Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric, and Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic unveiled on Friday the government's plan to help solve the problem of more than 325,000 Croatians whose bank accounts have been frozen due to unpaid debts.
“I want to send a clear message that orderly payment of debts is a standard that must be respected. That’s the only way to ensure the normal way of doing business. Without respecting those principles, there is no rule of law,” Plenkovic said, but called for solidarity “to be raised to a higher level.”
Plenkovic continued to present the government’s plan, which includes proposals for three new bills to deal with the problem.
The bill on writing off debts would involve one-time writing off of debt to Croatian citizens whose accounts had been blocked by state creditors, up to the amount of 10,000 kuna (€1,348), in a measure thought to help some 11,000 people.
The bill on seizures of financial means aims to discourage court ordered seizures of bank accounts that had not been successfully collected for years. This would involve a provision for the state’s Financial Agency to close the case if the debt has not been collected within a three-year time frame.
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“This measure would not write off any debts, but it would help 71,000 people, and, combined with the first bill, it would result in the reduction of the total amount of debt by 32 billion kuna (€4.3 billion),” Plenkovic said.
The third measure is the new bill on consumer bankruptcy, which is designed to simplify bankruptcy procedures for individuals. The bill aims to help people with debts where the principal is no more than 20,000 kuna (€2,695) and who have had their accounts frozen for more than three years. This would help some 80,000 people.