ZAGREB, October 10, 2018 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković told the national parliament on Wednesday that the reforms which his cabinet was conducting were already giving concrete results.
“We are aware that in some sectors results are quicker and that elsewhere more time is needed, and it is evident that the reforms we are carrying out are producing concrete results on the economic, political and social level,” Plenković said while submitting the annual report on the second year of the term of his cabinet.
The report presented by the prime minister consists of four chapters: strengthening the rule of law; more competitive economy and more even development; protection of the family and of a tolerant and equitable society; and a stronger and safer Croatia in Europe and the world.
During the second year of its term, this government ensured political and economic stability, and it continued implementing changes that make the lives of the Croatians better, the prime minister said. “Building a more organised society and a stimulating economic environment is more important now than ever before and reforms and committed work can help us catch up with EU countries that entered the Union a decade before us,” he said.
Plenković recalled the circumstances when his cabinet took office in mid-October 2016: the society was divided, there was political instability, unemployment was high, demographic trends were negative, there was a large number of people with blocked bank accounts, and a large-scale crisis in the debt-laden Agrokor company erupted.
Plenković said that his government was trying to achieve economic growth based on structural changes, investments and a responsible fiscal policy. “In other words, we must work better, invest more and manage our budget more prudently.”
Despite the fact that it is working in an atmosphere of pessimism and defeatism, the government aims to restore optimism through committed work and gradual transformation of society, he added.
Plenković expressed satisfaction that the eight parliamentary deputies that represent ethnic minorities support his cabinet and that operational programmes for minorities are being implemented in partnership with them.
The government is enhancing minority rights despite the fact that those rights are being increasingly questioned, he said.
Initiatives that aim to diminish minority rights are undermining the democratic standards we have achieved and the government is opposed to that, he said.
