PM promotes Youth Guarantee, visits job fair in Rijeka, compares unemployment with natural disaster

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said in Rijeka on Wednesday that unemployment in Croatia was of the extent of a natural disaster, an issue of national security and that almost 20% of Croatians did not have a job.

"As for unemployment... that is a natural disaster, I am intentionally using such a strong word, this is a matter of national security... almost 20% of people in the country don't have a job and they should and want to have one," the PM said while opening the 8th Job Fair at the University of Rijeka, which brought together more than 80 exhibitors.

"300,000 people in Croatia are out of work and we have been fighting since the first day of our term to reduce unemployment, notably of young people, and to increase employment," Milanovic said, citing measures such as the on the job training without entering into full-time employment for young people and the Youth Guarantee scheme.

He added that there were no miracle solutions to unemployment and that reducing unemployment required a constant struggle for excellence while retaining humanness.

"Do we want to be better than others or just cheaper," the PM asked, explaining that the reason he was saying this was the fact that the Rijeka fair would be attended by many employers in the tourism sector, which he described as an export service sector.

For the country to be making money from tourism, it has to be better and attract more investments than its competition, he said, adding that billions of euros were already being invested in tourist facilities.

"To achieve that, we must protect the kuna," he said.

"I see that as patriotism, but also as common sense," he said, adding that it was not enough to become competitive by lowering prices overnight, that Greece and some other countries did it and that it proved to have been a mistake.

Commenting on information that the percentage of young people who complete their secondary education in Croatia is the highest in Europe, Milanovic said that there were countries that were richer than Croatia but had more young people dropping out of school.

He added that the state financing of education was higher than it had been ever before.

After visiting the fair, the PM answered questions from students, telling them, among other things, to utilise opportunities offered by the Erasmus European academic mobility programme and that they should go and live abroad for a year.

Labour and Pension System Minister Mirando Mrsic said that unemployment in the country was 19.6% and that Primorje-Gorski Kotar County had an unemployment rate of 14.6%, which he said proved that with a strong economy and tourism the situation could be improved.

(Hina) rml

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