Unions and Occupy Croatia Against the Sale of State Assets

Members of civil organizations called Occupy Croatia protested today in front of the Parliament during the parliamentary question time against the Law on Strategic Investments.

This law, which is going into urgent parliamentary procedure, is supposed to expedite the process for investors, while protesters fear that the law allows the state to sell public goods such as forests and waters.

“The Proposal for the Law on Strategic Investment Projects of the Republic of Croatia represents the beginning of the final phase of the process of disempowering the people of the Republic of Croatia from its resources and natural wealth,” stated members of Occupy Croatia in a press release.

The Croatian Union of Trade Unions (HUS), the Independent Trade Unions of Croatia (SSSH), the Association of Workers’ Unions of Croatia (URSH), and the Federation of Consumer Protection Associations of Croatia opposed today the proposal of the Law on Strategic Investment Projects, which the Government intends to use to attract large investments to Croatia.

Such a law is actually unnecessary because the obstacles to investments are found in public administration bodies, said HUS President Ozren Matijašević at a press conference. It is not the legal regulations that are to blame for the lack of investments, but the inactivity and disorder in public administration, says Matijašević.

He supported this with the case of ‘sheep from Brač’ in which an investor bought sheep from Croatian Forests, but did not receive permission from them for grazing on Brač. The investor then moved the sheep to Vrlika, which is good for Vrlika, but bad for Brač, said Matijašević. Another example is the Nautical Center Prgin (NCP), which was denied a loan request by HBOR even though NCP has orders from abroad for the construction of small catamarans.

To avoid unwanted consequences of the new law, Matijašević proposes that it explicitly states that the opinions of the relevant administrative body and the State Attorney’s Office regarding the exclusion of certain goods from the regime of common goods must be positive, and that decisions on strategic investments are made by the Parliament with a two-thirds majority, achieving a broader national consensus.

In response to a journalist’s remark that setting national consensus as a criterion for approving investments could result in no investment coming to Croatia, Matijašević asserted that no one would dare reject a project that would, for example, create 300 new jobs.

SSSH considers it unacceptable that “under the guise of concern for the future of 360,000 unemployed” the possibility of alienating real estate in state ownership, including forests, forest land, agricultural land, public roads, and public water goods, is legalized through direct agreements.

SSSH is against the sell-off of Croatia and its national wealth and calls on the Government to withdraw such a legislative solution, states the press release from the headquarters.

URSH states that it does not oppose investments, especially those from which citizens will benefit, but categorically opposes investments at the expense of public good, which allow wealthy individuals who do not care about the public interest to become even wealthier.

The Federation of Consumer Protection Associations emphasizes that it is not against the use of public wealth for optimal development, but believes that any sale or alienation of water wealth, forests, and forest land should be permanently prevented by constitutional means. Public wealth can be used long-term through concessions, but without the right to acquire ownership, emphasizes the Federation.