Matija Kroflin, Secretary General of the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education, criticized the Government's decision to increase veterans' pensions on the show 'Novi dan', highlighting inconsistencies in economic policy and neglect of other sectors.
Matija Kroflin, Secretary General of the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education, sharply commented on Monday on Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's announcement to increase veterans' pensions. Appearing on the show 'Novi dan' with host Hanan Nanić, Kroflin argued that the Government's move is inconsistent with earlier messages about the need to 'cool' the economy and reveals double standards towards different groups of citizens.
Kroflin reminded that Finance Minister Tomislav Ćorić had recently been assuring the public that it was necessary to cool the economy to help citizens cope with inflation. At the same time, the abolition of the pension tax was announced, freeing up 180 million euros for pensioners. "How can you cool the economy if, on the other hand, you increase the amount of money for a specific category of citizens in this country, thereby raising their purchasing power? These are contradictory messages," Kroflin said for N1. He also questioned the fairness of reducing taxes for those with the highest pensions. "I'm not saying that the pension tax shouldn't have been reduced; for some people it should have been. But for pensions of 2,500 or 3,000 euros, the tax should not have been reduced," the unionist explained.
The Government proposes increasing veterans' pensions for 201,304 beneficiaries, which covers almost 76 percent of veterans and their family members who are retired. The changes would apply from January 1, 2027, and the annual cost to the state budget is estimated at 88.5 million euros.
The unionist is not against increasing veterans' pensions if economic possibilities exist, but he believes that criteria must be equal for everyone. "As a union, we are not against increasing the rights of all citizens of this country, but it must be coherent, uniform, fair, based on real needs," he emphasized. Kroflin also pointed out the illogicality in the treatment of public sector employees, whose salaries are growing twice as slowly as average salaries in the economy. "You can't then say to employees for whom the Government is responsible: 'Due to inflation, we have nothing for a base adjustment this year; we must lower your real wages.' And then, when someone politically provokes you and enters your voter base, you suddenly find almost 100 million euros. That doesn't add up," he stated.
Kroflin specifically highlighted the issue of university lecturers, who throughout their careers can only advance one step, unlike other teaching positions that have two levels of advancement. The union has been trying to point out this problem to the Ministry for six months. "These are not new positions or new hires; it's just a part of the salary for someone who should advance during their career. There are few such people, around two hundred at most, who could eventually meet the conditions for advancing to the third step. It's not a new salary, but an increase of 10 to 15 percent, negligible money. There's no money for that, but when the Prime Minister is provoked, 100 million euros is found. That's not fair," Kroflin said.
In Kroflin's opinion, the announcement of increasing veterans' pensions is directly linked to political pressure following the initiatives of the Možemo party in the Parliament. "That is a voter base that is sacred to the HDZ. The Prime Minister was bothered by it, so he repackaged what was said in the Parliament to present to that part of the population that he is the one who cares about them," he stated.
He also commented on the Government's anti-inflation package, calling it PR measures without real capacity to control inflation. "The drop in inflation we see did not come because of these measures. These measures were PR measures because Plenković is bothered by inflation, but he lacks adequate instruments to control it, and he had to do something," Kroflin said.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Prime Minister Plenković announced on social media that the Government would move to weekly fuel price responses and that prices of all five energy sources would be lower: eurosuper by 6 euro cents per liter, eurodiesel by 4, blue diesel by 3, and gas in tanks and bottles by 8 euro cents.
