European Commission’s (EC) report on the draft of the restructuring plan for the troubled Uljanik shipyard arrived in Zagreb on Monday, Economy Ministry confirmed for the Poslovni Dnevnik portal.
The Economy Ministry has forwarded the report to the management of the Pula-based shipyard on Tuesday, Poslovni Dnevnik reported.
The Commission’s report largely corresponds with the observations of the ministries of economy and finance, the Economy Ministry said.
The Uljanik management was asked by the Economy Ministry to bring the plan in line with the demands that “at this moment in time represent key reasons which prevent the EC to green light the proposed restructuring plan draft,” the ministry added.
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This rejection from Brussels was expected, especially after the EC’s Commissioner for Competition said in Zagreb two weeks ago that the state had too much stake in the current draft of the restructuring plan and that a private investor should contribute more.
It is important to the EC that the plan does not give Uljanik competitive advantage over other companies, or provide excessive subsidies, and all the details around cutting back on production, layoffs, or the choice of a strategic partner, were irrelevant to the Commission.
The decision on those matters was left to the management and the government, which must approve the plan.
The most important issue in the restructuring plan remains including a real estate business as a condition to continue with shipbuilding in Pula. The government will clearly leave that issue to the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), regionalist centre-left party mainly operating in Istria, the Uljanik management and its strategic partner Danko Koncar, the ministry said.
“Right now, the draft envisions a diversification of the Uljanik group’s business, which calls for a change in spatial planning in the shipyard and an opinion of the local and regional authorities are necessary for the agreement on the issue,” the ministry said.
Following the statements by Pula Mayor and Istria County prefect in which they said that they were not prepared to enable the proposed diversification through changes in spatial planning in this moment, it remains unclear to the government whether the strategic partner chosen by the management would want to enter the restructuring of Uljanik shipyard under these conditions, they added.
