The Christmas bonus is the 13th salary or some other monetary reward paid to employees for Christmas – this is the definition of one of the most frequently mentioned words in recent days. The General Croatian Lexicon does not provide an explanation of who and how much, but if everyone who has recently uttered this word set aside just 50 lipa, I believe there would be enough money to pay each citizen a decent holiday allowance.
The Christmas bonus has overshadowed a large number of events in our Beautiful Croatia, and there is no media outlet that has not dedicated space to which company will pay the 13th salary, which will not, whose employees will receive the most, and who will receive less than last year. Public service unions, in their fight for workers’ rights and the payment of the Christmas bonus, have even threatened to demand the resignation of Ivan Šuker. Although I do not believe he is the best finance minister the country can have, I am sure that Šuker has made many greater mistakes in managing state finances for which his resignation should be sought.
What he has deprived some civil servants of the Christmas bonus seems to me a lesser sin than when last year he made the budget based on a 2% GDP growth, while it actually plummeted by 6.8% in the first quarter. Additionally, the Ministry of Finance has not successfully resolved the issue of non-compliance with payment deadlines, pretending that the debts of public companies are not their problem, thus leaving the economy to struggle with illiquidity. The list of his failures does not stop there, and it is true that a false promise made to the unions in the collective agreement can also be added to the list, but common sense dictates that only those who have successfully operated that year should receive a year-end reward.
