The parliamentary election will be held when the epidemiological situation permits, says HDZ chairman Bacic

This year's parliamentary elections will be held when the epidemiological situation permits, the chairman of the parliamentary group of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Branko Bacic, said on Tuesday, adding that there is a small difference in whether they will be held in late June, in July or in August.
Chairman of the parliamentary group of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Branko Bacic
 Goran Mehkek / CROPIX

"We want the epidemiological conditions to be appropriate for holding parliamentary elections. When such conditions are met, we will certainly hold the elections. Whether that will be at the end of June, in July or in August is, I think, a very small difference," Bacic told reporters after a meeting of the ruling coalition.

He said that the meeting primarily focused on the government's package of economic measures for May, which envisage cuts to parafiscal charges.

"We discussed a budget revision so that we can cover the economic measures financed from the state budget and align them with the latest government measures and plans," Bacic said.

He said that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic had informed the coalition partners about his talks with the unions of state administration and public sector employees, and that the nomination of a new attorney-general would be in parliament this week.

"Our friends from the ruling coalition fully agreed with us and supported what the prime minister presented," Bacic said.

Maric: HRK 1.55 million paid out in aid in one month

Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said that the aid paid out to businesses for a portion of wages was ensured through budget reallocations, and that the idea now was for this to be a separate heading in the budget.

He said that HRK 1.55 million had been paid out in one month, and that this amount would be even higher this month because the aid had been raised from HRK 3,250 to 4,000 per employee.

As for the , Maric said that his task was to inform the coalition partners about the situation with the budget and the economy. He said that the initial relaxation measures had led to a 22% increase in the amount of fiscal receipts compared with the previous week.

"But this is still 16% less than in the previous years. If we look at April alone, the amount was over 40% lower. The relaxation measures, as has been expected, are having a positive effect on the economy, but we are still far from last year's levels," Maric said.

Electoral Commission preparing

The State Electoral Commission (DIP) is preparing for parliamentary elections while it is not clear yet how the elections will be implemented.

DIP spokesman Slaven Hojski said that the commission in charge of parliamentary elections had begun to prepare for them as soon as the presidential election was concluded. Our preparations include preparing a draft of compulsory instructions and forms, working on applications to be used by the commission, and so on, Hojski told Hina.

Election procedures to be organised in cooperation with epidemiologists The date of the parliamentary election has still not been decided but there has been speculation that it could be held in the first half of July, on 5 or 12 July. Earlier, Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Coric confirmed that he had been appointed the Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) election platform coordinator, a hint that the election date could be decided soon.

Parliament Speaker Goran Jandrokovic, who is the HDZ secretary-general, has been appointed the coordinator of the HDZ's election campaign. Even though the epidemiological situation in Croatia is good, there is no knowing what the situation will be like in July, what restrictive measures may be in force and what the election could look like. "DIP will decide on procedures and polling stations and the like once the election is called, and it will do so in cooperation with epidemiological services," Hojski said. There are no clear instructions on protective measures for thousands of people sitting in election committees either, Hojski added. However, if it proves to be necessary, the state will cover the additional costs of supplying protective equipment like masks, gloves and so on.

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19. travanj 2024 17:58