PENSIONERS WRITE TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT OVER CHANGES TO LAW

( Editorial: --> 5447 ) ZAGREB, July 3 (Hina) - A motion to refund pension fund resources which is to be discussed by the Croatian National Parliament has the aim of avoiding government implementation of a Constitutional Court decision to abolish certain provisions of the Pension Adjustment Law, three pensioners' associations said in a letter to MPs Friday. The Pensioners' Union, Pensioners' Society and the "Croatian Pensioner" Association requested that members of Parliament prevent such a law being adopted because its application would leave pensions at their current amounts. The pensioners held that the name of the law itself hid its essence, which is to pay back the debts from the state budget to pension funds for allowances the budget did not account for in the period from 1990 to 1997 for pensions received under favourable conditions. The debt has been created for seven and a half years and will be paid back in four and a half years, which totals twelve years during which the state budget had been credited with free interest from the wallets of pensioners, the letter said. (hina) lml jn /mbr 031809 MET jul 98