Ministers arriving for an inner cabinet meeting at the government building in Zagreb on Wednesday commented on the ongoing industrial action at the Uljanik Group over a delay in wages being paid, and said that the government was doing all it could, but that manoeuvring space for the authorities was very tight.
Asked by reporters whether the government could make more effort to salvage Croatia’s shipbuilding industry, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said that “restrictions are rather huge, and we have been aware of that since our admission to the European Union.”
Manoeuvring room is rather limited,” Maric said, adding that although the purpose of the state-owned Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) is to help the economy and entrepreneurs in every way possible, the bank still has some limits in its operations.
The finance minister declined to speculate whether the Uljanik Gorup was on the verge of launching a pre-bankruptcy procedure, or if it would be placed in official receivership.
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The government is not avoiding its role in this, but the current (private) shipyards’ ownership structure and management means that these questions should be directed at other places, Maric said.
All Croatia’s governments to date have provided assistance for the shipbuilding sector via financial collaterals, or other advance payments. However, everything comes to an end and so state subsidies to docks have also come to their end, Maric added.
Deputy Prime Minsiter and Agriculture Minister, Tomislav Tolusic, said that the government was doing its best to help the Uljanik group, however, “the company management should assume responsibility for everything.”
Tolusic stopped short of specifying if the management is expected to step down.
Minister for State Property, Goran Maric, said that the government was considering all options at its disposal to help the shipbuilding sector.
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