Prime Minister presents annual report to parliament

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković submitted his annual report to Croatian Parliament today. For the second time in his third term and the ninth time since becoming Prime Minister, Plenković appeared before parliament to present the successes of his government in the past period and outline plans for the future. The opposition, of course, disagreed with the Prime Minister on many points.

In his hour-long speech, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković addressed many topics. He highlighted inflation and affordable housing for young people as the biggest problems in the country, and in the section on foreign policy, he singled out support for Ukraine and the need to expand the Union to the Western Balkans. He also welcomed the Middle East peace plan.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that Croatia is not guided by pessimism but by trust and responsibility. He then presented data on employment today and at the beginning of his mandate.

“When we began in 2016, the ratio of employed to unemployed was four employed people for every unemployed one. Today, nine years later there are 23 employed people for every unemployed person,” he said.

He then commented on salaries and inflation.

“The cumulative inflation over the period of our mandates was around 35 percent, in nine years, 35. Data on salary growth are simpler, from 2016 the minimum gross salary increased by 134 percent, the average salary by 92 percent, the median salary by 90 percent, and the average pension by 93 percent. Is that enough? It is not, but the trend of higher incomes; salaries and pensions, is very clear, said the prime minister.

He also addressed the fight against corruption as one of the scourges of every society, including Croatia.

“Corruption has a name and last name and we have the full support of the Office for Prevention of Corruption, the State Attorney's Office, the European Prosecutor's Office as well as the Croatian police to uncover all perpetrators and to bring them to justice,” noted Plenković.

“The Croatian economy has been growing for 18 consecutive quarters, it is among the fastest growing in the European Union,” he continued

“The projection this year, after we were second in the EU last year with 3.9, is for it to be around 3.3 percent. Our goal by the end of this mandate is to surpass eighty percent of average development,” he added.

“Today's circumstances do not guarantee peace and security,” he said.

“The Russian aggression against Ukraine, wars in the Middle East and Africa, growing migration pressures, energy and climate crises and cybernetic threats deeply change the circumstances in which we are acting,” said Prime Minister Plenković.

“The government does not believe that it has solved all problems,” said Plenković.

“The government does not think everything it is doing is ideal, but we believe that every day we are trying and fighting for Croatians and all that live in Croatia to live better and for our economy to be stronger and more resilient. Whether we are successful in this or not is something that in the end our citizens decide at elections,” noted the leader of Croatia’s government.

He expects that Croatia will become a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development next year, and he also announced that his Government will pass a Law by the end of its mandate on the elderly in order to comprehensively regulate the rights and services for the elderly.

Source: HRT