Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday the government would present on Tuesday new measures to help citizens who were the most vulnerable due to the coronavirus crisis.

The measures should be in force from October 1 until the end of the year, he told the press when asked about today’s expiry of a moratorium on enforcement proceedings.

He said Finance Minister Zdravko Maric and Justice Minister Ivan Malenica explained all the circumstances today as well as the agreement reached with notaries public about those proceedings taking place in stages.

He added, however, that obligations must be fulfilled.

We have shown how much we have done to retain jobs in the private sector. The government has done everything so that citizens receive their pay. We even succeeded in having a solid tourist season, keeping optimistic credit rating trends and an optimistic look towards euro area, said Plenkovic.

If circumstances change, we will consider other ways as well. The message is clear, we must fulfill the obligations we take, and there are protected accounts with three-thirds of the income. It’s necessary to look at this situation realistically, he added.

Enforcement proceedings will be carried out in three stages, on October 19, November 20 and on January 20, while the motions for enforcement received until the end of June will be carried out as of tomorrow.

The six-month moratorium on the proceedings expired today. According to available data, citizens owe the most to financial institutions, while the most frequent are debts for telecom services.

In terms of the mount, citizens owe the most to banks for loans and credit card bills. The debt to the financial sector accounts for 35% of all debts due, whereas the debt to telecom creditors accounts for less than 5%. Debts for water, gas and electricity bills account for 1.6% of the total debt, with debts for electricity and gas bills accounting for 0.6% and those for water 1%.

During the moratorium, notaries public received 170,000 motions for enforcement, with a majority pertaining to citizens’ debts for water, gas, electricity and phone bills.