.png)
Zagreb - Opposition MPs pointed out on Thursday that the draft Croatian Demographic Revitalisation Strategy is a dead letter that will not keep young people in the country, while the ruling majority responded that the current government is investing the most so far in families and young people.
"Concrete measures that are necessary to bring about demographic revitalisation have been absent. We have job insecurity, a lack of free kindergartens, and when a square meter of an apartment costs around 3,000 euros, our people have to work for two months with an average salary to buy just one square meter," Peđa Grbin of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said in parliament.
Before the start of a debate on the draft strategy, opposition MPs talked about negative demographic trends, such as a decrease in the number of newborns every year.
"Last year we had the lowest number of newborns, only 32,000. You are only working to replace the population by settling foreigners, of whom there are now 200,000, and when their families arrive, in 20 years a quarter of our population will be foreign," said Marijan Pavliček of the Croatian Sovereignists.
According to UN estimates, Croatia is among the 10 countries that will lose the most inhabitants by 2050, Bridge MP Nikola Grmoja warned.
"Deceiving the Croatian public that you have done something is, to say the least, rude. But we can say that what you are doing is much worse, which is high treason," he said.
"You are a traitor, and no one else. When you call someone a traitor, it's like calling for their execution. There is nothing worse in politics than calling a man a traitor and a quisling. With that expression, the line of what is allowed is crossed," Speaker Gordan Jandroković replied to him.
"You are a traitor because you support thievery and a corrupt majority and implement a policy of high treason," Grmoja responded.
HDZ representative Majda Burić said that Bridge had different views when it was part of the government.
"(Bridge leader Božo) Petrov and Grmoja, when they were in power, begged and begged not to punish employers who did not declare workers. This is their policy of demography", she noted.
Representatives of the ruling HDZ also criticized the SDP because of, they claim, the disastrous results of their government until 2015, including the youth unemployment rate.
Nada Murganić (HDZ) pointed out that the incumbent government takes care of families and students by introducing free meals in schools, providing free textbooks and raising maternity benefits to €1,000.
Sanja Radolović (SDP) said that even today, after emerging from the global financial crisis, young people cannot count on a job if they are not HDZ members.
Natalija Martinčević (Reformists) cited low wages and high costs of living, especially rent, as the causes of people emigrating from Croatia.