Party groups in the Croatian parliament on Monday discussed a government-sponsored bill postponing the adjustment of pensions to salaries and consumer prices in 2011, with members of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) assuring the bill guaranteed that pensions would not further decline and opposition MPs accusing the government of saving on pensioners and doing nothing to revive the economy.
Boris Kunst of the HDZ said that by postponing the adjustment of pensions to salaries and consumer prices in 2011 the government was actually protecting pensions from a new decline, considering negative trends that were causing the decline of salaries and consumer prices.
Djurdja Adlesic of the group of independent MPs said the group would support the government's bill because the budget should be protected. "We are glad that we don't have to reduce pensions, regardless of how low they may be," she said.
Opposition deputies had a different view on the matter.
Zeljka Antunovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said pensioners were among the poorest social groups, with an average income of HRK 2,162, which she said was not enough for a normal life.
She described as hypocritical the HDZ's explanation that by freezing pensions in 2011 the government actually guaranteed not to reduce them, suggesting that the government should then also introduce a provision envisaging an increase in pensions in case consumer prices and salaries went up.
Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) said his party would propose that the bill be withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure.
Kajin disagreed with deputies of the ruling coalition on the bill contributing to the implementation of the government's programme for economic recovery, saying that "if the government has failed at anything, it is economic recovery."
The regional HDSSB party said it would not support the bill either.
