Agreement on new Economic-Social Council signed, signatories argue

Representatives of the government, unions and employers on Friday signed an agreement to found the Economic and Social Council (GSV) but as soon as the agreement was signed, they began to argue in front of reporters.
 

The new GSV consists of six ministers, four union federations and the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) and the first meeting will be held by mid-July.

It is questionable though whether the GSV will be able to function at all as social partners argued immediately after signing the agreement, with Labour and Pension Minister Mirando Mrsic walking out of a room in the government in the midst of a press conference.

Mrsic walked out after the president of the Matica union federation, Vilim Ribic, accused the government of behaving like a sect, particularly lambasting Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic.

Prior to that, Ribic and the president of the Croatian Independent Unions (NHS), Kresimir Sever, blamed the government for social dialogue being at the lowest level in Croatia and said the only reason a new GSV was now being founded was to satisfy EU demands.

Sever said that unions can easily withdraw their signatures from the agreement if the government continues to insist on reducing workers' rights.

He added that unions and workers will not 'swallow' stories about the need to make the labour market more flexible, as suggested by employers, and that unions would request that the GSV discuss the monetisation of Croatia's motorways, the privatisation of state-owned insurance company Croatia Osiguranje and the Croatian Postal Bank, which is strongly opposed by the unions.

The unions criticised the government's austerity measures, stating that these are not leading to the desired results.

Minister Mrsic, however, said that the EU insists on austerity measures along with development measures. He recalled that Croatia is an over-indebted country and that next year it is entering the European Semester, so that in future the EU will control the country's debts.

He conceded that in the past the GSV did not discuss all laws but that because of the seriousness of the situation in the country, the government had to adopt urgent measures. In the future, the GSV will discuss everything social partners consider to be important, Mrsic assured the unionists.

HUP leader Ivica Mudrinic said that the GSV had not proved to be successful in the past five years of recession, but that the previous government did not listen to HUP's warnings, for example not to construct expensive sports halls or offer subsidies just to maintain some sort of social peace. He added that not one country can constantly go into debt to cover current commitments.

Only now are we beginning to see tiny steps forward which are changing the direction of wrong economic policies but that is not sufficient, he said, adding that unions should look to the future and not persist in defending rights as they were defended 30 years ago.

(Hina)
 

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