The leaders of the SDP-HNS-HSU-IDS opposition coalition on Thursday presented their programme for a parliamentary election later this year called "Platform for a Better Croatia", comprising 21 items, but did not go into detail, saying they would do so in open dialogue with voters.
The platform focuses on the economy, as without strong and sustainable economic growth there is no sensible spending or a balanced national budget or a successful Croatia in the European Union, said Zoran Milanovic, president of the SDP (Social Democratic Party).
"The platform is not a magic wand, it's not a magical recipe but what we have been considering and discussing in recent years," he said.
The new government will base its policy on citizens' trust, said Radimir Cacic, president of the HNS (Croatian People's Party), adding that national interests would no longer be subordinated to personal policies, as big guarantees had brought Croatia to an economic and moral crash.
"The need for change is bigger than the fear of change," he said.
HSU (Croatian Pensioners Party) president Silvano Hrelja and IDS (Istrian Democratic Party) vice president Damir Kajin stressed the opposition coalition's platform was a guarantee of a better Croatia.
The platform rests on three pillars - strong economic growth with an emphasis on the manufacturing sector, a smaller and efficient state, and a different distribution of what Croatia produces and creates.
The platform also envisages stronger employment; a new, export-oriented industrialisation; an investment growth with a radical elimination of barriers; dealing with illiquidity; and steering state incentives towards national and not particular interests.
One of the goals is a public administration reform that would introduce a mandatory assessment of the performance curve in the public sector and a balanced tax system so that the income and profit tax burden can be separated from the capital.
The Alliance for Change coalition does not intend to privatise strategic state companies and resources but does plan to optimise the ownership portfolio, so that the private sector could participate as well.
The coalition will guarantee the protection of all those who live off their work and by the end of its four-year term, it aims to bring the amount of the average pension as close as possible to the amount of the average salary.
