According to the report which was presented in Zagreb on Tuesday, Croatia has been ranked 109th on a list of 157 countries in terms of economic freedom, and this can partly be ascribed to the restrictive national labour legislation which renders job creation and productivity more difficult.
The Croatian Federation of Trade Unions (HUS) and the Independent Croatian Trade Unions (NHS) said in Zagreb on Wednesday that the survey was based on data from a World Bank study which points out that the most favourable countries for business activities are those that protect labour rights to the smallest extent.
HUS officials said that one could not claim that costs for employment and dismissal of workers were too high when in Croatia nearly 85 percent of newly-employed workers have contracts on part-time employment.
The reasons for Croatia being assessed as mostly unfree in the economy are non-functioning of the rule of law, legal insecurity in entrepreneurship, rampant bribery and corruption, and failure to punish crime in the ownership transformation and privatisation as well as monopoly of some companies such as the Rovinj Tobacco Factory, the HUS said.
The NHS criticised the survey's assessments as being too broad and superficial and that tips and pieces of advice cannot be implemented in Croatia which aspires to become and a European Union member in several years' time.