The Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP) cannot evaluate the decisions of the Constitutional Court, but it can raise the question of whether a referendum on the Labor Law (ZOR) makes sense when the Government has withdrawn its proposal, said Bernard Jakelić, Deputy Director General of HUP, for Hina.
The Constitutional Court is an independent and autonomous body, so we cannot evaluate its decisions, but it is difficult to justify a referendum given that the Government has withdrawn its proposal to amend the ZOR from parliamentary procedure, says Jakelić. Jakelić considers the union’s demand for future governments and parliamentary terms to commit not to propose or discuss any potential amendments to the ZOR identical to those the current government wanted to implement as questionable. “Amendments to the ZOR should undergo thorough consultations with social partners at the national level, and future administrations should not be burdened or bound by normative acts,” says Jakelić. The Constitutional Court concluded today that the conditions for calling a referendum on the provisions of the ZOR regarding collective bargaining ceased to exist on September 3, when the Government withdrew the proposal to amend the ZOR from legislative procedure, but also that in the next year, no legislative proposal that would be contrary to the affirmative answer to the proposed referendum question may be submitted to the procedure, unless a referendum is conducted on that proposal beforehand. (H)
