and have been that way forever. 

To give you some historical perspective, meet the original Badass Women of Zagreb, a wonderfully unique tour designed by Iva Silla from the fabulous Secret Zagreb. 

Join this tour to hear stories about women who believed in themselves and their talents, who pursued their dreams, who exposed themselves to the criticism of public, about the boldest heroines…

Opera singers, car drivers, models, scientists, soldiers… Learn about uncompromising, tough, bold, gamechanging women of Croatia, who lived or worked in Zagreb during their lifetime.

And, as travel to the Croatian capital is not an option right now, we have decided to bring the Badass Women of Zagreb to you. 

Shortly before all this madness began, I gave a task to our three interns from Zagreb University - Paula Anic, Janja Sestak and Ana Samodol - meet up with Iva and take her badass tour. 

They did a great job, and you can see the results of their work in this video tour below, which was filmed by Paula. 

Tourism will be different in the future, but the quality will remain and thrive I believe, and agencies such as the pioneering Zagreb will once more soon be taking visitors to the unknown stories of the Croatian capital. 

You can learn more about what will await you from Iva's official website.

And here is a previous TCN article on the Secret Zagreb experience - never have I seen my kids so keen to abandon their gadgets. 

March 31, 2020 - Eminent Croatian scientist Igor Rudan has written some of the most authoritative and clear texts on COVID-19. Now watch him explain Survival, the Story of Global Health. Science IS sexy. 

I wrote an article a couple of days ago in which I said that I was not in the habit of writing an article praising people I had never met, which is true.

And yet, here I go again... Maybe it is the cabin fever starting to show. 

Croatia has many heroes at the moment, from the dedicated health workers on the corona frontline to those in power with the huge responsibility to keep Croatia safe and navigate the most unpredictable waters that the world has known in my lifetime. 

And these heroes and heroines are more than rising to the task, and I think them sincerely on behalf of me and my family (and, I suspect, the rest of the country). We have already written about new Health Minister Vii Beros and the legendica that is Almenka Markotic. 

And so we come to our third hero of the hour, whom I have also never met. Indeed - please don't tell him, as I am a little embarrassed to admit it - I had no idea who he was until my colleague Lauren starting translating and publishing his amazing texts about corona on TCN.  

(Just like Alemka and Vili, Igor Rudan also makes the list of the current top 10 most positive people in Croatia)

And when I read the articles on corona by Igor Rudan, I felt even more embarrassed. They were the most detailed, clear and factual articles I have read since this madness began. His latest answers one of the questions that maybe people are asking, but nobody seems to know the answer to - but Igor does. 

Igor Rudan Explains What Went So Wrong With COVID-19 in Italy

You can read more of Lauren's translations of Igor's corona masterpieces here.

I decided to seek him out for a TCN interview and was surprised to find that we were friends on Facebook. I have currently 3,546 FB friends, and I know about 200 of them, but many Croatians seem to like to connect with a fat Irishman living in and writing about their country, which is great. 

As we were friends on FB, that made the communication easier, so I sent him a link to one of Lauren's translations and said we would be happy to do more, so that his wisdom could go beyond the confines of the svjetski jezik, hrvatski, and into English. 

Not only did Igor agree, but he was happy to add his superstar name to the TCN team of writers, thereby tripling the TCN IQ in one fell swoop, insisting that the texts appear in English first on TCN, and then he hired Lauren to translate lots of his other work. 

It is a marriage made in heaven, and I have not seen young Simmonds as enthused about translating since we first met 4 years ago. 

An extremely funny man from our messaging exchanges, he is the person I am most looking forward to meeting after all this madness is over (as well as holding Mate Rimac to his promise to let me drive him around in his $2.75 million C2 electric wonder car - I have promised to drive slower than Richard Hammond). 

And then THIS!

My wonderful wife sent me a link to a YouTube video yesterday - Igor Rudan presenting Survival, the Story of Global Health. 

It is sensational! Beautifully filmed, calmly and intelligently presented by Igor himself, mostly shot in Croatia, as well as Edinburgh, where he is a Prof at the university. 

We called the kids to watch it together as a family. Watching their initial lack of enthusiasm turn to fascination during the first episode was a joy. 

For those of you watching reruns of NCIS and Law and Order, THIS is for you. Check out the full series below. 

And the final bit of reassuring news for this article. Igor messaged us last night to apologise for a short delay in sending us an article update. He explained that he had spent most of the day advising the Croatian authorities on the response to corona. 

Doesn't it make you feel just a little safer knowing that those tasked with keeping us safe are taking advice from the very best?