Istria County Prefect Valter Flego and Pula Mayor Boris Miletic spoke to EU senior officials on Wednesday in Brussels about the future of shipbuilding in Croatia.

They met with Vice President of the European Parliament Pavel Telicka and Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Guy Verhofstadt, the County Prefect’s office said on Wednesday.

“Paying wages is our absolute priority at the moment, but the does not solve the issue of the future of Croatian shipyards. This painful situation will repeat itself in two months if we don’t look at the whole problem strategically and start searching for a long term solution,” Flego and Miletic said, adding that Europe must participate in answering to the challenge, not just Croatian government.

Employees at the Rijeka-based 3. Maj and the Pula-based Uljanik shipyards, both parts of the Uljanik Group, last Wednesday went on strike after their salaries for July – due to be paid by August 15 – had not been paid by Tuesday, August 21. They said they would continue the industrial action at their work stations until they get their salaries.

Miletic said that Croatia must look at shipbuilding industry as strategically important, and invest in it, adding that “shipbuilding in Europe cannot survive without European Commission’s (EC) strong support,” the Prefect’s office said.

Regional and local authorities in Istria County have clearly opted to support shipbuilding and save as many jobs as possible, Flego said.

“In the two days we will talk with key people about the mechanisms other developed countries use to aid shipbuilding, which Croatia does not use. We must finally begin implementing those mechanisms,” he said, and added that it was up to the government to find the solution to save Uljanik and other shipyards in Croatia, in line with European directives.

On Thursday, Flego and Miletic will hold a meeting with the representatives of Shipyards and Maritime Equipment Association, SEA Europe, which aims to promote competitive, sustainable, and strategic European shipbuilding.

European Commission had said earlier that it still has not finished analysing the government’s restructuring proposal from the Pula-based Uljanik shipyard, adding they can not predict what the results of the analysis would be or when it would be finished.

“Our assessment is underway, and we are aware of the importance of the issue. The restructuring plan must reinstate long term sustainability without continuing public support in order to preserve jobs in Istria based on sustainable foundations,” EC told state news agency Hina on Wednesday.

The proposal was sent to EC on July 1.

In January 2018, Uljanik was approved state guarantees for a €96 million loan, which represents state support conditioned by company’s restructuring in order to ensure sustainability and efficient use of taxpayer money, the EC said.

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