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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 82387, member: 636"] Croatia's trying to flex hard this year with robotaxis and economic glow-ups. The government's 2026 checklist is kinda wild. Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is pushing for that OECD membership and talking up living standards. They are obsessed with keeping that A credit rating. For businesses, the year started with Fiscalisation 2.0 kicking in, a new tax system forcing all B2B invoices into a digital format. The promise is less paperwork, but everyone just groans about another compliance headache. Tourism is riding a high from last year's record numbers. Over 21 million tourists visited a few months back. The minister, Tonči Glavina, wants price stability and is banking on a new hospitality law by summer to crack down on unregistered rentals. The goal is just matching last year's insane stats, which they admit needs strong price competition. Croatia Airlines is having a whole fleet meltdown. They are retiring old planes and bringing in new Airbus A220 jets. Their last A320 flight is scheduled for February 15, 2026, on the Zagreb-Paris route. They are also scrambling to find a wet-lease partner for their turboprops, which sounds messy. The engineering giant Končar is sitting pretty on a 2.5 billion euro contract backlog. They are dropping over 140 million euros this year to build new factories, including one in Texas with a partner called Sanmina Corp. Their CEO, Gordan Kolak, basically said the US market beats Europe's potential any day. Then there is Mate Rimac's robotaxi thing. He posted a video confirming the vehicles, called Verne, are real and being tested in Zagreb right now. He admitted accidents could happen even though he claims the tech is safer than humans. The plan is to start in Zagreb and then go worldwide, which feels ambitious. In tourism, Valamar Group is dumping a staggering 345 million euros into projects. The big one is the Pical 5 star resort in Poreč, set to open in spring 2026. Other hotels are getting major facelifts, too. The tech unicorn Infobip hits its 20th anniversary this year, evolving from a tiny Istrian startup. Podravka, the food company, is going all-in on pushing its Vegeta brand globally, targeting markets like the US and Australia. Their agriculture division, Podravka Agri, plans a 200 million euro investment spree by 2030. [/QUOTE]

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