Prime Minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that the negotiations with disgruntled judges who are on a rule-to-work strike will resume and the government will not cave in under pressure and that there will be no wage indexation for judges in this term of his cabinet.

We are for talks, respect for the judicial profession and for their pay raise, and we have done it twice. Blackmailing through all sorts of industrial actions is inappropriate especially in attitude towards this government that, unlike the previous one that reduced judges’ wages, has increased their wages, Plenkovic said after the HDZ leadership’s meeting, and recalled that these increases in judges’ salaries happened in 2019 and in 2023.

Judges are prudent people and the negotiations will resume, he added.

Plenkovic said that the ministers of justice, labour, health and education are conducting talks with representatives of employees in the public sector on .

Everyone can see that those increases are the highest ever pay raises, he said.

We are raising the standard and fostering the culture of communication with social partners, that is trade union, he said.

The total rise in the wage budget in a year is €1.5 billion, he added and described it “as a serious and large scale reform” and attempt to ensue the equal pay for equal work and to downscale the job titles in the public sector.