Croatian Unions Urge Minister to Quit over Pensions Adverts

Mladen Novosel, the chairman of the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia, called on Tuesday for Labour Minister Marko Pavic to step down for "systematically telling untruths related to pension reform" via a series of televised advertisements.

Unions also accuse the government of spending much more on the advertisements to promote its controversial reform of the pension system than the minister has told the public.

"For sure, today we can talk not about two, nor four, but about more than million kunas [675,000 euros] which the Ministry of Labour… has spent," Mladen Novosel alleged at a press conference.

The Croatian government has been promoting its pension reform with daily adverts on public and commercial television channels - although the changes, which see the pensionable age rising to 67 under certain circumstances, have already been adopted by the Croatian parliament.

"We have secured the long-term sustainability of the pension system and have not indebted our children," one advert says.

It says that pensions have been raised by 7.54 per cent and that the raising of the pensionable age means higher payments. It argues that only people who have not worked for 41 years will have to continue working until the age of 67.

"Trade union requirements mean smaller pensions and 45 billion kunas [six billion euros] of debt for our children and grandchildren!" the advert insists.

Unions and opposition parties claim that the adverts are aimed at obstructing their campaign for a referendum on the pension reform.

Three trade union federations - the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia, the Independent Trade Unions of Croatia, and the Association of Croatian Trade Unions - launched the referendum initiative on...