ZAGREB, March 25, 2018 – The fundamental items of Živi Zid’s programme will be the fight against corruption, the judiciary and a pension reform, the opposition party’s president Ivan Vilibor Sinčić said on Saturday after a meeting of the party presidency.
The party will present its amended programme on April 29. Sinčić said the party would present its government for the next election, a group of experts who would carry out its policies when it came to power. He said the programme was aimed at completely changing the situation in Croatia and its biggest problems, the fight against corruption and the judiciary, “which doesn’t function at all.”
“European statistics show that 94% of Croatian citizens think Croatia is a corrupt country, while only 4% of those citizens would report corruption,” he said, calling the figures scandalous. He said it was necessary to change the approach to the fight against corruption, notably by protecting whistle blowers and changing the perception of them. “They are heroes who should be rewarded and not someone who should be silenced.”
Sinčić went on to say that the announced pension system reform was disastrous and unfair as it raised the retirement age to 67 at a time when Croatia had a high jobless rate. “Another problem is that citizens who now pay into the second pillar will get the money only if they live up to be 93.” He said Živi Zid wanted to introduce a national minimum pension, given pensioners’ exceptionally low standard of living.
Sinčić would not say if the party would vote for the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in parliament.
As for Standard & Poor’s latest upgrade of Croatia’s credit rating, he said, “Looking at the general situation, our debt keeps growing. With the current growth, we can’t even pay interest, and Croatia won’t have any use of this rating upgrade.”
