The Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) said on Friday, commenting on the announced restriction of Sunday work in the retail sector, that retailers "did not have a unified position on that but they thought the pandemic was not a good moment for introducing any bans on work," state agency Hina reported, citing a HUP press release.

The pandemic is definitely not a good moment to ban work in any sense since retail still hasn’t recovered from the lockdown and drop in sales caused by restrictions, HUP said.

Croatia, the association said, “is in a period of the greatest crisis in the past 25 years and now it is more important than ever to restart economic activity and ensure a successful tourist season.”

“Given the share of retail trade and tourism in our GDP, it is not wise to restrict the work of those sectors in the context of the crisis we are in because it will only prolong recovery and slow down the much desired growth,” HUP said.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Thursday announced changes to the Commerce Act to allow shop work only on 16 Sundays a year, taking into account the tourist season, holidays, and the “principle of proportionality.” Hina did not clarify what that meant.