Milanović succeeded in softening the European tone, Frontex arrives at the border with Serbia

It has been decided in Brussels that Frontex, the European Union agency for the security of its external borders, will be deployed at the border between Croatia and Serbia. They will be stationed in Serbia and will assist in the registration of migrants alongside border monitoring. Additionally, at the meeting of countries exposed to the migrant route from Greece to Germany, 17 points of the declaration were accepted in which Croatia managed to soften the tone as almost every point called for the commitment of states.

For example, the commitment that the movement of migrants to the borders of another country will not be facilitated without the consent of that country. Now, the states agree that they will discourage such movement and will cooperate. It will soon be seen whether the wave will stop in Greece, which will have to open 50,000 places in migrant shelters. An additional 50,000 places will be opened in the area of ‘waiting and resting’ in other countries along the migrant route, although it is not yet known exactly which ones.

With the cessation of rain and the departure of the water wave, the flooded have immediately disappeared from the media. They are not as interesting as migrants, the EU does not discuss them, and now everyone is already used to being flooded. In Karlovac, damage is being assessed and so far it amounts to 31 million kuna from floods, 28.7 million from landslides and rockfalls, and 500 houses and 530 economic facilities were flooded. In four floods this year and last year, the damage is 200 million kuna. The city budget amounts to 140 million kuna and it is uncertain whether Karlovac will be able to provide compensation for damages to residents. To complete the flood defense system of Karlovac, between 320 million and 350 million kuna is needed. We can only hope that another flood will not further burden the city and its suffering population.

Croatia has also become a country where a taxi can be ordered via the Uber application. The nearest available taxi driver is found through a smartphone with the help of UberX, which is intended only for licensed taxi drivers. UberPoP, which causes great controversy because it allows anyone with a driver’s license and a car to transport citizens, will not be used here as it would be illegal. Uber claims it will be 20 to 25 percent cheaper than other taxi companies and, along with Zagreb where it first started, is interested in the Croatian coast during the tourist season, especially in the cities of Dubrovnik, Split, and Rijeka. Taxi drivers are thus under significant competitive pressure, which their colleagues in the rest of Europe have not been able to withstand.

Now follows a series of data that we have not seen for a long time nor expected. According to Ernst & Young’s Eurozone Forecast, this year Croatia is ending after seven lean years with GDP growth of 0.3 percent, while next year they expect growth of 1.7 percent. EY assesses that the end of the recession is in sight and further expects small but steady growth. Bisnode has reported that this year, in nine months, 9,526 companies were established in Croatia, while 4,537 went bankrupt. This is a huge shift compared to the same period last year. Although 9,651 companies were established then, which is more than this year, as many as 9,513 went out of business. In the Lika-Senj County, for every closed company, 10.57 new ones are established, making that county have the best ratio of new to closed companies in Croatia. The best sector is education due to the ratio where for one closed company, 4.20 new ones are established.

For the first time, a decline in public debt has been recorded since 2012 on a quarterly basis. Thus, at the end of the second quarter, Eurostat reports, the debt fell by two percentage points to 85.7 percent of GDP. In June, public debt was 283 billion kuna, 5.5 billion less than in the previous quarter, because the state paid off part of the loans. However, in the next quarter, an increase in debt is expected as kuna bonds were immediately issued. And here the good streak of numbers ends. Public debt has increased annually by 15.1 billion kuna, which amounts to 85.7 percent of GDP, making Croatia one of the EU countries with the highest growing share of public debt in GDP. It is predicted that this year there will be a budget deficit of 16 billion kuna and that by the end of the year public debt will reach 90 percent of GDP.