Proposed law on personal assistants enters into its first reading in parliament

The Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Minister presented the proposed legislation in parliament on Thursday, noting that through the bill this service will become a permanent legal right, and the number of end users will be expanded, as will allocations earmarked for that purpose.

Opening Thursday's cabinet session Prime Minister Andrej Plenković commented on government's proposed Law on Personal Assistants, saying that this was a long-awaited and major reform that is being implemented in cooperation with a number of civil associations: "For this purpose we currently set aside some twenty million euros for roughly four thousand end users. By adopting this law we will raise that to fourteen thousand and one hundred end users and one hundred and fifty-six million euros. The vast majority of associations that deal with this subject matter are more than happy with this draft law, its content and everything it will do to further develop this sector."

The Law on Personal Assistants was also presented in parliament today by Labour and Pension System, Family and Social Policy Minister Marin Piletić, who that the goal of the law is to ensure that people with disabilities and children with developmental disabilities can better integrate into society and live a dignified life. However, the opposition criticized the bill noting among other things that care-giver parents will not have the right to a personal assistant. SDP MP Martina Vlašić Iljkić: "Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that the ministry has been working on this law for years, the result is the harassing of the end users and their families. There's talk of who will be able to get an assistant but not about those who will lose that right, specifically those who have parent care-givers."

Minister Piletić responded however, that this issue would soon be addressed: "That will be in your hands by the second reading, in which we will broaden the number of people who will have a personal assistant and whose parents will have care-giver status from five hundred and seventy to a minimum of two thousand."

Source: HRT