The legislation has acknowledged the special status of freelance artists in comparison with other workers. They have the right to retirement and disability insurance and to health insurance. Contributions are paid from the state budget (see also chapter 4.3). The Croatian Freelance Artists Association (HZSU) encourages and promotes creative work and public activity in culture and the arts, and it represents freelance artists’ common interests, so as to help them achieve their goals and to protect their rights. A freelance artist becomes a member of the Association on the basis of his or her creative work and so can apply to have his or her contributions paid from the National Budget, as long as he or she meets the criteria laid down in the Regulations about the procedures and conditions for the recognition of the rights of artists to have their retirement, disability and medical insurance paid out of the national budget of the Republic of Croatia. Applications by the artists are considered by the Expert Commission, and decisions are subsequently confirmed by the Minister of Culture. When the Expert Commission has made a favourable decision, the Croatian Association of Freelance Artists registers the freelance artist with the Croatian Institute for Retirement Insurance and the Croatian Institute for Health Insurance according to an artist’s place of residence. There are 29 arts associations which appoint their members to the expert commissions (list available at: http://hr.hzsu.hr/Struktura-WEB-a/Glavna-navigacija/Umjetnicke-udruge).
In 2022 a lot of discussion revolved around the need for the change of the coefficient for the payment of mandatory contributions of freelance artists. In 2009, the coefficient for freelance artists was reduced from 1.2 to 0.8 as one of anti-recession measures and the introduction of a special tax on salaries, pensions and other receipts. The government promised that after the abolition of the said tax, the base for the payment of contributions by independent artists will again be recalculated according to coefficient 1.2. However, this has not occurred for 13 years and it is very visible on the level of the received retirement of the freelance artists. The Croatian Freelance Association lobbied that the coefficient should not only be returned but be raised to 1.8, which is the coefficient level of equivalent employees in cultural institutions. The Ministry of Culture and Media noted that this issue will be discussed within the overall change of the legislature in the field through the new Law on the Artistic Activities that is planned for 2023.
According to the data provided by the Ministry and the Croatian Freelance Artists’ Association (HZSU), through the implementation of the measure approx. 1 200-1 300 freelance artists are supported on a yearly basis. The fund for this measure is approx. 35milion HRK (approx.4.6 million EUR).
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