One in five Croatians is "officially poor", says Pensioners' Party

In a statement, the SU said it did not want to downplay the government's responsibility for environmental pollution in Gospic, but added that such issues were also being turned into political point-scoring between the government and the opposition, while the problems affecting people's daily lives were being pushed into the background.

"We simply cannot establish continuity in thinking about improving conditions for a dignified life, especially for the most vulnerable, namely pensioners and older people," it said.

The SU said that whenever it warned that "up to 40% of people over 65 are on the brink of poverty", a new corruption scandal or controversy over the Ustasha salute emerged, after which the poverty of the most vulnerable was once again "pushed into a corner".

Starting with the illegal waste dump in Gospic and other sites, the SU drew attention to the conditions in which some older people live.

"Everyone should have access to safe drinking water and healthy food. Poor Croatian citizens do not. Cheap food need not be bad, but a monotonous diet is. So are skipping meals and going hungry. All of this is the reality for older people in Croatia," the SU said.

It warned that public discontent could escalate.

"It is unacceptable that the political elites, both in government and the opposition, with salaries of close to €5,000, are concerned only with the struggle for power while interest in people's real lives disappears," the party said. If the opposition and civil society want fundamental change, the SU said, they should ask the Security and Intelligence Agency for the latest information on the "possible influence of criminal groups on the running of the state".

Croatia needs to "air out the system" through "more effective oversight, staff rotation and clear ethical rules governing resignations and dismissals".

The SU noted that six former ministers are currently on trial and expressed doubt that any of them would receive a serious sentence.

"To oversee and dismiss officials, we need a moral awakening among those in government and mature, document-based arguments from the opposition," it said, adding that politics must return to the real problems facing the majority of citizens.

One such problem, the SU said, is the fact that more than 654,000 pensioners receive pensions of less than €600. "The shameful truth is that all the countries around us are overtaking us."

The SU is therefore calling for an urgent change to the pension indexation formula so that pensions fully track whichever is more favourable, wage growth or inflation; the introduction of a full 13th pension payment; the abolition of tax on pensions for everyone except those receiving more than €3,000; and the development of specialised programmes providing assistance to older people at home and in care facilities.

The SU also criticised the second pension pillar, saying that as many as 90% of people who have the option to choose opt for a pension solely from the first pillar because it is financially more favourable.

"We must finally stop favouring banks and their pension funds, because by doing so we are impoverishing future generations of pensioners," it concluded.