After the government's announcements that inoculation could be set as a condition for job-retention support, Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic said on Monday evening that a balanced and stimulating scheme would be prepared for this purpose.

“We have more than 1.5 million vaccinated, responsible citizens, who cannot be asked any more to fund the recovery of the other camp (of citizens),” Aladrovic told Nova TV.

He elaborated that the vaccination against Covid-19 would not be mandatory, however, the disbursement of job-keeping grants could be made conditional on vaccination.

Aladrovic is expected to discuss the matter with employers and trade unions this week.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said earlier on Monday that his cabinet would prepare a legislative basis for making the provision of job-retention support conditional on the vaccination of recipients.

He insisted that the government would not impose any obligations, however, it also must take account of 44% of adult Croatans who have been immunised.

To date, the Covid-19 pandemic and crisis has cost Croatia HRK 34 billion, and the cabinet has set aside HRK 11.7 billion for the job retention scheme, he recalled.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)