Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Thursday said in Brussels he would be happy if there was enough money in the state budget to pay out wage supplements, as previously approved, stressing however that this simply was not realistic but that basic salaries had not been touched.
Milanovic gave a talk on Thursday at the European Economic and Social Committee headquarters at a briefing organised by the International European Movement (IEM) "EU accession of Croatia and its benefits for the Western Balkans". During question time most of the questions asked related to Croatia's economic and social policies.
In the discussion that followed the head of the Matica union federation, Vilim Ribic, accused the government and Premier Milanovic of violating the principles of collective negotiations, fundamental workers' rights and the provisions of the International Labour Organisation and European Social Charter.
Milanovic responded that there simply was not enough money and that no-one had been laid off from the public service while hundreds of thousands of workers in the private sector are mostly unprotected.
We did not interfere with basic salaries and have a sufficient amount to keep salaries at this level but supplements had to be cut. Is all that worth inciting a social conflict, he wondered.
Milanovic added that the government had to take note of ratings agencies and that there was no need to panic but this had to be kept in mind.
Asked when Croatia could be expected to enter the Schengen space and introduce the euro, Milanovic said he expected Croatia would soon enter the Schengen area without internal border checks but that he was unsure about entering the eurozone.
In response to whether he supported a federal Europe, Milanovic answered that he would not be "shocked" by the idea but would be "sceptical". He added that it was necessary to control banks in the EU but that federalism in Europe sounded "far away".
(Hina)
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