SABOR ENDORSES REDUCTION OF SALARIES OF FORMER STATE OFFICIALS

ZAGREB, Feb 4 (Hina) - The House of Representatives of the Croatian National Sabor on Friday unanimously endorsed a bill on changes to the Law on the Obligations and Rights of State Officials. Although they reached a consensus on the need to reduce the salaries of former state officials, the MPs conducted a very heated debate at moments. The session was opened by Sabor Vice-President Mato Arlovic and the bill was presented by Deputy Prime Minister Zeljka Antunovic. According to the current law, former state officials have to right to receive salaries for a period of one year after leaving their offices. The amount of those salaries is the same as the last salary they received while in office. Given that the salaries of state officials will be reduced, this could result in cases where a former minister would have a higher salary than an incumbent one. This is why the Government has proposed that the salaries of former state officials be reduced to the amount of salaries received by incumbent state officials. The bill's being applied retroactively is problematic in terms of legality, Antunovic said, adding the Government nevertheless believed it was justified to seek the change of the current law. The bill's being retroactive is the only but a major doubt because it questions the so-called acquired rights, said Mladen Godek of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS). However, if one knows that former officials had higher salaries than the incumbent ones have, one must conclude that their acquired rights are not jeopardised, he added. Luka Bebic of the largest opposition party - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) - suggested the adoption of a single law regulating the salaries of all state officials in the executive, legislative and judicial authority. This would prevent the changing of regulations for the sake of short-term political promises and interests, he said. Bebic's statement provoked a response by Snjezana Biga Friganovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). "It is true that we promised citizens the reduction of salaries of state officials, but it is not true that we are doing it because of our political promises since we had already voted against high salaries a year ago," she reminded. The debate fired up after Ivan Milas of the HDZ said he had nothing against the reduction of salaries, however, state officials should "be given reasonable salaries so that they do not have to beg after the expiry of their mandates." What does a reasonable salary mean, wondered Vesna Pusic of the Croatian People's Party (HNS). I believe that a reasonable salary is much lower than what colleagues from the HDZ imagine, Pusic said, adding participation in authority should not be motivated by financial gain but by a wish to increase common welfare. Ingrid Anticevic-Marinovic of the SDP agreed with Pusic's statement, adding the bill did not encroach upon rights but rather privileges. Vladimir Seks of the HDZ tried to calm down the debate saying the impression that the HDZ did not support the reduction of salaries was wrong. "We made a mistake in the last composition because we accepted proposals for higher salaries of state officials. We did not take into account social sensitivity and we were punished at the last elections for that," he said, adding the HDZ would seek even more radical cuts of the salaries of state officials. Seks' statement caused a wave of rebuttals, which were stopped by Sabor Vice President Arlovic. The House of Representatives unanimously supported the bill in the first reading. All objections and suggestions will be sent to the Government so that a final version of the bill could be prepared. During today's debate a group of MPs suggested that the salaries of state officials be tied to average salaries in the economy. (hina) rml