ZAGREB, 8 June 2022 - The decision making by a qualified majority vote, instead of the unanimous endorsement, should be introduced in some segments of the European Union's foreign affairs, a majority of European Parliament members agreed on Tuesday when they also called for more invesments in Ukraine's defence.

A majority of MEPs expressed support to the plans to introduce qualified majority voting for certain foreign policy areas, as already provided for in the Treaties in order to increase the effectiveness of EU foreign policy.

The rule of unanimous consent should be abandoned. This is what citizens who participated in the Conference on the Future of Europe expect, said French MEP Nathalie Loiseau, a rapporteur for  European Parliament recommendation to the Council and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the EU’s Foreign, Security and Defence Policy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Another rapporteur David McAllister said that it was also proposed that weapons and necessary material should be sent to Ukraine in accordance with the needs expressed by Ukraine's authorities.

Croatian MEP Tonino Picula said that the common security policy mist no longer be the weakest spot in our integration and underscored that by defending itself Ukraine also defends Europe.

Croatian MEP Željana Zovko, said that the EU needed "preventive diplomacy" as a tool to resolve issues and stop crises.

 "What we are lacking is preventive diplomacy," she said.

Today, we have discussed the forthcoming elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina."Twenty years after the conclusion of the Dayton peace agreement, we still have a a half-sovereign country in this case we missed that preventive diplomacy," she said.

Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakušić said that the EU turned into the 51st member of the USA when it comes to foreign ans security affairs.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.

June the 5th, 2022 - What with the war still raging in Ukraine following Russian invasion earlier this year, and the negative economic consequences left by the global coronavirus pandemic still very much in evidence, is a crisis really the best time for Croatian Eurozone membership? Here's what the Croatian National Bank's governor Boris Vujcic and the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic have to say on the topic.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, the recent assessment that Croatia is ready to introduce the euro as its currency is the achievement of one of the two strategic goals of the current government, said Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

He pointed out that the Convergence Report underlined Croatia as the only remaining member state outside of the Eurozone now ready for the euro, and that it was especially important that it met the criterion of stable prices.

"Croatia no longer has macroeconomic balances, and the fact that in the whole package of our efforts, from responsible public finance management, our exit from the excessive budget deficit procedure, raising the rating to the investment level, the fact that we implemented all reforms that were on the table after entering the exchange rate mechanism and banking union in time, in accordance with the action plan, says that Croatia has achieved one of the fundamental political goals in the mandates of our two governments through the implementation of the strategy for the introduction of the euro,'' said Plenkovic, making no effort to hide his satisfaction at the recent press conference at Banski dvori, accompanied by Minister Zdravko Maric and Davor Filipovic.

Focusing on meeting the Maastricht criteria, he didn't say a word about the EC's far less flattering assessment that there has been no progress made in terms of economic convergence and in regard to substantial reforms.

Just a few hundred metres away, the Governor of the CNB (who together with Plenkovic presented the Strategy for the Introduction of the Euro in October 2017) addressed the press separately, accompanied by EC Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis.

He reiterated that the benefit of Croatian Eurozone membership means strengthening resilience to all sorts of crises and external shocks, of which there have been many recently, while bringing multiple benefits to both people and the economy.

"It's much better to be in the Eurozone at the moment than it is to be outside it," said Boris Vujcic, noting that back in October 2020, the CNB entered into close cooperation with the ECB, which means that Croatia has very much already entered the banking union, adding that the CNB is waiting for the final step of integration into the Eurozone, set to take place on the first day of 2023.

When asked by reporters whether a time of ongoing crisis was really the best time for Croatian Eurozone membership, Boris Vujcic said it would have been better if we had done it earlier.

"The sooner Croatia's entry into the Eurozone, the better, this is the best moment we have at our disposal now and I think it's proof that we already had the support of the ECB at the beginning of the pandemic crisis, which wouldn't have been possible if we weren't very close in terms of the exchange rate mechanism. That helped us overcome the coronavirus crisis more easily,'' he said. A concrete advantage for Croatia, he illustrated, is that interest rates have remained unchanged, unlike across most non-Eurozone member states, where they have risen and risen.

Valdis Dombrovskis congratulated Croatia on its "historic achievement", saying all criteria had now been completely met.

"Joining the Eurozone is especially important because the whole world is in a crisis caused by the war, and that's why it's important to be part of the Eurozone, which uses the second strongest currency in the world. This will help Croatia in many financial aspects, including regarding lower interest rates,'' Dombrovskis said.

The EU Council is expected to make its final decisions on Croatian Eurozone membership in the first half of July this year, with prices set to be shown in both kuna and euros starting on the 5th of September. Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said that Croatia still has a lot of work to do, which includes the adequate (pre) supply of cash to banks, Fina and the Croatian Post (Hrvatska posta), as well as the indirect pre-supply to companies so that everyone is ready to realise all transactions in euros as of the 1st of January, 2023.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.

May the 25th, 2022 - Croatian IT sector wages continue to be the lowest in the entire European Union (EU) despite the fact that this rapidly blossoming field has experienced a very real boom over the last few years.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, the cost of paying out wages for EU-based employers has continued to rise in most countries, with the exception of a few countries that stalled in 2020 and continued to grow, including the Republic of Croatia.

According to a quarterly analysis of labour market trends by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS), based on Eurostat data, only Ireland, Croatia and Cyprus had a temporary halt in gross hourly wage growth, while in Spain and Italy, gross hourly wages rose in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, but last year they ended up below the levels seen back in 2020.

The level of wage costs paid by employers per hour with all costs varies significantly between EU member states, from 7 euros in Bulgaria and 8.5 in Romania, to 41.6 euros in Belgium, 43 in Luxembourg and 46.9 in Denmark.

Compared to Croatia, where the average hour of work costs an employer around 11.2 euros, Bulgaria and Romania have a lower hourly rate, as do Latvia and Hungary, and employers in Lithuania and Poland have slightly higher costs to deal with. In neighbouring Slovenia, with which Croatia often likes to compare itself, the gross hourly wage is almost twice as high (21.1 euros).

Given the current alarm bells ringing from certain sectors, primarily hotels and the hospitality and catering field, the lack of qualified workers even despite the abolition of the annual quota system for the employment of foreign (non-EEA) workers, we can expect that in the Croatian case, hourly rates will have stronger growth in the 2020 report, but if we look back three years, wages have fallen in most sectors, with the exception of education, healthcare, entertainment and the arts.

The lowest hourly rates in Croatia were in administrative services (8.3 euros) and hotels and restaurants (8.6 euros), and the highest in the information and communication sectors (15.9 euros), finance (15.5 euros) and science (15.2 euros).

In the EU's finance and insurance sector last year, hourly rates ranged from 9.9 euros in Bulgaria to 77.3 euros in Luxembourg, and in professional, scientific and technical activities, they ranged from 10.9 euros in Bulgaria to a significantly higher 57.9 euros in Denmark.

In healthcare, hourly wages in the EU rose in all countries except Greece, ranging from 8.1 euros in Bulgaria to 45.2 euros in Luxembourg. And although the sector is the largest, Croatian IT sector wages remain the lowest in the entire EU, with Sweden leading in that regard with an impressive 57.7 euros per hour.

When it comes to tourism, last year, ranges from a mere 3.8 euros in Bulgaria to 40.7 euros in Denmark were the norm. Croatian hourly rates were at the level of Estonia, and Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Malta, and Romania take home less per hour.

Looking at other competitors when it comes to sea and sunshine, only in Greece, regardless of the coronavirus pandemic, the price of an hour of work in tourism rose (to 15.2 euros), while in Spain and Italy it decreased slightly last year, and in the Croatian case, last year saw slight recovery, but that recovery failed to reach the record high of pre-pandemic 2019 of 9.1 euros. In neighbouring Slovenia, on the other hand, the hourly wage in the tourism sector stands at 14.6 euros.

In the manufacturing industry, hourly rates last year ranged from 5.8 euros in Bulgaria to 48.5 euros in Denmark, with only Germany, Sweden and Belgium seeing people take home more than 40 euros per hour. Here in Croatia, the price of an hour's work stood at 10.3 euros and is slightly higher than before the pandemic, but it is significantly lower than the sum just across the border in Slovenia (20.3 euros).

They have a lower gross hourly wage than Croatian industrialists in Romania (7.3 euros). In construction, only in Denmark do employees have an hourly salary of more than 40 euros, and the lowest of all can be seen in Bulgaria, Romania and neighbouring Hungary, and Croatian salaries are just over theirs, standing at 10 euros.

In Germany, on the other hand, where Croatian builders like to head to, gross hourly rates are lower than those in the manufacturing industry, which analysts associate with the employment of foreign workers, which increases labour supply and reduces wages. This is not the case, for example, in nearby Austria.

Much like in construction, the Danes are the only ones in trade to have an hourly rate above 40 euros, and the lowest can, once again, be seen in Bulgaria (6.3 euros), which is less than in Croatia (11.1 euros).

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

May the 11th, 2022 - The Hungarian PM Viktor Orban is known for his rather unusual political sentiments, but this one probably takes the cake. He recently claimed that Croatia ''took Hungary's sea'', leaving it without ports. This was said in front of Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission's President.

As Morski writes, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban yesterday over Hungary's opposition to the European Union's joint embargo on Russian oil. Von der Leyen said after the meeting that progress had been made and that some issues with Orban had been clarified.

''We've made some progress, but there's still work to be done,'' she added, which actually means that no concrete agreement has yet been reached with Hungary, the leader of which is very reluctant to firmly join the EU on its stance against Russia.

As one European diplomat explained to France Presse, Hungary would need a new pipeline to secure its oil supply, connecting it to the Republic of Croatia, which has access to the sea. Therefore, it seeks guarantees that Zagreb will engage in the construction of this infrastructure, as well as guarantees of European Union funding to facilitate it financially.

''Those who have sea and ports are able to bring oil on tankers. If they hadn't taken it away from us (the sea), we would also have a port,'' Viktor Orban said in an interview with the Hungarian state radio last Friday, as reported by Politico, which explains that Orban was referring to the Dalmatian coast.

Hungary is otherwise the biggest opponent of the joint EU embargo on Russian oil, and Viktor Orban has been seen as a thorn in the side of many diplomats and politicians across the EU for some time now.

To briefly recall, all 27 EU member states must be unanimous in order for sanctions to be imposed against Russia. The sanctions proposal cites certain exceptions, but both Slovakia and Hungary consider them to be insufficient. Hungary is the country that strongly opposes the European embargo on Russian oil and has already asked for a five-year postponement.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday night that Hungary cannot accept the proposed package of European Union sanctions on Russia until its fears are resolved.

Earlier, Prime Minister Orban said that the European Commission's proposal would have the effect of an "atomic bomb for Hungary".

"It would destroy our stable energy supply," he added.

For more, check out our politics section.

May the 9th, 2022 - With Eurozone entry rapidly approaching and due at the very beginning of next year, just what will the average Croatian wage and pension be? It seems an increase is on the cards.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, when Croatia introduces the euro at the beginning of 2023, the average Croatian wage (net salary) will stand at around 900 euros, and an average pension will stand at around 320 euros, considering the fact that due to ongoing inflation, personal incomes and pensions across Croatia could increase slightly before the changeover from the kuna to the euro anyway.

If we take in some information and consider it relevant data on the average net salary across the EU back in 2021, which amounted to 1916 euros per month, it means that the average Croatian salary needs to be about a thousand euros to reach the EU average. In nearby Austria, the average net salary last year was 2053 euros, and in Belgium - an impressive 2091 euros.

In Bulgaria, the average net income last year was 413 euros, and the average Croatian wage was 797 euros, while the neighbouring Slovenians received an average of 1,038 euros per month back in 2021, writes Slobodna Dalmacija.

The Czechs were doing slightly better than the Croats were with a typical net salary of 813 euros, and the Danes were much better, with 3,100 euros, placing them at the very top of the European Union (EU). They are closely followed by the Swedes with a salary of 3062 euros.

The Estonians are also better paid than Croats typically are, with an average salary of 958 euros net, with the Latvians and Lithuanians being weaker with 648 euros and 645 euros respectively. The people of Cyprus receive an excellent 1,658 euros, and Malta also earns well from the Croatian perspective, with an average Maltese wage being about 2261 euros per month.

They are followed by rich EU countries: Finland with 2509 euros, France with 2157 euros and Germany with 2270 euros as an average salary.

The average Greek earns 917 euros, a Portuguese worker 846, a Pole 736, a Slovak 690, and a Hungarian 683 euros. Over in Romania, the average net salary is only 522 euros, meaning that only the Bulgarians are the poorest in the EU.

The average net salary in Italy is 1,762 euros, and in neighbouring Spain 1,718 euros. The real "heavyweights" are the Icelanders with 3435 euros and the Luxembourgers with 3009 euros, followed by the Irish with 2479 euros and the Dutch with 2263 euros.

For more, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.

May the 6th, 2022 - Croatian euro printing is set to begin on an enormous scale come this July, as Croatia makes the very last preparations to send the kuna to the history books and finally join the Eurozone next year.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Jadranka Dozan writes, the National Council for the Introduction of the Euro has once again confirmed that all of the current preparatory steps are in line with the plan to switch to the bloc's single currency on the first day of 2023. Recently, the Croatian National Bank (CNB) finally presented the design of the national side of the one euro coin, which was selected in a repeated tender.

The CNB has already begun preparations for large-scale Croatian euro printing, and according to Governor Boris Vujcic, mass production should start during the month of July. Before that, one million kuna's worth of test coins will be made by the middle of next month, the central bank says.

By this summer, the ongoing tender for the services of creating and implementing an informative national campaign to replace the kuna with the euro will be concluded. The estimated value of this public procurement stands at a massive 27 million kuna, and half of the campaign costs are being borne by the European Commission (EC).

Currently, no obstacles are being noticed

All in all, in recapitulating the course of preparatory activities from the 15th session of the Council, it was said that everything is going according to the planned deadlines. The Prime Minister recalled that the Croatian Government adopted a report on the action plan back in late March, which confirmed that all reform commitments made upon entering the European Exchange Rate Mechanism ERM II (in July 2020) had now been met by Croatia.

Croatian euro printing aside, the competent ministers responsible for individual areas of measures from the action plan briefly reported on the activities carried out in the area of ​​improving the business environment, managing state-owned enterprises, strengthening the bankruptcy framework and the framework for preventing money laundering.

The new Minister of Economy Davor Filipovic emphasised the administrative relief that will be felt by the domestic economy with an estimated effect of 686 million kuna, as well as 531 million kuna of reduced non-tax and parafiscal benefits. From the judicial department, they primarily emphasised the changes in the bankruptcy law and the improved framework for the work of bankruptcy trustees.

Increased inflation rates, which according to recently updated government projections rose to a concerning 7.8 percent of the annual average this year, do not pose a problem or obstacle in the context of the convergence criteria for the euro, both the government and the CNB are strongly convinced.

Regarding the inflation criterion (up to 1.5 percentage points above the average of the three best performing countries), Governor Boris Vujcic explained that, for a start, this criterion doesn't refer explicitly to the (three) lowest inflation rates but instead to the best performance.

Imported price pressures

The governor reiterated that the greatest advantage of the euro is shown during financial and other such crises, such as the recent global coronavirus pandemic or the current crisis being caused by the economic consequences of the war in Europe, more precisely in Ukraine.

This, he said, is especially true for small and open economies such as that of Croatia, and the country's lag over the past decade is the result of a stronger decline in the crisis and a longer recovery period, partly due to Croatia's then inability to rely on the ECB's monetary policy. Although inflationary pressures will obviously last longer than expected before the escalation of the war in Ukraine, and imported inflationary pressures may spill over into Croatian prices, the governor underlined that this should not be linked to the introduction of the euro.

People are often afraid of prices being rounded up upon a country's entry to the Eurozone, but now these effects don't really seem crucial. In the seven countries that last entered the Eurozone, prices which were a mere 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points higher were recorded.

For more, check out our politics section.

May the 3rd, 2022 - Three Croatian regions in different parts of the country are set to get their hands on as much as 506 million kuna in the name of pushing the green and digital transition forward.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the three Croatian regions of Pannonian Croatia, Northern and Adriatic Croatia will receive a separate allocation of 506 million euros for further investments in green and digital transition of their local economies, as was announced on Friday the Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, Natasa Tramisak, at the opening the Conference on Industrial Transition of Croatian Regions held at the Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences in Osijek.

Back in December 2020, the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union (EU) Funds began the process of industrial transition of NUTS 2 Croatian regions, which includes Adriatic, Northern and Pannonian Croatia. Namely, these regions are significantly below the EU development average and have the potential to strengthen their respective competitiveness by using the opportunities offered by global trends to revive economic growth and increase overall productivity.

The transition will be implemented with the help of European Union funds under the new Integrated Territorial Programme, which provides for the allocation of 506 million euros, which will be available only to enterprises owners and businessmen from the aforementioned three Croatian regions.

"We're completing the process of approving operational programmes, of which the plans for the industrial transition of Croatian regions for the period 2021-2027 are an integral part," added Tramisak.

Croatia's more obvious shift at least towards the digital transition occurred primarily as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic which saw very many ''in person'' errands quickly made available online, and more and more can be done administratively from the comfort of the home thanks to the popular e-Citizens (e-Gradjani) portal. That said, Croatia is still very much behind the times in many of these aspects, hence the cash injections aimed at improving this quickly as part of the EU's wider goals as a bloc.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.

May the 2nd, 2022 - Even though the company responsible for constructing the long awaited Peljesac bridge has been working day and night to get the massive project completed by the prescribed deadline, many of us thought the delays would just keep on rolling in for this gigantic Croatian and European Union project which will unite Croatian territory (the extreme south of Dalmatia and the rest of the country) to be completed.

It now seems that we can say with confidence that you'll finally be able to drive across the strategic project at the end of July this year.

Peljesac bridge, which will cut out the need for people driving to and from the extreme south of Dalmatia to cross into neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and then back out again (more precisely through the town of Neum, that country's only piece of coastline), is often referred to as the most significant project since the declaration of Croatian independence.

As Morski writes, Peljesac Bridge is finally scheduled to open this July, along with most of the access roads which have been taking some time to get completed. An HRT team visited the site to look at what stage the works on the bridge were at and whether they were affected by the recent earthquakes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were most felt in the wider Dubrovnik area.

''According to the current plans and dynamics of the works, people will likely be able to drive across Peljesac bridge during the second half of July when the works on the access roads are completed,'' said Jeroslav Segedin, the project manager for the Peljesac Bridge - Croatian roads (Hrvatske ceste).

He added that the technical inspection of the bridge has been performed, and that some minor shortcomings were noticed, which have been eliminated over more recent days. As for the bridge itself as a construction, everything is completely finished now, he pointed out. He also referred to the most technically demanding part - the Ston bypass.

''The construction of the bridge near Ston has been set, welded, and now a concrete slab is set to be built. It is expected to take four months, so in October or November these works should also be completed,'' he said. Segedin said the recent earthquake in Bosnia and Herzegovina didn't affect Peljesac bridge or any of the ongoing works and finalisations.

''When calculating the load-bearing capacity and stability of the bridge structure, one of the parameters is the seismic load, which in this case was much higher than what the earthquake was. We were more worried about how the earthquake affected other facilities along the route - viaducts, the Ston bridge, tunnels, which are still in the construction phase and haven't yet been completed. Fortunately, no damage or indicators were noticed that would suggest that something unexpected may have happened with any of the above,'' concluded Segedin.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

May the 2nd, 2022 - The Croatian capital city of Zagreb is aiming to withdrawn the maximum amount of European Union (EU) cash possible in order to complete all of its planned projects.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the City of Zagreb is among 100 European Union cities and partner countries that will participate in the so-called ''mission of EU cities'', which aims to reduce the carbon footprint being caused in them to an absolute minimum by the year 2030, for which the European Union will allocate 350 million euros from the Horizon Europe programme. According to the European Commission (EC), 75 percent of EU citizens currently live in urban areas.

These areas account for more than 65 percent of the world's energy consumption, and thus more than 70 percent of its CO2 emissions. It is therefore important that cities such as Zagreb be ecosystems for experimentation and innovation to help everyone else in their transition become entirely climate-neutral by 2050. The European Commission will invite 100 selected cities, including Zagreb, to draw up climate agreements, which will include a general plan to achieve climate neutrality across all sectors.

Zorislav Antun Petrovic, President of the Environment Committee of the Zagreb City Assembly, claims that Zagreb is fully ready for the energy transition.

"A few months ago, we presented precisely how we see the green transition of Zagreb to the Committee. The focus is being placed on renewable energy sources, first of all numerous solar power plants on public buildings, and then on private ones, ecological transport, the energy efficiency of lighting - where a lot has already been carried out.

There is also green integrated planning, a centralised heating system, geothermal energy, an energy efficient block reconstruction of the city following the aftermath of the 2020 earthquake, sustainable social housing, a sustainable urban mobility and ZET as a green energy transit on the list, too,'' explained Petrovic, adding hat he is more than sure that Zagreb will be able to withdraw the maximum amount of funds for its planned projects from this EU project as well.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.

April the 26th, 2022 - Croatian public debt is continuing to fall, so much so that this decrease has placed the country at the very top of the list of European Union (EU) member states.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the public debt across the European Union and within the Eurozone itself, expressed as a share of GDP, decreased in the fourth quarter of 2021 thanks to the recovery of the economy following the coronavirus crisis, and the Republic of Croatia is among the countries with the biggest decline, a Eurostat report showed last week. At the EU level, public debt as a share of GDP stood at 88.1 percent at the end of 2021.

When it comes to Croatian public debt, consolidated general government debt amounted to 343.6 billion kuna back at the end of December, which corresponded to 79.8 percent of the nation's overall GDP.

Back at the end of September 2021, Croatian public debt amounted to 345.3 billion kuna, which corresponded to 82.7 percent of domestic GDP. At the end of pandemic-dominated 2020, it amounted to 330.4 billion kuna, which corresponded to 87.3 percent of GDP. When it comes to other EU member states, Estonia had the lowest level of public debt at the end of last year, standing at a mere 18.1 percent.

In most European Union countries, public debt as a share of GDP was lower at the end of last year than it was back at the end of 2020, the first year of the global coronavirus pandemic, thanks to a recovery in the economy that was spurred by the easing of epidemiological measures in many countries.

Compared to the end of 2020, public debt decreased the most in Greece and Cyprus, by 13.1 and 11.4 percentage points, respectively. Those countries are followed by Portugal and Croatia, whose public debt as a share of GDP in the fourth quarter was lower by 7.8 and 7.5 percentage points, respectively.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.