The Croatian state operates like a car engine. But not on electric power, nor gasoline. It runs like an old diesel engine. This provides reliability, but it is felt in driving characteristics, especially in initial acceleration. The state always starts last at the traffic light, which affects the entire line behind it.
This is the case with the recovery from the earthquake in Zagreb and Banija, and on Monday, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) issued a dramatic warning about delays in subordinate regulations related to the Electricity Market Act. The story of the diesel-powered state can be confirmed by reviewing the agenda of Parliament, which discusses reports on the work of various bodies with a delay of several years.
Earthquake Recovery Waiting
Three years after the earthquake that struck Zagreb on March 22, 2020, not a single replacement house has been built, and 247 applications have been submitted. The new relevant minister, Branko Bačić, announced that construction of 21 houses will begin in early May and that by the end of the year, work will be underway on one hundred houses. As for structural recovery, it has been completed for 23 buildings and houses, is ongoing for 32 buildings, and public procurement is in progress for another nine buildings in the city center. This means that 1887 properties are still pending as a total of 1951 applications for structural recovery have been submitted.
The main ‘anti-earthquake’ preoccupation in Zagreb is the attempt to spend all the money from the 1.03 billion euros from the European Solidarity Fund intended for public facilities by the end of June.
While the victims in Zagreb somehow ‘get lost’ in a city of nearly a million, scenes from container settlements in Banija alarmingly warn that temporary accommodation threatens to turn into a ‘permanent presentation’. Therefore, Bačić has been given a party task to ensure new temporary accommodation for all victims in containers before the (third) winter, in facilities that are more suitable for living than containers; since it is already certain that permanent recovery within that timeframe (three years after the earthquake) is unfeasible.
A Year and a Half Waiting for Regulations
Hibernating in warmth, they hope in the HDZ, could please today’s 6200 container residents, who, like all voters, will have the opportunity next year to express their political preferences three times – for the European Parliament, Parliament, and for Pantovčak.
A new case of ‘diesel start’ was pointed out this Monday by the Renewable Energy Sources Association (OIE) at HGK. The Electricity Market Act came into force in October 2021, but the regulation on the conditions for public tenders for issuing energy permits, which was supposed to be adopted by January last year at the latest, has not yet been enacted.
Rules for connecting to the transmission network and rules for connecting to the distribution network are still awaited, as well as the announcement of the connection fee. HERA was supposed to determine the amount of that fee back in September last year. Without that information, it is impossible to plan investments, as connection to the grid constitutes a large portion of the project development costs, claim the ‘renewables’.
In 2022 alone, solar power plants with a capacity of 41.4 GW and wind farms with a capacity of 16 GW were installed in the EU, or about 0.13 GW per million inhabitants. They claim that in the same year, due to the absence of subordinate regulations, the development of new renewable energy projects in Croatia was almost halted. Only 16 energy permits were issued out of 216 applications.
