ZAGREB, 24 Sept (Hina) - The Parliament House of Representatives on Wednesday continued its session which had started on 17 September. The session continued with a discussion on a bill on pension insurance. At the beginning of today's
session the House of Representatives added five bills to its agenda, including a bill on the revision of legal documents adopted by the illegal authorities in the Danube river region in the last several years. By sending the bill into parliamentary procedure, the Government withdrew its proposal on the annulment of legal documents adopted in the area during its occupation.
ZAGREB, 24 Sept (Hina) - The Parliament House of Representatives
on Wednesday continued its session which had started on 17
September.
The session continued with a discussion on a bill on
pension insurance.
At the beginning of today's session the House of
Representatives added five bills to its agenda, including a bill
on the revision of legal documents adopted by the illegal
authorities in the Danube river region in the last several years.
By sending the bill into parliamentary procedure, the
Government withdrew its proposal on the annulment of legal
documents adopted in the area during its occupation. #L#
The bill on pension insurance was presented by the Labour
and Social Welfare Minister Joso Skara. According to the bill,
the new pension system would consist of general obligatory
insurance based on generation solidarity, of compulsory pension
insurance based on individual capitalised savings, and of a
system of voluntary pension insurance based on individual
capitalised savings for old age, Skara said.
The bill would regulate the first stage and the other two
stages would be regulated by the laws whose proposals are being
devised.
Speaking about the changes, Skara said that the
requirements for old-age pension include the age of 65 and at
least 15 years of service for both male and female insurees, with
the alternative 60 years of age for women. Early retirement
requires 60 years of age and 35 years of service, with the
alternative 55 years of age and 30 years of service for women.
Pension allowances would be calculated in line with the whole
length of service (in the previous system, only the last ten
years of service were taken into account when pension allowances
were calculated) and they would be adjusted every year to living
costs.
The implementation of the law should start on 1 July next
year, said Skara.
Since 1990, 55,519 people were retired by buying off years
of service, with the average age of 51, while more than 200,000
people were retired on the basis of disability.
The bill on pension insurance was supported, with a set of
objections, by parliamentary working bodies, but opposition
parties refused to support it.
The Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) holds that it is
necessary to first start the economic reform, secure the payment
of unpaid pension allowances and improve the management of shares
in the Pension Fund, which amount to 3.5 billion German marks.
IDS proposed that budget assets for the Defence and
Interior Ministries in 1998 be reduced and directed into pension
funds instead.
The Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS) bench will not
support the bill and the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) and the
Social-Democratic Party (SDP) asked that the bill be withdrawn
from the parliamentary procedure.
The HSS bench proposed a revision of disability pension
allowances and benefits as well as a revision of the work of the
Pension Fund in 1992 and 1993. The HSS bench also demanded that
the state return its debt to pensioners.
(hina) jn rm
241343 MET sep 97