PAYMENT OF PENSIONS BETWEEN CROATIA, YUGOSLAVIA BY YEAR'S END

ZAGREB, Feb 14 (Hina) - Croatia and Yugoslavia should sign a social insurance agreement this autumn and the mutual payment of pensions could begin by year's end, the Croatian Pension Insurance Bureau (HZMO) said on Thursday. Even though the two parliaments ratified the agreement last year, payments have not begun as Croatia and Yugoslavia have not regulated external payments yet. Some implementation documents are also missing, a matter representatives of the two countries' competent institutions will address at a meeting in Zagreb in April. According to HZMO data, 5,449 people who earned pensions in Croatia at the time of the former Yugoslav federation now live in Yugoslavia, while 4,176 who earned their pensions in Serbia now live in Croatia. Yugoslavia stopped paying pensions to beneficiaries in Croatia in 1991. The HZMO assumed this obligation in 1993, paying around EUR137.5 a month. The HZMO claims that despite the non-existence of external transactions, all beneficiaries of Croatian pensions who reside in Yugoslavia may collect their pensions through authorised parties in Croatia. This is the case with 30-30,500 pensioners who retired before the 1990s war and fled to Yugoslavia in recent years. Some Yugoslav pensioners cannot exert their right to pensions earned in Croatia because they refuse to accept Croatian citizenship or apply for Croatian documents, which prevents the HZMO from treating them as its beneficiaries. The president of the Croatian Serb People's Council, Milorad Pupovac, confirmed that some pensioners who fled to Yugoslavia had not applied for Croatian documents. They are isolated in refugee centres in Yugoslavia and Croatian institutions are unavailable to them, he said. Pupovac added some still had not applied for Croatian documents for psychological reasons of for fear that they will lose refugee rights in Yugoslavia. (hina) ha sb