PRIME MINISTER MATESA ANNOUNCES NEW PENSION LAW

( Editorial: --> 5249 ) ZAGREB, May 20 (Hina) - Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa announced on Wednesday that the government will present a new law to the Croatian National Parliament, which he believes would resolve the situation following the Constitutional Court's overturning of several provisions from the law on harmonising pensions. On May 12 the court annulled as unconstitutional legal provisions on linking pensions with rises in the cost of living instead of with wage increases, and provisions by which a temporary limiting of pensions, until then decided by decree, had been turned into a long- term legal solution. The Constitutional Court decision, which in its ruling did not mention the amount owed to pensioners and the procedures of returning this debt, must be looked at in the political, economic and legal perspective, Matesa told the House of Representatives question time on Wednesday. Mentioning that this involved billions of dollars, Matesa said returning this money would mean a collapse in the economic system. He recalled that in 1993 the government passed a decree on limiting the growth in the total amount of wages and pensions, without which it would have been impossible to begin implementing the government's stabilisation programme. The Prime Minister said the government, with a sincere and fair intention of resolving the problems of pensioners, had worked to develop a law on harmonising pensions. The government did this in cooperation with the Constitutional Court, but the court has now annulled several provisions of that law, he said. Matesa strongly rejected claims that the government would present a law to the House of Representatives which it knew was unconstitutional. The Croatian Premier also addressed the political aspects of the issue. It can be seen from press articles that individuals are not speaking about whether the debt needs to be returned, but whether presidential and parliamentary elections should be held, Matesa said. (Hina) jn mb /ha 201611 MET may 98