Zagreb Deputy Mayor Danijela Dolenec said on Tuesday that after a public consultation, the city would not change the proposed decision to suspend applications for grants for stay-at-home parents from 6 September until an evaluation of the scheme.

“We are aware that it is difficult to set a deadline, there isn’t necessarily a happy solution. It’s important to stop applications from new beneficiaries while the scheme undergoes a comprehensive evaluation,” Dolenec told a press conference.

She said that 48 proposals had been submitted in the public consultation and some of them propose that the deadline be extended.

“An extension of up to a year, until 2024, has even been requested,” said Dolenec, adding that the City of Zagreb would propose to the Assembly that a temporary moratorium be introduced as of 6 September.

The association 3Plus Families, which brings together families with three or more children recently called for extending the deadline for applying for monthly grants for stay-at-home parents until 31 May 2022, urging the City of Zagreb not to give up on that demographic measure until it is introduced nationwide.