Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in the parliament on Wednesday that, after INA oil company's new management is appointed, talks will be launched with MOL right away on changing the company's management model.

“Talks on changing INA’s management model will be launched right away. We should let the Supervisory Board hold a meeting today and state its decision, and then we will continue talks, with (Economy) Minister (Davor) Filipovic in charge of coordinating them,” Plenkovic told reporters, noting that he could not say when exactly it would happen.

Court proceedings were conducted, previous governments tried to do it, this is very complicated and difficult because we are pursuing a course determined by other people many years before this government, and we are dealing with it, he said.

“A new management will be appointed, and once a decision on an external auditor is made, processes and talks will continue with the Hungarian side that must result in a change of the management model. The current model cannot stay,” the PM said.

Finally, INA is our company, it is located in Croatia, it is important to us in the current energy crisis and it is not normal to make decisions like that, not to speak of criminal activity, and for the government to suffer reputation damage, he said.

“An unprecedented scandal has happened at the time of the biggest energy crisis and enormous growth of gas and oil and consequently electricity prices, in which someone, entrusted with and paid to sell gas on INA’s behalf, has practically committed a crime without anyone noticing it, which has caused huge damage also to the company’s reputation.”

Damage has been caused also to INA shareholders and MOL, and the Croatian government, too, has been suffering a kind of political damage over the past month, much more so than MOL, Plenkovic said.

INA is owned jointly by the Croatian state and the Hungarian energy company MOL.

In the context of a possible buyback of MOL’s stake in INA, Plenkovic said that he could only make an offer that would stand the test of time.

“I don’t have the luxury of making an offer on impulse, the offer must be backed by arguments and estimates and be able to stand the test of time and expert assessment. This situation is difficult, it is having a negative impact on relations between Croatia and Hungary and on the very functioning of INA,” said Plenkovic.