GOVT TO SEND RETURN PLAN TO PARLIAMENT NEXT WEEK

( Editorial: --> 2452 ) ZAGREB, June 19 (Hina) - The Government will send a comprehensive plan of return for displaced people and refugees to Parliament for consideration next week, Ljerka Mintas-Hodak, vice president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Deputy Premier said on Friday. Mintas-Hodak denied claims saying that international representatives have objections to the content of the plan. Speaking at a press conference at HDZ headquarters, Mintas-Hodak said that the school union "Preporod", by choosing the side of strikers, has breached the agreement on this year's pay rise signed with the Government. Mintas-Hodak requested that the president of "Preporod" issue a public statement on this. The two school unions which initiated the strike demanding a pay rise are not signatories to the agreement. Mintas-Hodak denied that the state owes pensioners allowances for the last several years, adding the debt was "a fictitious category" and insisting on its return "creates wrong expectations". "If the debt (to pensioners) exists, then it is a debt of the active work force which has not paid enough (contributions)....The pension allowances were not low in the last five to six years because of the Government's regulations but because there was not enough money in the budget," Mintas-Hodak mused. In mid-May, the Constitutional Court annulled some regulations of the Pension Law concerning the adjustment and limitation of pension growth. This prompted pensioners' associations to request the Government to increase the base for the future calculation of pensions. The associations also asked the Government to calculate its total debt to the pensioners and then start negotiations on how the debt is to be returned. Mintas-Hodak reiterated that the Government had acted in line with the Law on Execution of the State Budget because the law said that there was not enough money for all its users. Speaking about the future pension reform, Mintas-Hodak said that the Government had been forced to pension reform because of the current ratio of pensioners to employees, which threatens to jump from 1:1.5 to 1:1. The reform is intended for the future and should start in year 2000, Mintas-Hodak said, adding she expected that the Value Added Tax flat rate of 22 per cent would secure enough money for "transitional expenses". HDZ spokesman Drago Krpina reiterated that HDZ saw no need whatsoever for calling pre-term parliamentary elections. (hina) jn rml/bag 191701 MET jun 98