Plenković: The elections will be on time, we are running based on achievements and a vision for the future

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was a guest on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Croatia's membership in the European Union in the Croatian Radio's Interview of the Week. Behind us is a great decade in which the country developed strongly, and towards autumn, despite the global crises, it looks - optimistic.

Today is exactly 10 years since Croatia joined the European Union. There is an interesting quote from 2012: "The Union is in a turbulent period, and getting out of the recession and overcoming the Eurozone crisis are today common priorities of the Union and its members." Obviously crises and reforms are a constant?

“I wouldn't really say that. I think that these 10 years have been a great 10 years for the development of Croatia. When we look at political transformation, economic development, balanced regional development, GDP growth, employment, and we are in a situation where Croatia has 1,660,000 insured persons, never more. 97,000 unemployed. Compared to the time before entry, employment was one unemployed for every four working people, today it is almost 1 for 17. Croatia is in a completely different situation as far as employment is concerned, and that is one of the most important criteria. Anyone who wants to work can work. We are among the 15 members of the world that are in NATO, the EU, Schengen and the Eurozone. We cannot be more core than we are. This was the determination of our pro-European policy, firstly of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) as the main party in the coalition, and of all the reforms we undertook during this seven-year mandate. Thanks to our commitment, Croatia received 25 billion euros for this decade of catching up with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In my opinion, we do it well. When we started in 2016, the absorption of this past financial framework was 9 percent, today it is 124. Look at the Solidarity Fund, the allocation was 1 billion and 3 million euros, we are at one billion and 400 million euros. We started among the fastest with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of the EU's response to the major COVID crisis. Today, Croatia, with the security mechanism of the Eurozone, the European stabilization mechanism, and the protection of the external Schengen border, is in a completely different position,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said.

“I think we can be proud of our achievements. A country that did not exist on the map as an international legal subject three decades ago today after the Homeland War, the courage of the veterans, the leadership of President Tuđman, being in this position is the time to draw a line and say: I think we have done a lot,” added the Prime Minister.

'The principle of solidarity holds EU members together'

In the meantime, the pandemic, Brexit, and the migrant crisis happened. There are a lot of problems that lead many within the EU to a situation where they wonder if this is the right path for the EU to take, are the policies it is bringing the right policies that enable a faster exit from the crisis?

“Crises within the EU are constant. 2005 is a turning point when it comes to the institutional crisis, on May 29 the negative referendum on the EU constitutional treaty in France and after that in the Netherlands. Those referendums changed the atmosphere among political parties and among the public of the member states. The migrant crisis, terrorist attacks, COVID, the brutal Russian aggression against Ukraine, which we condemn as much as we can, caused the energy and food crisis and inflationary pressures. All this happened in the last few years. And the great financial crisis of 2008, where the EU learned a lesson. I think that only with time will we understand what membership in the euro area means for Croatia, what the European stabilization mechanism means. However, there is a principle of solidarity that holds EU members together, and this fact will help Croatia in any crisis and in dealing with external shocks. All these we have faced are external shocks. Because of COVID, we as the Government have shown what the role of the state is.

“During the energy crisis, we had the cheapest prices for electricity, gas, and subsidized prices of petroleum products. Look at the reasons for inflation, none of them are energy related. As a state, we have done what is expected of us to preserve social cohesion and prevent social fracture. Part of the funds that were invested, totaling 6.8 billion euros in five aid packages, we relied on European funds, and this is because we strengthened our international position. That's why it's important to appreciate where we are, because if we weren't - we'd have less. Look in the neighborhood how they cope with crises, much more difficult than us,” said the Prime Minister.

'We prevented a social fracture'

10 years ago, citizens expected stability, better wages, greater minority rights, greater media freedom, and freedom of movement from the EU. Today there are protests demanding higher wages, you are asked to decide who gets a higher salary. How was social fracture prevented?

“Of course, social fracture was prevented. Have you looked at the main cities of the EU in 2022. Where were the protests, where were the waves of unemployment? The Social Democratic Party (SDP) told us that there will be 400,000 unemployed in the spring? That didn't happen because we acted. A few months ago, waste company workers in Zagreb went to a protest. What was the media view like? They attacked people who are on strike for being cowards, and today Benčić is attacking me because she supports officials and employees in the judiciary. The policy of double standards that reigns in Croatia bursts from every comment. During our mandate, average salaries increased by 50 percent, median salaries by 45 percent, and minimum salaries by 70 percent. 15 days ago, we reached an agreement with all representative unions of public and state services for 220,000 of them, whose salaries will be increased this month. I would like to hear an objective analyst tell me when the salary for so many people increased by 100 euros from month to month. That never happened. The fundamental principle of the new Law on Salaries in the State and Public Service is approximately the same salary for approximately the same work. We must maintain the principle of fairness and a sense of reality,” said the Prime Minister.

'It is not realistic to increase salaries by 400 euros'

“We did a lot. I understand everyone's desire to have higher salaries, but that's what we do. In a month when most of them will get 100 euros more salary, they want an increase of 400 euros. Who can do that? It's just not realistic, where do you get the money from? Look at the time of Milanović's government, how much they grew - nothing. If there is any government that has an ear for social issues, that has brought the social dialogue with partners to the level of cooperation to jointly seek solutions... talk about the fact that we have large protests - we don't because we prevented a social fracture,” said Plenković.

One by one, a segment of society is constantly coming out, fighting for a higher salary, and the result is paralysis of the system.

“That's normal, it's not a matter of us being chilled like in the fridge. That is not true, what was paralyzed, was anyone denied medical assistance? I invite people I respect, and I am a lawyer, to have a little patience and to understand the context we are talking about. I have never seen a greater absurdity than those who will receive a higher salary from 100 to 60 euros, today strike against the same government that has increased the salary. We see a clear trend, according to the data the Minister of Justice received from the president of the courts, that the number of people on strike is decreasing. It is somewhere around 2300 people. I respect the right to strike, to stand up for one's rights, but here we are going with an increase and a clear direction that everyone will have higher salaries with the new law and new regulations,” Plenković said.

'We need to put pressure on those who unjustifiably raise prices'

On the one hand, there are salary increases, but on the other hand, the fact is that the prices have risen a lot and they are eating up that increase. We heard from Minister Primorac that he too is surprised by some of the prices that are in force.

“I am very dissatisfied that numerous actors on the Croatian market who were beneficiaries of all possible support in this time have decided to raise prices more than is realistic. I sometimes have the impression that everything that comes to Croatia came from Ukraine and is now more expensive, or it came from the area of Turkey where there was an earthquake, so everything is delayed or more expensive. That's not realistic. You have to apply pressure. We live in a market economy. They can resort to administrative measures that would limit prices at the time of a year ago. What will be the answer? Then they will take certain products off the shelves, we will be in the tourist season... The market economy is a system in which we need to exert pressure, pressure must be exerted by the consumer association, the media. Crises that last more than three years require a high degree of responsibility from everyone. We cannot act as if the state has not given anything, raise prices so that it will be even more difficult for people who are already living hard. Today we have the euro, everything is comparable. I do not form the price of services and products.

I am asking you because of one category in Croatia that is really helpless, namely pensioners. Few people turn to them, when you live on 400 euros a month, 700,000 people have pensions in that amount, it's scary when you receive the bills that month. On the other hand, there are also voters, if people would organize themselves, they could have their own prime minister.

We gave five large packages directly to pensioners, the largest part of the funds went to pensioners. Indexation of pensioners grew more than we thought, it is now, it seems to me, 8 percent. In total, we increased the average pension. Maybe not everyone sees that, but for 33 percent in our mandate. We had an agreement for family pensions, from which many pensioners benefited. Therefore, we do everything to make their position, which is demanding, better. Imagine if we let energy prices be as they should have been, then you would see what social fracture is. The vast majority of fellow citizens did not perceive this crisis that we have been going through for the last two years. It is a mega-scale crisis,” he pointed out.

"We achieve what we planned"

What can they expect from autumn, what kind of autumn do you expect? So, inflation is slowing down a bit, the projections for economic growth are as they are, they used to be worse, let's say ten years ago because of the economic crisis. Now they are improving a little, however, the fear of autumn and winter still remains. This is not only a fear of the citizens of Croatia, but the entire European Union also has fears, namely the decline in living standards, inflation, the war in Ukraine and climate change.

“A very simple way, let's stop Putin. Let's not lead a pro-Russian policy like some in Croatia. You have a shameful 54 representatives in Parliament who do not come, do not vote or abstain on whether Croatia will give military aid to Ukraine. So why did the price of energy products rise, I guess it didn't rise because of us, but because of the one who attacked the neighboring country, violated all the principles of international law, raised the prices of energy products sky high, suffered 11 rounds of sanctions, killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed the country,” he said .

“We had a drop in GDP in 2020, approximately 7 percent. The resilience of strength and toughness that we have shown in the speed of recovery is fascinating. We grew in 2021, the GDP grew by over 13 percent. The average at that time in the European Union was about 5 percent. We grew by over 6 percent in 2022. In that period, the EU average was about 3. Now we are in the projection of about 2.2 percent, and I think that if we are all wise together, we can grow even more. This means that Croatia has mechanisms to spin its economy in a positive way. So, all the indicators we are talking about are growing, they are not falling,” he explained.

“We are going into the fall very realistically based on huge achievements. In the last few years, Croatia joined the euro, Schengen, built the Pelješac Bridge, completed corridor 5C, now the second Učka tunnel will be broken through, and the highway to Sisak will be practically finished by May 1. As of today, we have the Trade Act we promised, which is 16 working Sundays. In my opinion, we are realizing what we planned and what we promised Croatian voters,” he added.

How satisfied are you with reconstruction since the arrival of Minister Bačić? Some of the containers have been removed, what will winter look like in Banovina?

“We managed to argue the secondary damage of the Petrinja earthquake to what happened in Zagreb and used all means. Investments in the reconstruction of public infrastructure will total around 3.3 billion euros. I am looking forward to the completion of these apartment buildings in Petrinja. In this way, we will solve the huge number of people in Petrinja who lost their homes in the earthquake. The activities submitted by Deputy Prime Minister Bačić, as well as other departments, when you present what has been done, then you get the whole picture of how much has been done. Container settlements will no longer exist in 2 and a half months. And everyone will have fixed accommodation, that's why the winter will be better than it was before,” Plenković pointed out.

When citizens are polled distrust in institutions in Croatia prevails. There is even more trust in European institutions: the connection between the Government, the State Attorney’s Office (DORH), the Office for Prevention of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK), you see the headlines yourself, the affairs that go on week after week, yet all of this somehow is at the government's expense.

“The judiciary is independent, DORH is independent, USKOK is independent. The European public prosecutor does not operate in all countries of the European Union, but operates in those that have made a political decision that the European prosecutor supervises the spending of European funds,” he said.

"Three major runways for the future development of Croatia"

Entering the second decade of membership in the European Union will be associated with a super-election year. You are not moving in the polls, 25-30 percent is not enough for a majority, let's say this is reflected in the election results?

“When we have more objective monitoring of everything we do, we would certainly have 10 percent more. Quick easy. I watch that game all the time. The game is not about someone getting more than us, but about limiting us so that we don't grow more. That's the whole game, what some would say, but that's the point. But well, the last time we were in the polls, we were continuously lowered before the elections, so the moment came when they calculated where we were, so we were at 37.5 percent. So, if we have been in government for 7 years, with a lot of crises, problems, Agrokor, shipyards, petrochemicals, earthquakes, floods, fires, corona, oil crises, energy crisis, gas, and electricity, there is nothing that did not happen, war in Ukraine, if we are at 30 percent, then I guess we are doing something well. At least for that third of people who think we are good. These others, maybe if what we do is presented a little better, maybe they would think we are good, but I can certainly say that I don't see any other direction that any other political option offers, for which I, say, as a citizen, would be to abstract now, you have some hyper smart idea for the development of Croatia. I don't see that. What direction is it? What would be an alternative to what we have done and where we are leading the country, what would be better? And that's why we're only going forward with confidence in the elections and on the basis of achievements and vision,” said the Prime Minister.

“And that's why I said, this is the time to make three big runways for the future development of Croatia. One is digital transformation, so our ICT sector today has 65,000 people. We used to have a council for digital transformation, people from the sector say, let's all come together, those in the sector, and we as a state do more so that we can increase the number of employees in the ICT sector. They have the highest salaries. These are the jobs of the future. It's artificial intelligence, it's the Internet of Things, it's keeping pace with what's most advanced in the world today to be competitive. The second runway is sustainable development, so climate change. Green transition, abandonment of fossil fuels, investment in renewable energy sources. The second runway, here according to the UN sustainable development goals, Croatia is on the scale of 166 countries, according to those 17 goals from a few years ago to the UN, you know which one? It means that we are doing something solid and good, even from a global perspective. And the third thing, which in my opinion is the core of the survival of the Croatian people, is demographic revitalization,” said Prime Minister Plenković.

Why do we not know when the parliamentary elections will be?

“They will be on time, nothing is being weighed,” he said at the end.

Source: HRT