ZAGREB, April 6, 2020 – Croatian lawmakers on Monday again appealed to the government to help local agricultural producers and vulnerable social groups affected by the coronavirus crisis.
Mladen Mađer of the Work and Solidarity Party called on the government to urgently arrange a meeting with retail chains and agree purchases of local produce. He also called for urgent reopening of farm produce markets and for greater flexibility in issuing passes so that farmers can work their land.
“We must allow small family farms to sell their produce or otherwise we will destroy the little production that we have,” Mađer said.
Tomislav Panenić of the Independent Youth List also appealed to the government to help agricultural producers and small family farms, saying that online sales would not solve their problems. “The Ministry of Agriculture should be more efficient because amending just one law is not enough,” he said.
Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić recalled that his party had drawn up a third package of 10 measures worth HRK 1.7 billion (€224m) to alleviate the consequences of the crisis for more than a million socially vulnerable people.
“In just several weeks of the crisis 20,000 have been laid off and another 400,000 fear losing their jobs,” Bernardic warned.
Bozo Petrov of the Bridge party also proposed measures to protect the socially most vulnerable citizens, those with blocked bank accounts, the unemployed and seasonal workers. He called for a moratorium on loan repayments and enforcement proceedings. “If everyone else is entitled to a break, then they are too,” he said.
Hrvoje Zekanović of the Croatian Sovereigntists party said that the successful establishment of the e-pass system had shown that electronic voting could be organised as well. “Now we can see that it can be done very quickly and easily,” he said.
Goran Beus Richembergh, speaking on behalf of the Civic Liberal Alliance (GLAS) and Croatian Pensioners’ Party (HSU) group, said that the present situation should not be allowed to be used for stigmatising people and spreading hatred, stressing the importance of preserving the democratic institutions.
More coronavirus news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
