PENSIONERS PARTY LEADER COMMENTS ON POSSIBLE 15 PCT INCREASE OF PENSIONS

ZAGREB, Aug 9 (Hina) - If pensions will go up 15 percent in September so as to be adjusted to half the average salary early next year will be known in the autumn, Croatian Pensioners Party (HSU) leader Vladimir Jordan has said. Talking to reporters on Monday before meeting Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, Jordan said "we first have to see how much pensions will be adjusted now, and then, sometime in the autumn, we'll sit down and talk". Sources at the government have said there will be no statements to the media after the closed-door meeting, so there is no information about the government's position on the HSU's calculation that, under the agreement the party signed with the government, alongside the regular adjustment of pensions to the growth of salaries, this September pensions should go up another 15 percent. Jordan did not mention any figures, including the 15-percent increase, saying only that pensions must go up in September since the aforementioned agreement stipulated that pensions were adjusted to salaries twice a year, in the first and second halves.