Opposition to SDP’s Amendments to the Enforcement Act, Government Prepares New Law

The SDP’s proposal to amend the Enforcement Act, aimed at preventing the enforcement of the entire income of the debtor, was assessed by the opposition on Wednesday in the parliamentary debate as a step forward in addressing the issues of enforced and blocked citizens, while the ruling party justified their rejection based on the principle of the rule of law and announced the drafting of a new comprehensive enforcement law.

The SDP proposes to amend only one article of the Enforcement Act under which enforcement could be carried out exclusively on part of the income regardless of previously given documents of consent for wage garnishment.

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“We do not want to politicize this issue; we have a situation in which thousands of citizens of Croatia find themselves, and we have the opportunity to resolve it. If we do not resolve this, statements about wage garnishments will haunt our citizens for another 20 years,” said Peđa Grbin presenting the proposal.

Branimir Bunjac (Living Wall) assessed that the Enforcement Act is a cancerous wound of Croatian society, practically turning a million citizens into modern-day slaves. As he pointed out, citizens mostly do not fall into blocks due to the principal debt, but due to interest and procedural costs, “because according to the rigid law of Minister Bošnjaković, for every kuna of principal, one has to additionally pay between four and six kunas in costs, and often the ratio is one to 20, or even more.”

All links in the debt collection process, from lawyers, public notaries, FINA, and debt collection agencies, he briefly called the “enforcement mafia,” emphasizing that the catastrophic situation is precisely the responsibility of the representatives in the Croatian Parliament.

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Referring to the Constitution under which every employee has the right to earnings that can ensure a free and dignified life for themselves and their families, Bunjac asked: “How can a person live without a single kuna?”

Representatives of Most also supported the SDP’s proposal because, as they emphasized, everything that benefits citizens should be supported. “We support the initiative even if it helps just one person,” said Nikola Grmoja (Most).

State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice Josip Salapić argued that the SDP’s proposal was not accepted based on the principle of the rule of law and announced the drafting of a new law.

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“One cannot take a position whereby the legislator could subsequently amend the law to change obligations that the contracting parties previously mutually agreed upon, especially since such an intervention in creditor-debtor relations could not be justified by public interest,” he said.

Salapić announced that the Government would draft a new comprehensive proposal for the Enforcement Act by the end of June, which would attempt to correct the irregularities of the existing system. To assist the blocked and enforced, he stated that the Government would present a consumer bankruptcy law by the end of the week, which would aim to unblock more than 100,000 citizens.

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“We are all aware that a comprehensive solution is needed, but this SDP proposal could help the current situation,” assessed Anka Mrak-Taritaš (GLAS).

Although the opposition supported the SDP’s proposal stating that there are no justified reasons not to accept it, the debate was not lacking in political bickering about what each party did or did not do while in power.