The Croatian Pensioners’ Trade Union and the Matica Umirovljenika (MUH) association on Thursday demanded the immediate revocation of the legal obligation imposed on grandparents to pay alimony for their grandchildren in the event when a parent avoids doing that.

In 2014, the family act introduced this obligation on grandparents to provide financial support in the event when their son or daughter fails to pay alimony for their offspring.

The two associations said today that the legal obligation was detrimental to grandparents who are pensioners in an unenviable financial status.

We emphasise that such legislative solution (of the transfer of the obligation for alimony payment to grandparents) does not exist in any European country. It is absurd to demand that grandparents who are not legally responsible for their children should be required to provide financial support for grandchildren, said the SUH and MUH in a press release.

They describe this legal obligation asВ unjust and and unfeasible.