BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO.3542 HINA ZAGREB, 22 FEBRUARY 2000

HR-HINA-POLITCS-BULLETIN-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO.3542 HINA ZAGREB, 22 FEBRUARY 2000 UPPER HOUSE OKEYS PROPOSAL FOR REDUCING OFFICIALS' SALARIESZAGREB, Feb 22 (Hina) - The Croatian National Sabor's House of Counties on Tuesday gave a positive assessment to the government's proposals for reducing the salaries of state officials and judges. Regardless of their party membership, MPs agreed that the difficult economic circumstances dictated austerity at all levels, including the salaries of state officials. Representatives of the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) wanted to know why the Government had given up its initial proposal for reducing salaries by 40 per cent and why the number of ministries has increased. It seems, said HDZ's Ivan Brlekovic, that 'the outline of consistent inconsistency is becoming more and more visible'. The above-mentioned proposals, which would go into force on March 1, introduce the principle of tying state officials' salaries to the