ZAGREB, July 2 (Hina) - Most party benches in the Croatian parliament on Wednesday supported the government-sponsored bill of amendments to the law on employment agencies and rights of those on the dole. The changes stipulate a longer
period in which unemployed persons who lose jobs after working ten years for the same employer, can receive financial assistance.
ZAGREB, July 2 (Hina) - Most party benches in the Croatian
parliament on Wednesday supported the government-sponsored bill of
amendments to the law on employment agencies and rights of those on
the dole. The changes stipulate a longer period in which unemployed
persons who lose jobs after working ten years for the same employer,
can receive financial assistance. #L#
While the benches of parties in the ruling coalition endorsed the
amendment with no objection, the benches of opposition parties were
divided about the stand whether to support or not the government's
proposal. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Democratic
Centre (DC) supported it, the bench of the Croatian Party of
Rights/the Christian Democratic Union (HSP/HKDU) announced to
sustain from the vote, and the Croatian Bloc was against it.
The government's explanation that the law was being amended because
of European integration processes was labelled by Tonci Tadic of
the HSP/HKDU bench as an act of deluding the public. Tadic rejected
the government's claim that the changes to the said law would
compensate the reduction of workers' rights.
Vesna Skare-Ozbolt of the DC bench believes that cuts in the public
spending have a limit, and that the reduction of rights of the
jobless could not be pushed further from the subsistence level.
Responding to the opposition's criticism, Labour and Social
Welfare Minister Davorko Vidovic admitted that unemployment was
the biggest social problem in Croatia but it should not be blown up
out of proportion.
It is necessary to make labour legislation more flexible so as to
stimulate investment and create new jobs, the minister said adding
that the incumbent government had discontinued a trend of a rise in
the unemployment rate. If the trend from 2000 had continued, at the
moment Croatia would have had over a half million jobless, he said.
He announced that the government would forward to the parliament a
report on results of the implementation of measures for employment
which created 24,000 new jobs in the first year of their
realisation. The said measures envisage that the highest financial
assistance for those who lose jobs should be increased from 900 to
1,000 kuna (approx. 133 euros). Besides, those who manage to earn
more than 1,000 kuna monthly will be erased from the registers of
unemployed persons.
(hina) ms sb