The political platform 'Pensioners Together' on Sunday asked the authorities to abolish the lifelong penalization of early retirement and to increase the share of pensions in Croatian GDP to the EU average, threatening to invite pensioners to protests.

‘Pensioners Together’ said that the groups that have fought in recent weeks for better material rights, saying they are considering inviting pensioners to protests to solve the problem of living standards.

“Pensioners have given too much to society to be constantly begging someone, to be constantly neglected in improving their material status and other rights,” said the platform that brings together the Party of Pensioners, the Block of Pensioners Together and the Democratic Party of Pensioners.

They warned that “the pensioners’ patience is running out”, which, in their words, “could trigger an avalanche with unpredictable consequences for all political stakeholders”. They believe that a protest would force the government to urgently solve the pressing problem of the standards of citizens, especially pensioners

Given that in May, the Union of Croatian Pensioners and the Federation of Pensioners of Croatia announced the possibility of a protest, they believe that “it is increasingly certain that with the joint agreement of the pensioners’ associations and the Platform parties, a public revolt of pensioners could happen in the very near future.”

‘Pensioners Together’ are asking for the lifetime penalty to be abolished because those who took early retirement have an average of slightly more than 36 years of service, i.e. five years more than those who received a full old-age pension without any penalty.

They are also asking for the share of pensions in Croatian GDP to be on average in the EU, about 12.5 percent instead of 10.2 percent, which would immediately reduce the poverty of pensioners and the institute of the public ombudsman for pensioners, as well as Christmas and Easter bonuses for all pensioners, 13th pension, better medical care, more homes for retirees, greater representation in HRT information programmes.