Prime Minister Ivo Sanader called on deputies to vote for the government's proposal on the settlement of the debt to pensioners, saying that by adopting this proposal, Croatia would resolve the 12 year-long trauma,
The government's plan to change the formula for the adjustment of pensions, namely to reinstate the previous formula for pension indexation, was harshly criticised by the Opposition, as well as by the coalition partner of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) - the Croatian Pensioners' Party (HSU). HSU representatives said the old, Swiss formula was not worth the consequences it would produce
Under the proposed amendments to the pension insurance law, the adjustment of pensions would be carried out according to the so-called Swiss formula which means that pensions would be adjusted twice a year to the figure calculated as a half of the sum of the growth of salaries and living costs.
The Opposition accused the government of deliberately putting to parliament the simultaneous adoption of the laws on settling the debt and the adjustment of pensions, so as to "push" the latter, which in their opinion is bad for pensioners, in the shadow of debt settlement.