Croatia's centre-left government remains undecided on what role the private sector is to play in the country’s new healthcare system, following the entry of the country of 4.3 million people into the European Union. The state health fund, the HZZO, has not renewed its contracts with most private providers when they expired at the end of December 2012, and private players wait with baited breath to hear the verdict. Meanwhile, a strike in the public healthcare sector continues.