"GLAS KONCILA" SLAMS GOVERNMENT'S SOCIAL POLICY

ZAGREB, Aug 29 (Hina) - The official gazette of the Croatian Bishops' Conference, the "Glas Koncila", ran an editorial this week entitled "Mocking Social Justice", describing the government's intention to curb the social rights of certain groups as the creation of a new social injustice. "The intention for truncating budgetary contributions for children's allowances, new mothers, particularly the unemployed ones, for war veterans who returned from defending their homeland with up to 50 percent disability, and pensioners who justly earned their pensions through work and years of service, is creating a new social injustice," the paper wrote, and dubbed the government measures "asocial". The editorial particularly criticised the fact that the system of privileged pensions, used by politicians and the widows of killed war veterans, are not being rescinded through the new measures. "These privileged pensions were acquired through the letter of regulations passed by politicians themselves, not under the principle of justice." The government is accused of antisocial measures, for tolerating a monopolist robbery, as well as "the roughest version of wild capitalism". The paper stresses the government is not prepared to decrease the privileges of the political elite. The Glas Koncila recalls that the parliament discussed embezzlements, even criminal abuse of budgetary money -- and only members of the political elite could have embezzled -- several times, but despite this and the findings of the state audit bureau, it was never made public how much money was embezzled. The findings of the audit were used only for certain, mostly political duels with politically inappropriate individuals, and we still have not heard that anybody of the embezzlers at which the audit pointed its finger truly being held liable, the editorial reads. (hina) lml sb