Economy Minister Davor Filipovic on Thursday dismissed speculations that the Croatian electricity company HEP could be privatised.

Asked by the press about a possible search for a strategic partner for HEP or possible privatisation, Filipovic said that as long as he was the minister, this would not be a topic for consideration at all.

Privatising HEP is out of question, he said while answering questions from the press about the financial burden which this company took over due to the government’s scheme for subsidised electricity bills.

He said that while adopting the scheme, the government was aware of the burden that would be transferred to HEP and underscored that the government would stand by HEP if necessary.

In order to corroborate his statement that HEP should not be privatised, Filipovic said that if HEP were not a state-owned company, the scheme on subsidised electricity prices could not have been made and “we would have been in big trouble”.

Bill regulating Sunday working

Asked about a final bill regulating Sunday working, Filipovic said that the parliamentary discussion on the first draft of the bill showed that there was a general consensus.

Of 118,000 employees in the trade sector, 86,000 are women, and we thought primarily of them when we were drawing up the law, he said.

He said that the essence of the law is to enable work-life balance and all should have the right to choose not to work on Sundays.

None of trade companies will go bankrupt due to the regulation of Sunday working, the minister said in response to complaints from some retailers about the limited number of working Sundays.