Minister Says Gov't Will Propose that Most Sundays be Non-Working Days
ZAGREB, September 21, 2020 - Labour, Pension System, Family Affairs and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrovic said on Monday that government officials would propose at a meeting to be held with trade unions later in the day that most Sundays be non-working Sundays while some would be working days.
The meeting to be held with trade unions is aimed at determining unions' expectations, the minister said.
"Our general view is that Sunday should be a non-working day but aside from that worldview... parameter, we must also take account of economic parameters and be aware of the situation we are in and try to make a compromise," Aladrovic said after the signing of an agreement on the establishment of a national council for pensioners and elderly persons.
The minister noted that if the government and unions managed to bring their views closer, he expected "a reasonable solution to be reached by the end of the year."
He said it was possible to find a solution also in the context of previous Constitutional Court rulings which abolished bans on Sunday trading.
Asked about doctors and nurses who have not been paid for overtime work, he said that the matter was not within his remit and therefore he could not comment on it but that "considering the government's latest decisions, there should be no problems with payment".
Asked about the problem of Brodotrogir dock workers who have not received their wages for two months, he said that the matter was being dealt with by the Economy Ministry and that he expected a more concrete solution to be found.
"There is the Agency for the Settlement of Workers' Claims, and we will turn to it if necessary," he said.
He described as tendentious President Zoran Milanovic's statement that it was not clear to him why JANAF oil pipeline operator CEO Dragan Kovacevic and businessman Kreso Petek had not been arrested at the moment when Petek gave a HRK 1.96 million bribe to Kovacevic, when police had recordings of the event.
"That's probably his own position. We believe in state institutions and believe they know what they are doing and that what they did made sense," Aladrovic said.
For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily.
Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages
Economy Minister Says Gov't To Propose That Croatia Has 14 Trading Sundays
ZAGREB, May 23, 2020 - Economy Minister Darko Horvat has said that following analysis on the profitability of open shops on Sunday, the government will propose that 14 Sundays in a year will be working days and employers will choose on which 14 Sundays they will open their shops.
This proposal of 14 Sundays in a year when shops can be open is the result of an analysis which has been conducted for more than two years and also of a high amount of consensus reached with social partners and the segments of the public interested in this matter, said Minister Horvat in the northern city of Cakovec on Saturday.
Also, the position of the chambers of commerce and trades as well as a great number of members of the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) is that they agree that 14 Sundays are profitable, while working on other Sundays is not profitable, he added.
The pertaining changes of the relevant legislation on trading will be put for public consultation. as soon as epidemiologists give a green-light and rescind their ban on trading Sundays, imposed for health safety reasons.
Asked by the press how all that could be regulated during tourist seasons, Minister Horvat said that the trade sector in the regions where tourism is the main business activity also considered that working on 14 Sundays brought a profit.
He said that being aware of the fact that trading on Fridays, Saturdays and on Mondays each, made up 16% of the total volume of trading, while trading Sunday contributed with 8% to that volume, then there is "a clear economic connotation" why Sunday should be non-trading.
In addition, the last three months have shown that trading on Fridays, Saturday, and Mondays can offset the non-working Sundays, Horvat said, refuting claims that the latest proposal was made for the sake of campaigning before the July 5 parliamentary elections.
As for the criticism made by Social Democrat leader Davor Bernardic that Prime Minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenkovic was indecisive whether to have working or non-working Sundays, Horvat replied that he had not heard any constructive proposal from Bernardic.
Responding to Bernadic's claims that a vote for HDZ is a vote for corruption, Horvat said that many more members and officials from the ranks of the SDP were convicted of corruption.
He went on to say that in the last three years, this government had stabilized public finances, increased the ability of the Croatian economy to produce added value, boosted exports and made a budget surplus, which proved that this government could control well the budgetary money and invest it where it was most needed.
