Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor has confirmed that the draft amendments to the Labour Act (ZOR) were withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure, explaining that this move has not been made abruptly.
"The draft has been withdrawn in line with a letter sent to the Parliament Speaker, as the government holds that putting this topic to the parliament's agenda at this moment will be counter-productive," Kosor said on Saturday in the town of Otocac, adding that trade union federations were previously notified of this move.
"We do not want to do anything by force," Kosor said, adding that she now expects the resumption of the talks with trade unions on future changes of the ZOR.
She believes that it is untenable that some collective agreements still remain in force after their expiry.
Commenting on the collection of signatures required to corroborate the trade union federations' demand for the referendum, Kosor said that the government had backed the referendum when allocating HRK 170 million to that effect in the revised budget for this year.
The premier recalled that the ruling coalition voted for that with the Opposition being against it.
She underlined that the government was also in charge of verifying signatures collected by trade unions in their drive against the government-sponsored draft amendments to ZOR.
The government has sent a report on the verification to the relevant parliamentary committee, and it is up to the parliament and the committee to decide on the matter, she said.
Commenting on irregularities it found during the verification of signatures, Kosor said that the lists contained the names of some dead persons and that some signatures had been collected by political parties.
In response to reporters' question whether the withdrawal of the draft amendments reflected the government's fear of citizens, as claimed by the Opposition, Kosor said that the Opposition was only insisting on the departure of this government without making any concrete proposal on how to cut the budget spending side.
Asked whether Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic "overtook" the government with giving information on the draft's withdrawal, Kosor said that one should have waited for the government to present its reasons and decisions.
Kosor, however, declined to comment on possible sanctions against Bebic.
