- Published: 04.11.2014.
Monetisation of motorway operators' debt to be decided by citizens, says PM
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said on Monday that citizens would decide on whether the debt of two state-run motorway operators would be monetised and that the government would also ask the Constitutional Court for its position in making the final decision.
"Citizens will eventually decide. The regulations are as they are, we have a constitution that makes it possible for 400,000 people to decide on the fate of almost two million depositors in the second (pension) pillar," Milanovic said in a comment on a civil society group that opposes the monetisation of motorway operators' debt announcing that it has collected enough signatures for a referendum against debt monetisation.
Milanovic underlined that the debt monetisation of motorway operators was not a matter of survival or a matter of principle of his government and party.
"It will be as people decide. We will also ask the Constitutional Court about its position on that type of referendum and if Croatians - particularly those under the age of 52 who save for their pensions in pension pillars and are bidders (in a tender to lease out motorways) - want to continue paying interest (on motorway operators' loans) in the next 25 years to (banks) in Milan, Torino, Paris or London and to repay two principal amounts, so be it," said Milanovic, adding that he believed that Croatians were nevertheless more money-minded.