VIDOVIC: UNEMPLOYMENT TO REACH ITS PEAK IN NEXT TWO TO THREE MONTHS

ZAGREB, July 3 (Hina) - Unemployment in Croatia will reach its peak in the next two to three months, however, by late this year or the beginning of next year a cycle marked by the creation of new jobs will start, Labour and Welfare Minister Davorko Vidovic said in Zagreb on Monday. Speaking at a round table on social dialogue, Vidovic said he believed this was the last year in which the Government was closing down companies which had gone bankrupt. Commenting on an announcement by the Croatian Privatisation Fund on bankruptcy proceedings in 208 companies, Vidovic said those were companies which could not survive on the market, but part of them would probably find buyers and would not go bankrupt. Vidovic also announced a thorough revision of social rights, followed by a re-distribution of those rights. The president of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, Davor Juric, who attended the debate, criticised the Government and employers for failing to establish a genuine social dialogue. Despite the political changes, there is nothing new on the Croatian economic and social scene - moves made by the authorities still lead toward liberal capitalism, which has no respect for humanity, solidarity or the social dimension. The Union therefore insists that all forces in the civil society reach a social consensus so that the concept and aims of Croatia's development could be defined, Juric said. (hina) rml