RACAN: THERE IS SIMPLY NO MONEY FOR CHRISTMAS BONUSES

ZAGREB, Dec 3 (Hina) - Croatia's Prime Minister and president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ivica Racan, said on Saturday there was "simply no money" for this year's Christmas bonuses. "If there is money, one must say where it should be taken from," Racan told reporters commenting on a statement by President Stipe Mesic, who yesterday expressed solidarity with the unions of civil servants, announcing he would intervene with the government so that Christmas bonuses were paid. "If the payment of Christmas bonuses were possible, it would be done without President Mesic's mediation and I am ready to discuss it with him," Racan told reporters at SDP's 8th electoral convention. Racan said he was ready to talk with union representatives in the coming days, but would not yield to blackmailing. Public service unions have announced a one-day strike of warning for next Friday, December 8. Civil servants are asking the government to harmonise their salaries with those in public companies while public companies are simultaneously threatening to go on strike because of the government's request that their salaries be reduced, he said. "If public companies do not want to return the money they used to pay higher salaries, then we want them to show solidarity with civil servants and at least not pay Christmas bonuses," Racan said. Although ready for talks with unions, Racan assessed that "some of them have gone too far by announcing a general strike and now want an honourable retreat." Asked why there was no expected faction fighting at the convention, Racan said the media were to be blamed for such "expectations" and "wrong interpretations." "We do have our disagreements, but in the party and government I want to be surrounded by competent people and not by yes-men," he said. Racan said he had neglected his party duties due to his duties as the prime minister but added his proposal that he be relieved of duty as party president had been refused on several occasions. Although he did not participate in the organisation of the convention, some members had sought his intervention in resolving some problems on several occasions. "Perhaps this is good, and perhaps it is a form of preparation for my operational departure from the party," he said. Asked about cases of nepotism in the party, Racan said that "many had kept silent when nepotism reigned in Croatia." This issue has been blown out of proportion and is often unfounded, Racan said. The prime minister also resents that the media were treating his wife exclusively as 'the Prime Minister's wife,' and stressed she was not spending the money of tax payers. "(My wife) is not employed with the Foreign Ministry but has been engaged in humanitarian activities over the past three years on a voluntary basis," he said. (hina) rml