Electoral Assembly of the HUP Association of the Nautical Sector: Romano Pičuljan, president, Nevenka Čalić and Neven Čolić, vice-presidents

At the Election Assembly of the Association of the Nautical Sector, Romano Pičuljan from Pičuljan brodogradnja, was re-elected president of the association for the next two-year term, and Nevenka Čalić from Navela, and Neven Čolić from Garmin Croatia, were re-elected vice-presidents of the association. At the Assembly, the Report and Work Program were adopted, and the decision of the executive board to join the European Boating Industry (EBI) association was confirmed. Ana Čalić from Navela presented the advantages of membership and activities of this association. The Assembly also confirmed the decision of the Executive Board to increase the membership fee of the association by 20%.

Before the working part of the assembly, the audience was addressed by Irena Weber, the chief director of HUP, who expressed her satisfaction with getting to know the work of the association and the members of the Executive Board. In a shorter presentation, she referred to horizontal and vertical topics, so she talked about tax policy, the unfairly better status of rentiers compared to other activities, the ban on working on Sundays, the limitation of energy prices, the problem of labor shortages, and the Labor Law which, despite the efforts HUP remains both inflexible and stifling the economy. She announced further lobbying of the HUP for changes to this law.

After being re-elected as the president of the association, Romano Pičuljan thanked the members of the Executive Committee for their contribution to the association's activities so far, the assembly for their trust, and congratulated the new members of the Executive Committee, Boris Miskić and Domagoj Milišić.

"The establishment of this association back in 2009 was an important event for the nautical sector because the association played a key role in the abolition of notorious excise duties on vessels," he recalled.

He pointed out that the Association had a lot of initiatives, especially regarding the Law on Maritime Property, promotion of the nautical sector and inclusion in the work of HTZ. He said that new challenges await the association in the irregular period, and one of them is the problem of importing old boats for personal use whose systems do not meet EU standards.

"I see that the association is getting younger, which is a good prerequisite for the development of the sector, but also proof that we can say that we did everything right," Pičuljan concluded.

After the working part of the Assembly, Daria Todtling, head of the Product Development Department of the Croatian Tourist Board, held a presentation on "Promotion of Nautical Tourism", after which the participants asked questions.