Economy Minister, Davor Filipovic, said on Tuesday that the government plans to relieve entrepreneurs of an additional €133 million in parafiscal levies this year.

“The government is thinking of relieving Croatian entrepreneurs as much as possible, so this year we plan to relieve Croatian entrepreneurs of almost €133 million by abolishing parafiscal levies so that they have more money for investments and creating added value,” the minister said in parliament during Question Time.

When it comes to the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), Filipovic said that since a new law was adopted the HGK reorganised, the number of employees was reduced from 600 to 291, and 96% of the Chamber’s members no longer pay membership fees, so it has become more oriented towards providing services on the market in order to increase its own income.

A greater number of services are now digitised, with special emphasis on the internationalisation of business and the organisation of visits to global and European fairs, he added.

Butkovic: Continuation of modernising Croatian railways

When asked by Pero Cosic (HDZ), Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butkovic underscored that the modernisation of Croatian railways is continuing.

In the past years the rolling stock has been renewed with 15 new trains and another 21 new ones are being procured as part of the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion, he said.

Butkovic underlined that a contract has been signed for two battery trains that will be used on non-electrified railways.

Defence Minister Mario Banozic announced further investments in the Croatian army and expressed regret that a decision to train Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia was not adopted. “That mission means a lot to the Ukrainians, that they have the support of EU and NATO members,” he said and announced that the Croatian army will hand over the command positions it was supposed to have in Brussels and Poland by the end of the week.