At a session in Zagreb on Wednesday, the Council decided to accept that the basis for measuring social welfare assistance should increase by 25 percent as of the end of this year or in early 2008 and would be tied to the relative poverty line, just as in European Union countries.
In this way, the basis for social assistance will rise from the current 400 to 500 kuna, Social Welfare and Health Minister Neven Ljubicic said after the GSV session.
The Central Bureau of Statistics will measure the relative poverty line as the median line of the national income, and a percentage for social assistance basis will be subsequently determined by the Social Welfare Law. It is believed that the assistance will be about 30 percent of the relative poverty line, as in EU members.
The draft reform that is on the agenda of the government's session scheduled for Thursday also includes the integration of separate forms of social assistance and allowances and the computerisation of the social security system for the purpose of reducing administration and accelerating proceedings.