Officials of four Croatian political parties and economic pundits took part in a debate organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia (AmCham) and the British-Croatian Chamber of Commerce in Zagreb on Wednesday, addressing issues such as Croatia's tax system, public procurement, and the participation of the business community in the adoption of regulations.

Gordan Maras of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)-led four-party opposition coalition, Daniel Srb of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), and Ljubo Jurcic of the political bloc Pensioners Together, the Primorje-Gorski Kotar Alliance (PGS) and the Croatian Workers' Party, criticised the current tax system, while Djuro Popijac of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said that Croatia was one of the best regulated countries regarding the stability of the tax system.

If the HDZ wins the 4 December parliamentary election, it will encourage domestic and foreign investors to reinvest the profit they have earned in Croatia, Popijac said, promising that special attention would be paid to small and medium-sized enterprises.

He also promised a rise in the nontaxable part of the income.

HSP president Srb proposed equalising Value Added Tax, profit tax and income tax at 20 percent.

He said that his party would introduce tax reliefs for all companies that earn more than 50 percent of their revenues from exports.

Maras said that the SDP-led coalition, also referred to as "Kukuriku Coalition", would not impose higher taxes if it won the election.

We offer tax reliefs for every re-invested kuna, he said.

Maras said that in the event of its election victory, the Kukuriku coalition would hold talks with the International Monetary Fund, but it did not count on the engagement of that international financial institution.

Jurcic said that Croatia's tax system was a consequence of the incongruity of the economic, fiscal and monetary systems.

The HDZ vows investments in the energy sector and in the rail and air infrastructure, according to Popijac.

Jurcic preferred technological investments in education and innovations.

Vladimir Gligorov of the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies said that at the very beginning of its term, the new Croatian government would face two key problems - stability of the financial system and a poor social situation on the labour market.