ZAGREB, Jan 5 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Monday sent into regular parliamentary procedure amendments to three laws which will reintroduce the right of mothers of three or more children to three-year maternity leave.
ZAGREB, Jan 5 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Monday sent into
regular parliamentary procedure amendments to three laws which will
reintroduce the right of mothers of three or more children to
three-year maternity leave.#L#
This is part of the Ivo Sanader government's project to restore some
of the rights which the former authorities rescinded or restricted,
Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, who is also the Minister of
Family and War Veterans' Affairs and Inter-Generation Solidarity, said
on Monday.
The amendments to the law on maternity leave for self-employed and
unemployed mothers, to the labour law and the health insurance law
were forwarded into regular procedure to adjust them to the deadlines
for the adoption of the law on budget execution. After that,
possibilities for higher maternity allowances will be considered, the
minister said.
According to some estimates, 370 million kuna would be needed for the
payment of all kinds of maternity allowance stipulated by the law, and
an additional 10 million should be secured for the enactment of the
changes on three-year maternity leave.
Government officials warn of alarming figures on the birth rate in
Croatia. In 2003 the number of newborn babies fell below 40,000, and
the number of citizens who died was over 50,000. If this trend
continues, the country's population will shrink by one million in 50
years' time, Kosor said.
The government sent into urgent parliamentary procedure a motion on
changes to the Law on the Obligations and Rights of State Officials
and the Law on Judges' Salaries. Under the motion, the salaries of
state officials and judges will not be increased by 0.5 percent for
each year of service this year either.
"If we appeal to others, we, too, must be socially sensitive, and
continue the good things which the former government introduced,"
Prime Minister Sanader said.
The Sanader cabinet adopted a decree revoking provisions in the
existent law on Homeland War veterans which stipulated that rights
enjoyed by a war veteran or his/her family would cease to exist for
the duration of his/her detention or imprisonment. The government thus
redressed injustice inflicted on the veterans who defended Croatia,
Sanader explained.
(Hina) ms