UNION LEADER OF FIRST 100 DAYS OF GOVERNMENT'S TERM IN OFFICE

PULA, April 4 (Hina) - The leader of the Association of Workers' Trade Unions of Croatia (URSH), Boris Kunst, said at a news conference in Pula on Saturday that in the first 100 days of its term the government failed to make any substantial improvements, carrying out only personnel changes and making slight progress on the foreign front.#L# Kunst, who attended yesterday's electoral assembly of the Croatian Customs Workers Union, said that "every new-born Croat owes 5,500, while the Croatian National Bank and the government are struggling to stop the alarming growth of the foreign debt". He warned that two-thirds of Croatian citizens live on loans from foreign banks, which last year earned 244.5 million in Croatia. "Croatia is slowly falling into a recession and this government, like the previous one, lacks a strategy of economic development to kick-start the production, increase exports and make the economy more competitive to generate new jobs," Kunst said. He voiced dissatisfaction with social dialogue and called for branch collective bargaining and for reducing benefits for state officials because "most citizens live on the verge of poverty". (Hina) rml