Minister Šipić: Croatia is ready for people to return

Today's show "A sada Vlada" (And now the Government) featured Minister of Demography and Immigration Ivan Šipić as a guest. His portfolio is one of those in which most expected of him, especially when it comes to encouraging the population to stay and the development of assisted areas.

Loan forgiveness of up to 75 thousand euros for entrepreneurs in the most underdeveloped areas

Cooperation with other institutions and the creation of incentive conditions for entrepreneurs play a key role in this. This is evidenced by the Ministry's latest move - cooperation with the Croatian Agency for Small Business, Innovation and Investments (HAMAG-BICRO) on a national loan program aimed at demographic revitalization and entrepreneurship development.

“A little over a month ago, the Government made a decision to include the Ministry of Demography and Immigration in economic support programs, with a special emphasis on the most underdeveloped areas of Croatia,” Minister Ivan Šipić emphasized.

He said that these areas, divided into four groups according to the level of development, are the most endangered, because they include almost half of all local units in the country.

“Demographics are a question of the overall state of society and the way we see the struggle for people to stay and return. We have joined the Government's measures with the aim of encouraging stay, internal migration and return from abroad. Staying is the priority of all priorities,” he emphasized.

He added that Croatia is not only as strong as Zagreb, Split, Osijek or Rijeka..., but precisely as strong as small communities are.

“Every inch of Croatia deserves life. Our goal is to encourage young people to stay through small, medium and large crafts, to keep jobs and create new value,” the minister said.

The new program allows entrepreneurs from underdeveloped areas to receive a loan of up to 150 thousand euros, with part of the principal being forgiven – up to 75 thousand euros in the first group of development, or by categories - 50, 40, 30 and 20 percent in the others.

“This is not an interest subsidy, but a forgiveness of the principal, i.e. the loan. For those who operate properly, employ people and contribute to the local community, the state will gradually write off part of the loan over ten years,” explained Šipić, concluding that this clearly shows how the government cares about every inch of Croatia and every one of our people.

The most important thing for us is the family – we are increasing benefits

Speaking about housing in rural areas and incentive measures for families, Minister Šipić stressed the importance of cooperation with cities, municipalities and counties.

“You touched on two extremely important topics. Part of it is in the portfolio of my colleague Bačić, such as affordable housing and the refund of real estate tax for those under 45. The 50 percent refund on the purchase of an apartment or a new building is also an incentive. The construction of business and rental apartments for young families and new family houses gives additional value to the efforts of local communities,” he said.

He emphasized that local units are the front lines of the demographic battle:

“I like to say that the first demographers in Croatia are cities, municipalities and counties, because they are directly related to people. This relationship with local communities is very important to us,” he said.

Šipić recalled that in the past year and a half he had visited more than half of Croatia and talked to dozens of local government leaders in order to observe the needs from practice and adjust the measures.

“A young family first needs an apartment, a good job and security. This government is trying to unite all of this in a range of demographic measures. No one in Europe has measures like Croatia,” he pointed out.

He added that benefits for second and third births have been increased by one hundred percent, and maternity and parental leave have been extended by an additional six months.

“It is important for us to protect motherhood and include fathers in parenthood. That is why paternity leave is no longer 10, but 20 days, or 30 days for twins and more children. There is a sense of hope and positive data is returning to us,” the minister concluded.

"Croatia is ready for people to return"

“The biggest challenge for the Government and the Ministry of Demography and Immigration is return and emigration policy,” said Minister Šipić. He stressed that encouraging return is equally, if not more important, than demographic measures within the country.

“The biggest challenge for us is how to send a message abroad that it is worth returning, that Croatia has changed and is changing, and that the preconditions for return have been and are being created,” he said.

He listed a number of indicators that confirm the changes – the growth of salaries and pensions, the implementation of pro-natality measures, the development of affordable housing, the availability of European funds and balanced regional development.

“Politics sends a message that Croatia is ready for people to return, especially those who have recently left,” the minister added.

Speaking about the recent conference on return in Osijek, Šipić expressed satisfaction with the response and results.

“We organized the conference specifically to send a message that we want return and cooperation. We invited entrepreneurs and emigrants to share their experiences, to say how they left and what would encourage them to return, and how they can connect with our economy and our opportunities, and in this way strengthen the economic image, and with it the family,” he emphasized.

He added that representatives of Croatian communities from Australia, New Zealand, South America, North America and Europe participated in Osijek.

“We are planning to continue the conference in Dalmatia in the spring, because we want to connect the whole of Croatia,” concluded Minister Šipić.

"We are forming a group for faster recognition of diplomas"

One of the problems faced by returnees is the nostrification of diplomas, and Minister Ivan Šipić emphasized that this issue is high on the priority list of his department.

“At the level of ministries, we are discussing the formation of an interdepartmental group that will deal with resolving bureaucratic obstacles and proposing concrete changes. We want to speed up processes that are currently taking months, and they should not,” he said.

He added that the Ministry is closely cooperating with the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman and Minister Davor Božinović, as well as State Secretary Zvonko Milas, emphasizing that "interdepartmental cooperation is the key" to solving the problems of returnees and emigrants.

“We have joined in helping to resolve residence and citizenship issues. Our certificates enable faster procedures, and so far we have issued more than 700 such certificates,” the minister said.

Šipić also warned about the problem of recognizing Croatian diplomas abroad:

“Other countries sometimes hold back, our diplomas are not easily recognized. That is why we will face this issue directly, through cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

He stressed that the goal is to facilitate the return of highly educated people, because it is they who can contribute to strengthening the economy, the protection and health care system.

Source: HRT