ZAGREB, February 25, 2020 – The taxpayers’ association Lipa is against a ban on Sunday work because it would have a negative impact on the economy, the association’s representatives said at a news conference on Tuesday, presenting Lipa’s Competitiveness Barometer.
By presenting the Competitiveness Barometer the association wants to promote the process of adoption of decisions on economic policies in Croatia.
Lipa president Davor Huić said that Croatia’s long-term growth potential was below one percent and that some of the reasons were the inefficiency of the public sector, high taxes, and a poor business climate.
“There is no strong focus on economic growth, many governments do not work on that at all,” he said.
Huić noted that emigration would be stopped if Croatia were to reach 80% of the EU average standard of living.
“Croatia has been lagging behind EU member states that joined the bloc in 2005 for 15 years. We responded wrongly to the crisis in the period between 2009 and 2014. Other countries adapted to it much better. Our goal must be to reach 80% of the EU average standard of living by 2030. This and any future government will have to work for that to happen,” he said.
While Croatia is at 60% of the average EU standard of living, countries that joined the EU in 2004 are at 75%, Huić said, noting that the country’s economy growing at a rate of one percent would keep motivating people to emigrate and make Croatia a poor country.
One of the problems is that too few people work, he said.
A professor of political economy at the Zagreb Faculty of Political Science, Kristijan Kotarski, believes that restricting Sunday work would have a negative impact on Croatia’s position in the global competitiveness ranking.
It could redirect consumption onto mostly foreign-owned online platforms, as well as cause a part of turnover to spill over to neighbouring countries, he said.
Kotarski also mentioned the significant impact of tourism and commerce on the national economy, noting that Croatia’s economy was more dependent on commerce than other EU countries.
As for planned changes to the Commerce Act that would introduce restrictions on Sunday work and allow shops to work 8 to 12 Sundays a year, he said that they would only lead to confusion among domestic and foreign consumers.
He recalled that two bans on Sunday work had already been introduced but were abolished by the Constitutional Court as well as that Hungary in 2015 banned Sunday work, only to reintroduce it in 2016.
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