Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Sunday that he respected every referendum initiative and that parliament would decide on the union-led referendum initiative '67 is too much' after examining the signatures gathered for a referendum petition.

The initiative’s organisers announced at a midnight press conference that they had gathered over 600,000 signatures for a referendum against the statutory retirement age being raised to 67.

“I respect every referendum initiative, including this one. Parliament will decide on this matter after the signatures have been presented,” Plenkovic told reporters in Zagreb.

Asked if Parliament would ask the Constitutional Court to assess whether the referendum question was in line with the Constitution, the prime minister said that this would be decided by Parliament.

Opposition SDP and Most parties expressed strong support to the union-led initiative aimed at the pension system reform.