The government had no influence on that in the first quarter of the year because state companies' management boards had not been changed, Cacic said, adding that the incumbent government could not be held to account for what was happening under the management boards appointed by the previous government.
In some segments there was a dramatic jump, especially in the police where hundreds of people were promoted. In some companies such as Plinacro, one-third of the people were given a higher position on November 25, shortly before the parliamentary election. This significantly affected the pay level in the public sector, Cacic said.
This will affect negotiations on Christmas bonuses and cash grants with public sector unions at a time when the salaries in this sector are 28.5 per cent higher than in the private sector in which 150,000 people lost their jobs.
"People in the public sector certainly aren't doing well, but their jobs are much safer and they are better paid, and I think they realise this," said Cacic.
Linic would not say if some ministries could have saved more, saying the important question was whether the government would save HRK 2 billion and that it was on the ministers to agree on that.
There are laws and cost-cutting projections for the whole year and it is up to the government and negotiations with the unions to decide how to combine the cost-cutting, Linic said.
Asked by the press if the government would do something about the Monter company from Split whose workers have been on strike for more than a month and have not been paid for 11 months, Cacic said the company was private, so it was not the government's concern.
Cacic said he was being accused in the press of ordering Croatian Railways to buy a rail siding from the privately-owned Dioki so that its workers could be paid.
"Don't ever ask me again about private companies. That's not the government's concern and the government didn't get involved in Dioki until its former owner, Robert Jezic, left the ownership structure."
After Jezic left the company, the government bought part of Dioki's property so that workers could get paid. "That musn't be done with private companies, which should be completely clear by now, and this government won't do it," said Cacic.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.5)