Tomorrow’s Economic Council Meeting on Anti-Recession Measures

The Economic Council of the Prime Minister and the GSV is expected to discuss measures to mitigate the effects of the recession that EU countries are implementing, as well as what Croatia should do in this regard.

A review of anti-recession measures in the EU has been prepared for the Council members, after which they should present their proposals that have been announced in various media in recent days – from the necessity for a budget revision, to the suspension of the minimum wage law and the prohibition of Sunday trading, to ensuring loans for small and medium-sized enterprises through HBOR. The proposal for an urgent budget revision that would freeze the salaries of public and state officials, around which there were the most conflicts even during the budget adoption, will not receive approval from the union representatives in the Council, Vilim Ribić, for whom this is out of the question. “This is an absurd proposal; let those who propose it first cut their own salaries,” Ribić told Hina, reiterating that the unions were misled during the discussion about freezing salaries when it was claimed that salaries were falling in all sectors.

Data from the State Bureau of Statistics and Fina show that in October, salaries in the economy grew by a record 9.3 percent year-on-year, and a high growth of 7.4 percent was maintained in November, while salaries of public and state officials grew by only six percent. However, the Director of the Economic Institute, Sandra Švaljek, warns that more and more signs indicate that the budget will not be realizable, so it would be good to renew negotiations between the government and the unions.

On the other hand, the complaints of union members that so far the desire was to save only on their salaries are justified – all budget items should be re-examined to see where else savings can be made. Some investment projects should also be temporarily abandoned because this year only priorities can be financed from the budget, Švaljek believes. However, she also holds that one should not expect too much from tomorrow’s meeting because the Economic Council is merely an advisory body where everyone presents their proposals, from which it is difficult to compile an anti-recession program. The responsibility for compiling a program of consistent measures should be taken by the relevant institutions, primarily the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Entrepreneurship and the Ministry of Finance, says the Director of the Economic Institute. (H)