Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has announced that a decision will be taken at a government meeting on Thursday on increasing the salaries of state officials, whose basic salary is to be harmonised with that of the state administration and public sector employees.

“The assessment of the need for salary increases comes after two full terms of office of our government, during which there were no salary increases and the basic salaries of state officials remained unchanged for years,” Plenkovic said after a meeting of the praesidium of his HDZ party on Wednesday evening.

“Anti-corruption measure”

State officials have a great responsibility in their work, they make important decisions and manage large budgets and a large number of people, he said, adding: “We are working on attracting people to get involved in politics and pay them more for their work. This is also an anti-corruption measure.”

“Now that we have achieved great economic development and increased wages for all, it is time for this problem to be addressed. This decision is fully supported not only by the government but also by the parliamentary majority,” said the Prime Minister.

He listed a number of his government’s achievements over the last two terms, including the growth in minimum and average wages, GDP growth of almost 30 billion euros from 2016 to the end of 2023 and the responsible management of public finances.

“We believe that after all these achievements, it is time to put this issue on the agenda, because at the beginning of our third term, the situation is such that basically not a single member of the government leads the salary ranking in their institution,” Plenkovic said, adding that he does not consider such a situation to be good.

Basic salary for state officials unchanged for years

He noted that salaries in the state administration and public sector have increased by 32% from 2023 to 2024 and that it is time for those who run in elections and are appointed to political positions to be adequately paid for their work.

According to the government, the basic salary for state officials will increase by 83.45%, from the current €516.29 to €947.18.

The monthly net salary of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic will rise from the current €3,263 to €5,535 (+69.6%), the salary of Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic from €3,113 to €5,314 (+70.7%) and that of President Zoran Milanovic from €3,600 to €6,074 (+68.7%).

The monthly salaries of members of parliament and ministers rose by around €1,500 to around €4,000, depending on where they live or tax benefits for children.

State officials were not included in the salary increases for state administration and public sector employees, which led to a mismatch between the level of salaries and the degree of responsibility. For example, cabinet ministers, who have the most responsibility in the individual ministries, earned around €2,500 per month, while general secretaries in the ministries received €3,270, heads of directorates €3,130 and heads of departments €2,630.

Plenkovic: Salary increase for state officials irrelevant for the revision of the state budget

When asked by the press whether a monthly salary of €5,535 was appropriate for a Croatian prime minister, Plenkovic said that he had renounced a much higher salary in the European Parliament a few days ago. “I think our salaries should be seen in the context of the economic and social situation in Croatia. Are they high compared to other countries? No, they are not,” he added.

When asked if he was afraid of the public’s reaction, the Prime Minister said that there will always be those who say that this is not good, and he reiterated that it is normal for the salaries of people who lead large and responsible processes, systems and institutions to be appropriate.

As for the state budget revision, Plenkovic said that this salary increase was “irrelevant for the budget revision”.

“You can not compare that,” he said, adding that the budget revision is a normal thing that the government will deal with in the autumn.

“All planned projects will be realised, maybe not all this year, some will be extended, but none will be abandoned, only the dynamics of individual projects will be restructured a little financially,” he said.