Opposition MPs criticized the government on Monday over the mysterious sale of the 43-percent stake held by Russia's Sberbank of the food and retail conglomerate Fortenova in Parliament, blaming them for "not caring for strategic national interests," adding that "Croatians will be the ones with most to lose, because agriculture and food production are key to the country's survival."

“In the case of Fortenova, as well as in the case of Ina and all other strategically important companies, there are always some external players who make gains, which the government led by PM Andrej Plenkovic makes possible for them, with Croatians taking a loss. The Fortenova case has been put in the limelight in order to overshadow the Ina scam, which is a much bigger problem because the government has a large stake in Ina, which it does not have in Fortenova,” MP Mirela Ahmetovic (SDP) opined.

“The government and Plenkovic are to blame for the Fortenova case becoming problematic, and now we are debating whether the transaction is legal and what it will mean not only for the Croatian economy but also for its survival because this involves the agricultural and food sector. Foreign stakeholders are once again managing the situation and Croatia, with the blessing of Plenkovic and his government,” opined Ahmetovic.

MP Marko Milanovic-Litre of the small right-wing populist party Croatian Sovereignists said he questioned whether state institutions really act independently, because of financial regulator Hanfa’s decision to launch an investigation into the AZ pension funds, which, in his mind, “should only be seen as something that happened due to coercien by Plenkovic and the government in order to justify their actions because, after the unsuccessful return of Ina to Croatian hands, we are now clearly losing Fortenova.”

MP Daniel Spajic, from another small right-wing populist group, Homeland Movement, said he thought that the government was “aware of the circumstances but was powerless” and did not protect national interests. “It is impossible to decide one day that the pension funds will not buy 43 percent of Fortenova yet that same day Sheikh Saif Aktebi managed to buy those shares,” he added.

“The government has to react because this is a question of strategic national interests, as in the case of Agrokor in 2017, but now it is giving up on Fortenova, even though it is also a private company,” said Spajic.