A State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and State Administration, Josip Salapic, said on Thursday that a new law on the salary system for local and state officials should be adopted by the end of June, so that equal work is equally valued.

We withdrew the law from the procedure in order to further analyse the system, because there are a lot of deviations that are not logical, said Salapic in parliament.

Croatia, he stated, received funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to finally sort out the salary system. It must resolve the salary system in local units, but also at the state level and the judicial system, Salapic added.

Although it seems less, 18% more for local units

Salapic stated this in a debate on amendments to the Law on Salaries in Local and Regional Self-Government Units, according to which the amount of funds for salaries of employees in municipalities, cities and counties, which now amounts to 20%, should not amount to more than 18% of business income realized in the year preceding the budget year.

That 20% also included funds that are no longer included in the income of those units, so this 18%, although it looks less, is actually more for local units, said Salapic replying to Josip Begonja of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Comprehensive reform will only follow in the years ahead, this is our joint task, Salapic told Davor Dretar (DP), who recalled that the state provided one hundred million kuna for the merger of local units, however, several units applied for the functional merger but not one for any real merger.

HDZ MPs are satisfied with the proposed changes, saying that they make it possible to increase the salaries of officials and employees in local units, which are increasingly difficult to attract and retain due to high salaries in the private sector.