Last week, NHS unionists said that it was necessary to draw up the strategy that would clearly determine what can be privatised and under which conditions.
Croatia's Government is under pressure of meeting commitments from the Program Adjustment Loan with the deadlines expiring soon. The adoption of an act on the privatisation of the united state-held portfolio and consequently the continuation of privatisation are late. In this context, government representatives have made it clear that the Ivo Sanader cabinet cannot respond to some requests of trade unions due to the World Bank's pressure, the NHS federation reported last Tuesday.
With a decision to adopt a separate law regulating the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), the Government is only buying time as it has not mustered enough strength to oppose to conditions set by the World Bank and to respect unions' arguments and, thus, incorporate ESOP in an integrated law on privatisation, the trade union federation said.
It added that the announced legal changes in the privatisation process would be only cosmetic changes
When a law on ESOP be finally adopted, little or nothing would remain to be privatised and provisions of that law could be enforced only in companies that have already be privatised, the trade union federation warned.