Supreme Court president Radovan Dobronic's claims that the executive authority is intentionally obstructing and neglecting the judiciary are biased and do not reflect the real situation, the Justice Ministry said on Sunday.

Dobronic spoke to N1 on Sunday, saying that he had sent a note to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic informing him that the ongoing a strike of court reporters and other employees is jeopardising the regular functioning of the courts.

Dobronics claims that the courts lack the basic working conditions are unclear, the ministry said, adding that over €61 million was invested in the judicial infrastructure in 2015-21, that €333 million is being invested in 2022-25, and that nearly €300 million has been invested in informatisation.

The ministry said it was aware of the discrepancies in the wage system and that it was working on reforming it, including wages for judicial employees, but that it failed to see how separating them from the state administration would change their status.

Judicial employees have not been neglected in the wage system changes, given that their salary coefficients have been changed four times since 2019, the ministry said.

By agreeing to the strikers’ demand for a €400 pay rise, the ministry said, it would agree to discrimination, which would create new discrepancies and injustices within the civil service.

The demands of the union, which represents only some of their members employed in the judiciary, do not envisaged a pay rise of 4-5% but as much as 70% for some jobs, which would have a considerable fiscal impact and would not systematically solve the pay problem, but only prolong putting the system in order, the ministry said.