On May 15, a Croatian edition of Metro will be launched by Europapressholding (EPH), the biggest newspaper publisher in Croatia in which German publisher WAZ (Essen) has a 50% stake. The paper is a Metro franchise and wil have the familiar green Metro design. Metro will be pubished in four different editions (Zagreb, Istria, Dalmatia, and the northern area) with a circulation of 250,000.
Competition has been rising in Croatia the last year. Austrian publisher Styria Media, publisher of Vecernji list, launched the cheap paper 24Sata and the free weekly Metropola, while EPH added the TV-Magazine Studio and the Lifestyle-Magazine Gloria In on Friday and Saturday for free to their daily Jutarnji list. Vecernji list and 24Sata reacted with a TV-guide of their own.
In 2003 the car of the director and co-owner of EPH, Ninoslav Pavic, was blown up by a bomb in Zagreb. The attack was probably related to an earlier attack on two EPH journalist in 2002. The report by EPH publications on organized crime in Croatia could be the reason for the attacks.
