CEA in press

Zagreb, 12 December 2016 - The traditional pre-holiday gathering of members of the Croatian Employers' Association pointed out that the optimism of entrepreneurs is growing, but at the same time the Government was invited to take advantage of current favorable circumstances to carry out broad reforms and measures that ensure sustainability and greater economic growth.

President of the Croatian Employers' Association Gordana Deranja said that GDP growth for eight consecutive quarters rightly brings optimism among employers and among citizens, but businesses are still cautious because next year will bring many challenges to which the Government has yet to provide the right answers.

Croatian Employers' Association has organized a big conference on digital economy. The idea of today's conference was to take a look at the state of development of the digital economy in the Republic of Croatia, at the opportunities and threats the digitalization brings to Croatian entrepreneurs.

The complete speech of the President of CEA, Mrs. Gordana Deranje, given below:

"Ladies and gentleman,
respected representatives of political parties and coalitions, respected entrepreneurs and employers, distinguished guests,
I am glad that today's and previous discussions organized by the CEA and Hanza media aroused great interest. This proves that we managed to succeed in shifting the focus of the election campaign to real issues, and more importantly - to search for the right answers.
In the last campaign, much was said about the reforms, but unfortunately after the campaign we didn't see any results. In this campaign reforms have fallen into the background, but we are rightly worried about what will happen after the elections when they should be implemented. In this campaign again we heard a lot of brave and grandiose promises. But few plausible explanations that give assurance that are well thought, realistic and achievable.
It seems to me as if none of our political options are aware enough of the truth about the world we live in today. And we live in a globalized world that changes quickly. In a world that is literally changing every day. Therefore, I will repeat what I said at our Entrepreneurs' Day - only individuals, the organizations, companies and countries that themselves change and adapt to this new world today can be successful. All the others are losers.
Croatia is unfortunately among them. Although we in the CEA like many many other groups, call for substantial and deep changes, the political elite and certain interest groups which correspond to this situation, are still reserved to them.

At the initiative of the Global Compact Croatia led by the Croatian Employers' Association Privredna banka Zagreb d.d. (PBZ), a bank of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, will donate HRK 500,000.00 to the Croatian Red Cross. The funds will be donated to the Croatian Red Cross to help the people of Philippines, struck by the monster typhoon Haiyan, the strongest typhoon ever registered in that area.

The Global Compact (GC), an United Nations (UN) Initiative designed to promote socially responsible activities, was set up in the year 2000 and it brings together over 8,000 corporate stakeholders from 135 countries across the world. The GC initiative is led by the Croatian Employers’ Association (CEA) and PBZ has been a participant of the Global Compact Croatia initiative since 2007. The CEA brings together 52 participants of the Global Compact in Croatia and represents the biggest such initiative, as a unique example of the collaboration of the business world and the international community, academic community, civil society, governments, business associations and the United Nations itself.