The opposition on Tuesday criticised the government's negotiations with executives of ten retail chains aimed at restoring some products' prices to their level at the end of last year, saying the government could have prevented the drastic price hikes much earlier.

For nine months, the government allowed prices to run rampant, citizens to pay more and this to fill the state budget, and now it is playing benefactor and giving the people back what it took from them via a higher VAT, said Arsen Bauk of the Social Democratic Party.

“They allowed prices to run wild also to humour retailers, which are now in a good mood because of higher profits,” he added.

Bozo Petrov of the Most party said he did not believe central bank governor Boris Vujcic because he said in parliament two years ago that there was no inflation, nor the government because it had the tools to prevent the price hikes.

One of the reasons for the hikes, besides the inflation due to geopolitical reasons, is Croatia’s accession to the euro area, which all the states which entered the area before warned about, he said. “The government could have prevented that but didn’t, and now I’m supposed to believe that it will solve the problems with retailers.”

Why did the government not solve the problem with them 18 months ago, when it could have, he asked, adding that the government has not kept any of its promises.

“The government doesn’t care about that problem because they are not the ones with the lowest salaries,” he said, adding that it’s impossible to make it to the end of the month with the average median pay.

Marijan Pavlicek of the Sovereignists said that since 1 January, when Croatia adopted the euro, retailers had been “ripping off “citizens. The government has not blacklisted nor revoked gas and electricity subsidies for retail chains which unduly raised prices, he added.

After nine months of nearly 100% more expensive products, not one citizen lives better than at the same time last year, he said. “There has been no good will. The retail lobby was evidently favoured, so today… the government is trying to do something, but I think the story has gone too far.”

Only the state budget has benefitted and now the prime minister will play big humanitarian who is giving to the people from which he took everything he could in the last ten months, Pavlicek said. If retailers don’t agree to restore normal prices and continue to keep high margins out of greed, we are for denying them state subsidies in the next 12 months, he added.