Referendum sought on retirement

ZAGREB: The three largest trade unions in Croatia presented this week an agreement on collecting signatures for a referendum on a new law extending the retirement age from 65 to 67.

The Alliance of Independent Trade Unions of Croatia, the Independent Croatian Trade Union and the Association of Croatian Trade Unions initiated “Initiative 67 is too much” and from April27 they will begin collecting signatures throughout Croatia for the referendum.

According to the law, it is necessary for a referendum to get signatures from 10% of voters, which means 374740 signatures in Croatia.

The unions’ proposal is to ask the citizens whether they agree with a new law according to which the current Pension Insurance Act will change and the retirement age will be set at 67 in 2028.

The unions demand that the age limit for retirement remains the same as until now, at 65 years, with at least 10 years of work experience.

“Croatians can not work up to 67 years, and penalties for early retirement are too high,” said Kresimir Sever, the president of the Independent Trade Unions of Croatia.

There are more than 1.23 million pensioners in Croatia, while the average monthly pension is 2 317 kuna (R5 100).

The ratio of the number of retired to employed citizens is 1:1.21.