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Zagreb - The parliamentary Opposition said on Thursday that the minimum wage of HRK 3,400 (€453) was not sufficient for a decent life and should be raised, which was supported by members of the parliamentary majority.
During a discussion on amendments to the Minimum Wage Act, which they mostly supported, opposition MPs said that Croatia was near the bottom of the EU ranking in terms of the value of the minimum wage.
The average minimum wage in the EU is around €700, amounting to €1,204 in Slovenia, €1,724 in Ireland, and €1,600 in Germany, said MP Vesna Vučemilović, a member of the Croatian Sovereignists group.
"I cannot accept that we can be competitive only if we have low wages because that is not sustainable in the long run. There will always be someone somewhere in the world that will be willing to work for a lower wage," she said.
In terms of the minimum wage, Croatia fares better only than Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria, said Urša Raukar Gamulin of the Green-Left Bloc, calling on the government to raise the minimum wage as the current minimum wage was far from ensuring a free and decent life.
Social Democrat Erik Fabijanić recalled the ruling HDZ party's election promises, noting that he expected the government to adopt a regulation to raise the minimum wage by the end of October by at least HRK 300 to a net wage of HRK 3,700.
Katarina Peović of the Croatian Peasant Party/Workers' Front group said that since it did not enable a free life in dignity and accounted for only 25% of a wage that enabled such a life, the minimum wage in Croatia was also unconstitutional.
Even though in the past five years Croatia has made progress regarding the share of the minimum wage in the average wage from 38% to more than 46%, the question is what its purchasing power is, said Anka Mrak Taritaš of the Centre/GLAS group.