Roundtable Discussion: Croatia Urgently Needs Demographic Revitalisation Strategy
ZAGREB, 26 April 2022 - Croatia urgently needs a national demographic revitalisation strategy that will be binding on all future governments, heard a round table organised by the Social Democrats parliamentary group on Tuesday.
This is a national issue above party politics that requires a consensus, and action plans as part of a 10-year national demographic revitalisation strategy should be mandatory for all future governments, it was said at the round table organised in cooperation with the Department for Demography and Croatian Expatriate Community at the Faculty of Croatian Studies.
"Now is the last moment for resolute social action to slow down and halt the negative trends," the group's whip, Ivana Posavec Krivec, said.
The Social Democrats recalled the latest preliminary results of the population census, which they described as alarming.
"Croatia has lost 9.25% of its population in 10 years and now has 3,888,529 residents. In addition to the population decline, caused by the low birth rate and emigration, we are among the oldest European nations," she said.
Deputy Parliament Speaker Davorko Vidović said the key problem was "the lack of political will and inability of the political elite" to define a broader project and broader vision of where Croatia should be in 20 or 30 years' time.
"We lack a strategic document and key vision so it is no wonder we don't have a solution for individual areas such as demography," he added.
Professor Anđelko Akrap from the Demographics Department at the Faculty of Economics said that "Croatia has never implemented a demographic policy which costs, just like any other production."
Akrap: Only Croatia, Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria have a negative natural increase rate
"Only Croatia, Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria have a negative natural increase rate and negative net migration, other countries only have emigration," he said, noting that the negative trends would impact GDP growth.
Professor Tado Jurić of the Croatian Catholic University underscored that not one other EU member state apart from Croatia had experienced a 10% population decrease in eight years.
He noted that economic reasons were not the only reasons why people are emigrating.
"Surveys have shown that lack of security and injustice are the main reasons why people emigrate," he said.
The only way Croatia can resolve its demographic problem is with immigration. We need positive population measures. Classic demographic measures are useless if they are not accompanied by a resolute fight against corruption and nepotism, concluded Jurić.
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Working From Home Erases Line Between Working Hours and Private Time - Round Table
ZAGREB, October 5, 2020 - The Bridge party organised a round table on Monday on the topic "Working from Home: Do we have the right of disconnect", which discussed amendments to the Labour Act due to the coronavirus, where a lot of people work from home and the line between working hours and private time disappears.
The discussion was organised following announcements that changes would be made to the Labour Act. A lot of workers work from home due to the coronaviurs situation and in many cases have to work more and need to be available all the time.
"It has been seen in practice that work from home often leads to an overlap between working hours and private time and that the fine line is being moved or erased completely," president of the Independent Croatian Unions, Kresimir Sever, said.
He explained that an employee's working hours with an employer are clearly defined, but if that employee starts working from home, a good portion of employers abuse that and expect employees to work a lot more, leaving less time for leisure activities.
"Until such time that that system is put in order, we cannot talk about real remote work," said Sever.
He added that times of crises are not a good time to amend laws.
"Laws should not be adapted to crisis situations, but should be regulated during normal times, emphasising that a crisis may occur," he said.
He warned that the crisis situation is being exploited to introduce a more flexible labour system in Croatia which is unacceptable for the unions, and all under the guise that remote work has to be regulated.
"The Labour Act is extremely flexible in Croatia. It allows employers a wide spectrum to arrange labour relations. The thing that would provide real flexibility is collective bargaining and there is very little of that in Croatia," Sever believes.
Viktor Gotovac from the Labour and Social Law Department at the Faculty of Law does not agree that the law is good as it does not regulate remote working.
"That means that the law is not good. We have student contracts, employing pensioners, author's contracts, everything just not to change the law... I worked form home after the earthquake and my employer immediately cut off my travel allowance, but I was not paid for using my own premises, resources," Gotovac underlined.
He did not agree that the coronavirus caused the problem but rather pointed out what needs to be changed for a better legislative framework which would regulate wages, working hours and leave.
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