Zagreb - Members of the Parliament on Thursday backed amendments to the Mine Action Act to equalise the rights of injured mine-clearance workers with those of Croatian war veterans with disabilities, while the opposition warned that the amendments did not address all the workers' demands.
State Secretary at the Interior Ministry Irena Petrijevčanin said the changes would give 45 mine-clearance workers with permanent disabilities the same rights and amounts of benefits as Croatian war veterans with disabilities. Of these, 27 would receive personal disability benefits, 15 an orthopaedic allowance and three a care allowance. The calculation base for disability benefits would be aligned with that for war veterans with disabilities and is €540 for 2026.
The injured workers would also be entitled to a special allowance and medical or physical rehabilitation, while families of those killed would be entitled to survivors' pensions under regulations governing the rights of Croatian Homeland War veterans, with the possibility of working while receiving the pension.
612 casualties in 432 mine accidents since 1996
Petrijevčanin said 612 people had been injured or killed in 432 mine accidents since 1996, including 208 fatalities. Of those, 136 were mine-clearance workers and assistants, 41 of whom were killed.
Opposition MPs supported the changes but said further demands remained unresolved.
Martina Vlašić Iljkić (SDP) said they did not cover mine-clearance workers who had been war veterans and continued working in mine clearance after the Homeland War, calling for their wartime service to be taken into account in calculating a pension supplement.
Dubravka Novak (We Can!) called for the required 30 years of pensionable service to be reduced to 25 and for the experience of mine-clearance workers who lose their jobs after demining is completed to be used in civil protection and other public services.
Marin Miletić (Bridge) listed unresolved issues including retirement, medical examinations, psychosocial support, employment in public services, access to veterans' centres and social-care facilities, a register of mine-action workers and funeral-related costs.
Ivan Dabo of the ruling HDZ said the completion of mine clearance after nearly three decades did not end the state's obligation to the people who had carried it out.
Darko Vuletić (HSS) welcomed the automatic alignment of existing rights without requiring beneficiaries to revisit institutions, as well as the possibility of working while receiving a family pension.
Tomislav Josić (Homeland Movement) said the amendments addressed equal calculation of certain rights and clarified the procedure for exercising them.
MPs also backed a bill ratifying an agreement between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the governments of Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia on cooperation and coordination in aircraft search and rescue.
Petrijevčanin said it would improve coordination between rescue centres, allow states to request assistance directly from one another and ensure an urgent response. She said that in the previous financial period the Interior Ministry had provided the Croatian Firefighting Association with €39.5 million worth of equipment and machinery to strengthen its capacity to respond to major disasters.