Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that the situation in the shipbuilding industry was the central economic, social and political topic in the country at the moment, adding that the Uljanik Group is a private company and that responsibility for its business operations rested primarily with its management.

He said that the government would do its best to help the troubled shipyard, but in line with the relevant legislation and European rules on state aid.

Plenkovic recalled that the government had approved a state guarantee in the amount of 700 million kuna (€94.4 million) for Uljanik in January this year, and that the guarantee had enabled the shipyard to function for the past seven months.

“This is a private company and responsibility for its performance rests primarily with its management,” Plenkovic said, adding that the government wanted to help the company and its workers, but that its decisions had to be in line with the relevant laws and EU rules on state aid.

“Of course, the maritime and shipbuilding industries are important for our country, they have a long tradition. In the 1980s we were the world’s third largest ship producer. That was the situation 30 years ago. Today we are around 10th place in the global shipbuilding ranking, with a share of 0.33 percent. In Europe, Croatia ranks third, with a share of 21.4 percent,” said Plenkovic.

He stressed that in the past decade the shipbuilding industry employed 2-5 percent of all workers, and accounted for 0.8 to 1.8 percent of GDP, accounting for as much as 10-15 percent of Croatia’s exports.

Plenkovic went on to say that since Croatia gained independence in 1991 some 31.3 billion kuna (€4.2 billion) had been invested to help bail out the shipbuilding sector, and that apart from the state, other stakeholders participated in those efforts as well, primarily by writing off their claims, waiving their right to property that was declared part of the maritime domain worth 7.8 billion kuna (€1.05 billion).

He said that the process of restructuring the state-owned shipbuilding sector was launched ahead of the beginning of Croatia’s EU membership, and that within that process the ownership structure of the shipyard in Split and of the 3. Maj shipyard in Rijeka had been changed, while Uljanik at the time was one of the few successful shipyards.

He noted that the period in which state aid was allowed as a contribution to the restructuring effort had expired in late 2017.

Plenkovic said that he would meet today with Uljanik’s management to discuss ways of finding money for the payment of delayed wages, but that care would be given to th sustainability of the proposed restructuring plan in dialogue with the EU.

Speaking to reporters before the government session, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said ways of helping Uljanik, whose workers are striking because they have not received their wages for July, would be discussed at the meeting with the company’s management later on Thursday.

“We are working on that, but there are no specific proposals at the moment, just as there is still no response from the European Commission,” Maric said, when asked to comment on Plenkovic’s statement that there were several options for the shipyard.

“We expect the dialogue with the EC to continue by the end of August,” said Maric.

Minister for Regional Development and EU Funds, Gabrijela Zalac, told reporters that European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager would visit Zagreb on September 7 and that the issue of Uljanik would be discussed with her.

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