The Croatian Employers Association (HUP) on Thursday welcomed the government's announcement that it would continue with its aid scheme for the business sector, noting that stability was vital for economic recovery.

The employers’ association, however, strongly opposed speculation that some businesses could be excluded from the announced measures.

“We are unpleasantly surprised by media speculation that some businesses might be left out of the government scheme and are confident that such a solution would be deeply unfair and impracticable,” HUP said.

Along with a cap on electricity prices, HUP members also underline the need for continuing gas subsidies.

A large number of production companies want the new round of aid measures to include subsidies for processing steam, which has been completely left out of those aid measures so far and which represents a significant cost for the processing industry, HUP said, adding that it would present the particulars of its proposal, including examples of good solutions from other EU member countries, in direct talks with government officials.

PM Andrej Plenkovic said earlier in the day that the new package of measures aimed at reducing energy prices would be defined by mid-March and adopted in time to go into effect at the beginning of April.