PM Plenkovic says work-free Sundays are 'good for Croatian families'

"We believe that this move, which is in the spirit of our tradition and culture and is good for the nucleus of the Croatian society, and that is the family, and that is why we are going ahead with this proposal," Plenkovic told reporters after the meeting, according to state agency Hina.

"We are conducting intensive dialogue so as to gain the support for this proposal that is balanced and more appropriate than various proposals were in the past," he added, referring to the proposal for regulating work on Sunday.

Plenkovic added that the proposal banning Sunday trading with the exception of 16 Sundays, took into account that Croatia is a tourist destination, as well as its economy and "consumer customs" while on the other hand "it created a balance between work and private life."

The GSV discussed the action plan for the implementation of the European pillar of social rights and the EU's revised directives for regional grants.

"In the past fifteen months, with its timely, strong and firm engagement , with the unavoidable and irreplaceable role of the state, Croatia has managed to save jobs - 10.5 billion kuna has been allocated to cover salaries of 680,000 workers and 120,000 employees, which helped them bridge the crisis and for the total number of insurees to be higher than in 2020 and even in 2019," state agency Hina quoted Plenkovic as saying.

"With the coronavirus epidemic waning Croatia will move from the jobkeeping phase to a phase of creating new jobs," Hina quoted Plenkovic as saying.