ZAGREB, May 25, 2018 – After parliament upheld their nominations on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy Tomislav Tolušić and Economy Minister Darko Horvat said that the government had done a good job with the law on emergency administration in systemic companies, dubbed Lex Agrokor, and that they fully supported the emergency administrator in the ailing food and retail conglomerate Fabris Peruško, and were confident that a settlement with the company’s creditors would be reached by July 10.
“I am still the agriculture minister but now as deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, I will be coordinating the economy portfolio in the government. Apart from Agrokor being in focus, I think that in the medium and long term it is more important to work on a programme of reforms that need to be implemented so that the government can function even better and meet the conditions that Brussels has set before us and that will lead to a better life for citizens,” Tolušić said.
He said that he would meet with Agrokor’s suppliers as soon as possible “in order to reach a settlement.” “Agrokor has its emergency administrator who is managing the procedure together with the creditors’ council and they are the ones who need to do the major part of the job, and we have provided them with a legal framework for a settlement to be reached. We have adopted a law that has not only salvaged Agrokor but Croatia’s economy too, and I expect that a settlement will be reached within the legally set deadline,” Tolušić underscored. “As for as the newest e-mails released, I don’t think they have anything to do with the work of the emergency administrator or the creditors’ council,” Tolušić said.
Asked about those creditors who don’t want to sign the settlement deal, Tolušić said that there was time to reach a settlement and that the emergency administrator and creditors’ council were working on that.
He underscored that the purpose of his appointment was not “to appease the alleged right faction in the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union).” “Since 1997, when I became a member of the party, we have worked so that there is only one faction and that is one of togetherness,” he said.
The newly appointed Economy Minister Darko Horvat said that he was convinced that with the full support he and Tolušić were giving one another, they would cooperate well. “I can only repeat what Tolušić has said about Agrokor, and that is that we will be coordinating the entire situation and work together on Agrokor, and in the next 14 days we will actively join in the process. Fabris Peruško and Irena Weber have my full support and it is everybody’s wish that the story about Agrokor ends on July 10,” he said.
“As far as the newest e-mails are concerned according to which certain suppliers have been put in a privileged position, I wouldn’t want to comment on that, and Peruško and Weber should be asked about that,” Horvat said.
