Business

GONG Calls for Making Public List of Companies Granted Subsidies

By 14 April 2020

ZAGREB, April 14, 2020 - The GONG election monitoring NGO on Tuesday called on the Croatian government to publish on a monthly basis a list of employers covered by the COVID-19 aid scheme, the total amount of subsidies and the number of workers receiving support, saying that this was the best safeguard against the possible misuse of funds.

"The public has to know who the employers are that are receiving subsidies worth billions of kuna under the job retention scheme during the coronavirus pandemic. In these extraordinary circumstances it is certainly important to protect jobs, but also to insist on transparency in order to preserve citizens' confidence in government decisions," GONG underscored in its press release.

The public has the right to know which companies have been granted subsidies and how the state budget is being spent, GONG said, adding that in the present time of a pandemic the government is especially required to demonstrate competency, but that transparency, necessary to earn trust of citizens, is no less important.

They also reiterated that in their requests for preserving democracy they had called for making public in one place a list of all national and local measures as the public should know which body has introduced them and on the basis of which legislation.

"In that way everyone will have a clearer picture of what is happening with their rights and freedoms during this crisis," GONG said.

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