Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Saturday demography was the biggest challenge for the Croatian people in the years ahead.

Everyone must contribute and the government has taken a series of measures to enable young families to “stand on their feet,” he added.

“In the end, whatever it undertakes, the state can’t decide for someone how large a family they will have,” he said on Croatian Radio when asked about the 2021 population census, which shows that Croatia has 3,888,529 inhabitants, 396,360 fewer than in 2011.

Today Croatia has roughly the same population size as in 1948, but then there were 95,000 babies, as against 35,000 today, he said, adding that Croatia had a negative birth rate since 1950, “which is a systematic trend.”

Lifestyles have changes and more developed parts of the country have weaker positive birth rates, he said, adding that countries in Europe that were similar to Croatia were in a similar situation.

Bulgaria has 800,000 fewer inhabitants, Lithuania and Latvia have fewer inhabitants, too, while Western countries compensate for their negative population trends with immigration, Plenković said.

Also, he added, since 2013 Croatian citizens can seek employment within the EU without any quotas or permits, “and some people have used that” opportunity.

He said the government had adopted numerous measures to help young families and that it should do even more. The decision on how many children to have is not just a matter of economy and welfare, but lifestyle, too, he added. “We live a Western lifestyle and that fact is felt.”

The government’s scheme to incite the return of Croats living and working abroad has proved to be very successful as the jobs it helps to create stand on market foundations, without any state subsidies, Plenković said.

Some actors are continuously working on dismantling all institutions

Commenting on Croatians who said they emigrated due to an insufficiently built society and inefficient institutions, he said the building of society and institutions came first for his government.

After the Petrinja earthquake at the end of 2020, he said, “there was a dismantling in the public sense, and politically orchestrated attacks, even to dismantle the Croatian Red Cross.”

“There are actors who are systematically, continuously working on the dismantling of all institutions,” he said, adding that the victims in recent months have been the central bank (HNB), the public broadcaster, the Supreme Court, and the State Attorney’s Office.

He said the goals of the attacks included undermining Croatia’s Schengen and euro area accession.

Money from European Solidarity Fund hasn’t gone to waste

Asked about post-earthquake reconstruction in Zagreb and the Banovina region, Plenković said the €1 billion from the European Solidarity Fund was intended for the initial dealing with the damage, estimated at HRK 129 billion.

He said everyone, from the ministries to local government, was tasked with stepping up reconstruction to the maximum so that people could see that Croatia was being rebuilt.

He said the Solidarity Fund money for post-earthquake reconstruction did not go to waste and that Croatia was working on utilising it as much as possible. “In order to rebuild Zagreb and Banovina, we’ll have to combine different sources – the Solidarity Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.”

Asked about the opposition’s requests for the sacking of some ministers, Plenković said the opposition was there to criticise the government and launch initiatives, but added that he never saw a prime minister sack ministers because the opposition had decided so.

This is the year when decisions will be made on Croatia’s Schengen and euro area accession, but the realisation of those strategic political goals is not in everyone’s political interest, he said. “You have people who will do everything for that not to happen, not just in Croatia, but some outside, too.”

Plenković said the latest case concerning the central bank would not destabilise Croatia’s euro journey and that the government wanted everything to be investigated to see if there was a political goal to destabilise the journey. “I wouldn’t rule out that element in the… tactic of dismantling institutions.”

He announced that he and Finance Minister Zdravko Marić would present a euro bill on Monday. “I expect the decisions at the level of European institutions and the Eurogroup to be practically made in the middle of this year.”

At this time next year, the idea is for the dual use of the kuna and the euro to end, he said, adding that prices would be displayed in both kuna and euro as of September for the next 12 months, while citizens would be able to exchange kunas for euros without a fee throughout the year.