The Croatian Employers Association (HUP) is not satisfied with the economic part of the election platforms of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Opposition coalition led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), HUP president Ivan Ergovic told a news conference on Tuesday.
Ergovic said that both platforms included several good initiatives, stressing, however, that many things were vague, incomplete and left out.
He declined to say which platform HUP considered better, adding that the voters would decide that on their own.
HUP compared the two election platforms with its document "For Croatia's Development 2011-2015" presented at this years Entrepreneurs Day, which includes 47 economic recovery measures. The comparison was made by analysts Velimir Sonje and Katarina Ott of the Public Finance Institute who said that the two election platforms included 18 HUP measures each.
They positively assessed the Opposition's measures aimed at fighting non-payment, achieving fiscal decentralisation and territorial organisation reform. One of the biggest qualities of the Opposition's Plan 21 is a quantitative definition of fiscal consolidation, namely the deficit, public debt and general government expenditure.
The weakest parts of Plan 21, according to the employers, are measures for managing state-owned companies, measures for cutting enterprise costs, and those aimed at increasing competitiveness and exports. The HUP said that the plan for introducing new taxes was incomplete. The association also criticised the Opposition platform for including anti-enterprise rhetoric.
HUP positively assessed the HDZ measures aimed at strengthening small and medium-sized companies and the announced institutional reforms. HUP criticised the HDZ measures for managing state-owned companies, measures for cutting enterprise costs, measures for increasing competitiveness and exports.
HUP has sent its criticism and remarks to the HDZ and the Opposition coalition and received replies with both the HDZ and the Opposition coalition saying they made some corrections.
HUP said it would also analyse election platforms of other parties running in the coming parliamentary elections.
Asked to comment on the announcement of the Opposition coalition concerning the possibility of an arrangement with the International Monetary Fund, Ergovic said HUP's objective was the best possible credit rating, adding that it was less important if a better credit rating would be achieved with or without a deal with the IMF.
