Jointly EU chairmanship of/with Germany
As Euractiv.hr and Jutarnji list wrote several times, Croatia and Germany will work together on preparing to chair the European Council next year (Croatia in the first part, Germany in second). That was said after the meeting of two ministers of foreign affairs, Gordan Grlić Radman and Heiko Maas in Berlin. (more on Euractiv.hr). Maas underlined that joint preparations to chair the European Council require a high level of coordination between Germany and Croatia, not just bilaterally but on the European level as well: Croatia's chairmanship in the first half of next year comes at an exceptionally important period. Early November the new European Commission will begin working. Then there is Brexit which will certainly be a topic next year too. And there is an agreement on the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), Maas said, announcing that to assist with operational preparations and coordination of chairmanship, a German foreign ministry official would be deployed in Zagreb in the first half of next year.
So, there will be direct control and monitoring of Croatian activities.
Finally, GGR confirmed what we were writing: Croatian presidency priority will be demographic. As he put it: “Sustainable development of countries and regions, with special focus on demographic revival, infrastructure connectivity and citizens' security, with focus on protecting the European Union's external borders”.
And again, Maas made it clear by reading between the lines that Croatian application for Schengen will have to wait. “Regarding Schengen, you know there is a procedure. We hope it will finish positively. When we are talking about migrations, Germany thinks that members on EU external borders have to get more support that until now”. more on hrt.hr.
So, external borders, not Schengen borders.
Incumbent president leading in polls
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Croatian president can count on 30,2 per cent of votes (in August 29,3%). But, she still did not announce her candidacy. Second is Zoran Milanović, former PM and SDP leader, with 25,5 per cent (24,8% in August). The third is pop singer and candidate that counts on votes of the radical right, Miroslav Škoro with 19,2 per cent (18,5% in August). In second round KGK wins. More on rtl.hr.
Clash at the conference: where to invest?
Jutarnji list and Alliance of Associations of Pension and Insurance Management Funds (UMFO) organised conference “Investment challenges for pension funds”, having in mind situation on financial markets where bonds have negative interest rates. Pension funds are obliged to invest 70% of its capital to bonds. Economy Minister Darko Horvat has underscored that funds are supposed to primarily boost Croatia's GDP growth. He called them for talks on cooperation, saying that the government today can present some 30 prepared investments that pension funds can choose to invest in. He highlights the Rimac Automobili company. Labour and Pension System Minister Josip Aladrović underlined that compulsory pension funds have more than HRK 107 billion at their disposal.
People from pension funds reacted saying that they can not invest in startups or growing companies unless they are listed on a stock market. Rimac and a lot of others are not. But, they emphasized a lot of very interesting companies in the government’s ownership, like HEP (Croatian electricity company) or Janaf, who is managing an oil pipeline system. And called for privatisation.
The message of economic expert Velimir Šonje, who said that he abhors of partnerships between pension funds and the state, caused a kind of storm. Šonje warned that Croatian pension funds have an opportunity to get involved in investment projects in Europe, and added that he would like the state to consider a portfolio of smaller projects that would include pension funds.
More in today’s print edition of Jutarnji list and novac.hr.
Meat processing industry Braća Pivac is trying to take over Kraš
The meat processing industry Braća Pivac (Pivac Brothers) has sent a notice of announcement of an offer to take over the shares of the company Kraš dd. More on novac.hr and today’s print edition of Jutarnji and Večernji list. Kraš is one of the biggest Croatian company and they describe themselves: “Kraš has been the leading manufacturer of confectionery in south-eastern Europe”. more on kras.hr. In December last year, Braća Pivac in the recapitalization became the owner of 30,73% of shares what made them biggest shareholders in Kraš. “We have always considered Kraš to be one of the most promising manufacturing companies in Croatia, and business diversification is key to the business success of the entire Pivac Group”, said the company in its press release. Kraš shares jumped in three days from 380 to 500 kuna. HANFA (Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency) will investigate were there inside information about the takeover.
Good cooperation with EIB
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Monday received the European Investment Bank (EIB) president, Werner Hoyer, and conveyed Croatia's satisfaction with cooperation With this financial institution. In the first nine months of 2019, the Luxembourg-headquartered bank supported the projects worth € 342.5 million in Croatia and invested €212.2 million in Croatia's small and medium-sized companies year to date. Hina
Tourism is a course for Croatia
- If there were no tourism, I believe that Croatia would be among the winners of the transition because we would not be able to continue on this wrong path - said Velibor Mačkić of the Zagreb Faculty of Economics for Novi list, adding that "tourism is an absolute curse of resources" and that without it "we would have to behave differently”. He also said that there is no need for innovation in our country because "jobs in Croatia are not obtained because you are more cost-effective or innovative, but because you know the right people." As a result, the perception of the state, and so the state itself, has become weak.
Education of video game development technicians started
With the first day of the new school year, in Technical school in the city of Sisak (60 km from Zagreb) started first education of video game development technicians. Interest for this education was huge: only 23 students were accepted and there were more than 200 applicants.