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Zagreb - Unionists who launched the "67 is too much" campaign to collect signatures for a referendum on restoring the statutory pension age from 67 to 65 on Thursday submitted to the parliament a total of 65 boxes with 748,624 signatures collected from 27 April to 11 May.
In order for the referendum on pension eligibility to be called, it was necessary to collect at least 373,568 signatures.
After meeting with the unionists, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković explained the procedure to follow the receipt of the signatures, which also includes checking the validity of signatures and their exact number.
Furthermore, there is a possibility for the parliamentary committee on the Constitution to propose that the parliament should ask the Constitutional Court to check whether the proposed referendum question complies with the Constitution.
Asked by the press whether he believes that this question should be sent to the Court, Jandroković said that he would discuss the matter with party colleagues and coalition partners before giving an answer on the matter.
Jandroković said that the unionists were always welcome to the negotiating table, however, it seemed to him that they were now disinclined to resume the negotiations.
Asked by the press how come rating agencies and international institutions commend the pension reform undertaken by the government while the changes are being met with opposition in the country, Jandroković recalled the positive economic indicators such as economic growth and reform processes, including the pension reform, for which Croatia has been rated well.
"It is the people that have the final say, but it can happen that a good measure adopted by the government is contested by citizens," he said.
Mirela Bojić, one of the union coordinators who presented the signatures, said today that calling the referendum would be a good opportunity for the parliament to help citizens restore faith in top Croatian institutions.
Recently, Bojić has said she believes that the referendum question should pass the test at the Constitutional Court, even though "anything is possible in Croatia".