European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, said on Friday she could not set a final deadline for deciding on a restructuring plan for the Uljanik shipyard, adding that the most important thing was that the plan ensured the company's long term sustainability.

Vestager, who is on a working visit to Croatia, met with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Economy Minister Darko Horvat and Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Zalac.

Speaking to the press together with Horvat, Vestager said one should see to it that the company did not get competitive advantage over others and that it was important that the taxpayers’ money was not wasted.

Vestager said that, although it was not possible at present to give a more specific final deadline for decisions on the restructuring plan, the agreements she reached with Horvat allowed for space and time to do the necessary job. She added that the minister and the government’s approach to the problem was encouraging and promising.

Asked if the restructuring plan envisaged layoffs, Vestager said she would rather not prejudge the plan’s content, as that depended to a large extent on what a potential investor would offer, as well as on the investor’s responsibility to make the plan sustainable.

Minister Horvat said the commissioner had given clear confirmation that the European Commission’s expert services were working on the draft restructuring plan that Croatia had sent them.

“Today we have managed to get a clear position, which is that this case is really complicated and it will take additional engagement and time to shape it into a model that will be acceptable to the European Commission,” he said.

Horvat said the government would not, and must not, invest in projects without long term sustainability. The current restructuring plan, which was worked on over the past six or seven months, has not fully convinced the government that shipbuilding in Pula and Rijeka could continue in the same direction, he added.

The workers at the two troubled shipyards owned by the Uljanik group – Pula’s Uljanik and Rijeka’s 3. Maj – had been on strike for eight days over delayed wages. Although the strike ended on Friday, orders for four ships were cancelled this week, possibly forcing the government to pay €70 million for activated guarantees.

The restructuring plan was sent to Brussels on July 13, and Horvat said on Wednesday that, provided that the plan gets the green light from the European Commission, the government might spend up to €352 million, and that the government’s share of cost of the restructuring would be 60 percent, and the share of Uljanik and its strategic partner 40 percent.

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