Milanovic said in his message he understood people's impatience, but recalled that his government inherited a rising unemployment, "frightening" illiquidity and economic stalemate and hundreds of thousands of endangered jobs.
The economy was being destroyed for years, the state was being stolen from, the global crisis which hit us four years ago was ignored for years, the PM said, adding that handling structural problems had been deliberately postponed for years and that only the incumbent government had tackled them, trying to balance cutbacks and investments, strictness and motivation, preserving salaries and pensions, and fighting for every job.
Milanovic said his cabinet passed regulations protecting workers and putting out of force those which made it possible not to pay salaries or contributions, and that it was working on regulations on fixed-term contracts.
The government will increase the minimum wage as of June and has managed to privatise and save the majority of the shipyards without spending dozens of billions from the budget, but the restructuring of public companies, which was delayed for years, is resulting in the loss of untenable jobs, he said.
We are aware that too many citizens still cannot exercise the basic human right to work, so our priority is to launch investment and production wherever possible. We are saving companies through pre-bankruptcy settlements, jobs, servicing debts, encouraging investments and reducing the deficit. We are fiscally consolidating the state and have enabled the financial consolidation of citizens, notably indebted small business owners, we are restoring order to the neglected state, the PM said in his message.
He said the number of people who found jobs in the first three months of this year was one-third higher than a year ago, voicing confidence that this was just the beginning and that the government's efforts would bring increasingly concrete and visible results.
Important years are ahead in which new prospects will open up and, with Croatia's European Union accession, new opportunities through structural funds and new markets, he said.
We want and are working so that every worker has an honest pay for honest work, on new ideas and projects to boost the economy so that people can live more easily and living standards start growing, Milanovic said, voicing confidence in swift results and thanking citizens for their patience and sacrifices.