Croatian Labour Minister, Marko Pavic, on Tuesday said that he is willing to continue negotiations with unions on the upcoming pension reform, inviting them to come to the table for an additional rounds of talks. Pavic sent the public-sector unions a letter to that effect, hoping that they would "once again sit at the negotiation table."

Asked whether the government was prepared to make some concessions, Pavic told reporters that the package of pension reform laws “is being put up for debate in parliament, and there may still be some amendments to improve it, however, the reform is nearing completion”.

“The package was fleshed out in cooperation with coalition partners and many stakeholders. We talked with the finance industry, social partners, and the interested public. We conducted intensive consultations over the past four months. For us, it is essential to achieve increased pensions, as well as sustainable public finances, and that not a single group of current or future pensioners is discriminated against,” Pavic added.

Asked whether the government was considering establishing a separate fund for paying out the so-called privileged pensions which aren’t financed based on working life and which are now paid out in line with special regulations, Pavic said that those pensions would be reviewed, adding that there are still 13,000 recipients of WWII veterans’ pensions.

He added that the current pension system posts an annual deficit of 17 billion kuna (€2.3 billion) and that the second privately-managed pension pillar costs 6 billion (€808 million).

“The goal of the pension reform is to increase pensions, and to ensure long-term sustainability in public finances, and to avoid having any group of pensioners being discriminated against. Without the reform, pensions for citizens who were born after 1962, and would be retiring next year, would have be lower by 600-700 kuna (€80-94),” Pavic said.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.