Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday he believed a social deal would be reached between the state and citizens on vaccination against Covid-19, calling on everyone who can get vaccinated to do so for the benefit of all and stressing that the "tool" for that has been ensured - the vaccine.

In an interview with the HRT public broadcaster, Plenkovic stressed the goal of vaccination was to gain collective immunity against Covid-19, recalled the government had provided enough vaccine and congratulated everyone who had been vaccinated, with the percentage of vaccinated people in the adult population now standing at 46.3%.

The prime minister believes the agreement reached with employers would be implemented and that up to 70% of those employed in companies that will apply for business support due to the consequences of the pandemic would get vaccinated.

Earlier on Wednesday, cabinet ministers and social partners held a second round on negotiations at which it was proposed that businesses where over 70% of workers have been vaccinated against Covid would get payments for all workers, while those with lower percentages would get payments proportionate to the number of workers with Covid certificates.

PM Plenkovic appealed for common sense to prevail and solidarity so that all get vaccinated except those who cannot for medical reasons.

Railways – largest investment

Talking about Croatia’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the prime minister said no one, including Europe, was imposing reforms on us, but we knew ourselves that we had to carry them out.

He recalled that in addition to Covid, which hit the entire world, Croatia had four times more costs due to the 2020 earthquakes. Plenkovic explained that was why the entire National Recovery and Resilience Plan was based on the government’s program and the national strategy, the key components of which were the economy, investments in all sectors guided by the logic of green and digital transformation and transition.

As for the announcement about the creation of 100,000 new jobs, the prime minister stressed we would achieve that in the sectors where we wanted – in the ICT sector, which was achieving phenomenal results in Croatia, with or mostly without the state, but also in traditional, tertiary industries, such as hospitality and tourism, which were yet to experience real recovery and investments.

Plenkovic recalled a huge step forward had also been taken in the energy sector and transport infrastructure  so now, he said, we only had to make investments in the railway.

On 1 July, the Plenkovic cabinet adopted a document on the modernisation and restructuring of the railway sector, which contains the main reform elements and presents an action plan for the reform of the railway sector. Croatia plans to invest about HRK 33 billion in upgrading the rail sector until 2030.

Status of Bosnia and Herzegovina Croats

Commenting on recent statements by President Zoran Milanovic on the status on Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the prime minister said there was nothing new in them.

Because, he recalled, the position of the government and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has been for years that Croats, as one of the three constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina, must be equal, and the Dayton-Paris peace agreement must be respected.

He recalled that issue had existed since 2006, when Bosniaks elected a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina for Croats on the territory of the Federation entity, and that unfavorable “electoral engineering” had unfortunately been repeated several times since, the last time in 2018.