Finance Minister Maric pleased with EC's decision

"We are definitely pleased with the decision. We think that the European Commission has recognised the efforts, plans and reform programme of the government," Maric told Hina on Tuesday.

 

The European Commission said on Tuesday it would not take corrective action for Croatia over the excessive macroeconomic imbalances identified during an in-depth review. The Commission will reconsider its assessment in May to take into account the ambitiousness of the government's reform programme.

 

Maric said that the new Croatian government of Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic had been in intense and open communication with the Commission since it took office in late January and would continue to maintain such communication.

 

"The European Commission wants us to continue and speed up the implementation of structural measures, which we certainly intend to do," the minister said.

 

At its meeting on Thursday, the government will unveil a proposed budget for 2016, and Maric said that through it the government would send "a clear message" about reform measures it intended to take. He reiterated that in this year's budget expenditure would be frozen and that the budget deficit was expected to be reduced to below 3% of GDP.

 

The Commission said that Croatia was experiencing excessive macroeconomic imbalances and that vulnerabilities were linked to high levels of public, corporate and external debt in a context of high unemployment.