The Bridge (Most) party' leader Bozo Petrov said on Saturday that a draft bill of amendments to the law on contributions on salaries was an unbearable blow to entrepreneurs in Croatia.

“I cannot see any rational explanation of such move of the government,” Petrov said at a news conference in Split, describing the bill as shameful.

“This bill will literally eliminate small and medium-sized entrepreneurs as their contributions are to be doubled by 100%,” Petrov said.

Bridge official Ante Cikotic said that such legislation would make it more difficult for startups to do business in the first year of their existence.

Cikotic said that this Opposition parliamentary party was drawing up a legislative solution that would free startups of taxes.

Bridge accuses the government of “unambitious complication of the tax system that is already very complex.”

The Croatian People’s Party (HNS), a junior partner in the ruling coalition, on Saturday voiced its criticism against the proposal for increasing the minimum salary level of executives in companies whereby contributions paid from gross mandatory salaries will also rise.

The HNS says it will give its proposals regarding this bill which, it says, encourages an anti-entrepreneurial climate.