ZAGREB, May 24, 2018 – The European Commission on Wednesday gave Croatia four recommendations which Zagreb is expected to carry out this and next year and which are mostly the same as those given in 2017.
Last year, the European Commission gave Croatia five recommendations and this year it reduced their number to four, although there are not many changes in the content.
In the first recommendation, Croatia is required to strengthen its fiscal framework and introduce real estate taxes, based on the value of the real estate.
In the second recommendation, Croatia is expected to discourage early retirement, accelerate the transition to the higher statutory retirement age, and align pension provisions for specific categories with the rules of the general scheme.
In the third recommendation, Croatia is expected to reduce the fragmentation and improve the functional distribution of competencies in public administration. In consultation with social partners, it is expected to harmonise the wage-setting frameworks across the public administration and public services.
In the fourth recommendation, Croatia is expected to improve corporate governance in the state-owned enterprise sector and speed up the divestment of state-owned enterprises and inactive state assets.
Croatia is also expected to significantly reduce the burden on businesses stemming from costs of regulation and from administrative burdens; to remove regulatory restrictions hampering access to and the practice of regulated professions and professional and business services; and to improve the quality and efficiency of the justice system, in particular by reducing the duration of civil and commercial cases.
The recommendations are part of the spring package of the European Semester which the Commission publishes each year in May.
