Government Relieves the Economy by 133 Million Euros

The government adopted a new action plan on Thursday to reduce non-tax and parafiscal levies, which through a total of 73 measures should lead to a relief of the economy by at least 132.7 million euros, as well as new measures for active employment policy worth 132.6 million euros.

The adoption of this new, second action plan is a measure within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which foresees the obligation for further reduction of non-tax and parafiscal levies, amounting to at least 132.7 million euros or one billion kuna, emphasized the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Damir Habijan at the government session.

He stated that the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development coordinated the collection of relief measures from the competent authorities and prepared the proposal for the action plan, explaining that the implementation of this measure is a prerequisite for the disbursement of European funds under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism 2021 – 2026.

Habijan reminded that with the first quarter of 2022, all 50 measures from the first action plan were implemented, achieving a total relief of the economy of just over 70 million euros.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated that the policy of tax and administrative relief for citizens and the economy represents the continuity of the government, with total previous reliefs reaching 1.5 billion euros.

Measures for Active Employment Policy Continue

The government today also supported measures for active employment policy for 2024, implemented by the Croatian Employment Service, for which a total of 132.6 million euros has been secured in the state budget.

These measures include support for employment, self-employment, internships, training, education, public work, permanent seasonal workers, and support for reducing working hours.

Support for employment includes a monthly flat-rate amount of support according to the level of education and the possibility of using tax relief for the co-financed person. Support for internships continues, which includes co-financing the gross salary costs and other costs for employers. A higher intensity of support for these two measures is planned for employers who meet the criteria for green or digital jobs, which will be financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the government document states.

Next year, support for internships in public services will continue, which includes financing 100 percent of the amount according to the gross salary of the intern, which amounts to 85 percent of the gross salary of the job position, as well as support for training, which enables employed persons to acquire skills for work and retain their jobs.

Support for self-employment allows unemployed persons to cover initial business and operational costs of the business entity. The maximum amount of support for self-employment will be 20,000 euros. Within this measure, a special measure ‘I Choose Croatia’ will be implemented, which will strengthen activity in economically and demographically less developed areas of the Republic of Croatia and encourage the return of the working population from the countries of the European Economic Area, the Swiss Confederation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Support for education and training enables users to acquire additional skills aimed at retaining their jobs, acquiring skills for entering the labor market, and education in educational institutions, the government states. Support for public work will also be approved. The public work program is based on socially useful work initiated by the local community or civil society organizations, aimed at including unemployed persons in activation programs lasting up to a maximum of 12 months with a subsidy of 50 to 100 percent of the minimum wage cost.

Next year, the measure of permanent seasonal workers will also continue, i.e., financial support for seasonal workers during periods when they are not working, in order to ensure the necessary workforce for employers in all sectors who experience periods of reduced workload due to the seasonal nature of their business throughout the year.

Support for reducing working hours will be granted to employers exclusively from the manufacturing industry who are experiencing business difficulties, with the aim of preserving jobs.