BOSNIAN RETIREES TO PROTEST AGAINST DISCONTINUING OF CROATIAN ALLOWANCES

ZAGREB, May 7 (Hina) - Retirees from Bosnia-Herzegovina with Croatian citizenship will stage a protest rally in front of the Croatian government building on Wednesday, May 9, against the government's decision to discontinue the payment of pensions for Croatian citizens from Bosnia-Herzegovina, an association of retirees from Bosnia-Herzegovina said on Monday. The association's president Stipe Cicak said the Croatian government had last April decided to discontinue the payment of allowances for 20,560 pensioners from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Cicak said those pensioners were Croatian citizens who had worked for Croatian companies in Bosnia-Herzegovina before the 1990s war. Since 1993, they had been receiving Croatian allowances and when the Croatian government decided to discontinue those payments, three pension funds from Bosnia-Herzegovina, two from the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and one from Republika Srpska, took over the payment of their pensions. A total of 1,281 pensioners, who are not registered by any of those funds, have not received any pensions since then, while 7,919 Croatian citizens in the Bosnian Serb entity received their last pensions in July last year, Cicak claims. Some 11,000 retirees from the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina received their last pensions, amounting to some DM 200, in January this year, he added. The association therefore demands that all retirees receive their pensions from a single fund in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that Croatia permanently subsidise their pensions, Cicak said. (hina) rml