Robert Čulina warns that behind the 88 million euros in the budget lies an average increase of only 36 euros per month, while the claim of covering 76 percent of veterans deliberately distorts the real situation.
The announcements about increases in veteran pensions were presented to the public through impressive figures and million-euro amounts, but Robert Čulina, in his post on the portal Nacionalno Plus, warns that the reality is far more modest. While authorities highlight the secured 88 million euros in the budget, the actual calculation shows that the average increase per pensioner amounts to just 36 euros per month.
"When authorities present the figure of eighty-eight million euros secured in the budget for veteran pensions in front of the cameras, the public is deliberately given the impression that money is being handed out generously," Čulina stated in his post. "However, when that total amount is divided among the two hundred and one thousand pensioners who are supposed to receive it, the bare and disheartening average comes to just thirty-six euros per month."
Čulina particularly challenges the claim that the changes will cover as much as 76 percent of the veteran population. If 201 thousand people constitute 76 percent, simple math leads to the conclusion that Croatia has only 264 thousand veterans. "The question arises as to where the remaining two hundred and forty thousand people have disappeared in this calculation, if the official Registry contains over half a million names," Čulina points out.
The explanation lies in how statistics are used. "The system here deliberately conflates terms and uses statistics to hide terrible facts," Čulina warns. The two hundred and one thousand beneficiaries do not constitute 76 percent of the total veteran population, but only 76 percent of those who are alive today and already receiving pensions.
Since the end of the war, over 125 thousand veterans have passed away. "This is a quarter of the entire population taken by war stress, severe illnesses, and suicides, who never lived to see their old-age pensions or these legislative changes," Čulina states. Many of them left behind families who receive survivor pensions, but those amounts are often frozen and insufficient for a dignified life.
"For the state treasury, these deceased individuals have, unfortunately, become just a long-crossed-off item and a saving," Čulina adds. At the same time, more than 130 thousand veterans continue to work daily and contribute to the state budget, yet they will not receive any compensation until they reach retirement age.
The introduction of supplements of three euros per month of combat sector creates a clear division among beneficiaries. While a smaller group of people who combine the return of earlier pension reductions with three or four years of frontline service will receive a more tangible amount, the vast majority of comrades with war paths ranging from a few months to a year will receive between nine and thirty-six euros.
"That is an amount that today barely covers a modest grocery basket and serves only as media makeup to create the illusion of great care," Čulina concludes. "The state uses these minor increases for the majority to justify the overall figure in millions, while the public is left with a false impression that all veterans are taking home huge sums. This is pure mathematical and political manipulation against which people are rightly protesting."
