As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, all those whose moratoriums expired on April the 12 have their interest due. The Croatian Government has promised to find a solution to this pressing issue which primarily concerns Croatian transport companies, but it seems that another in a series of promises has been circumvented, and at the same time leasing companies have already been swift in starting to confiscate vehicles.
“The Transport Committee of the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association (UGP) held a meeting with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure back on March the 24th. Subsequently, on March the 25th and 26th, we held additional consultations with ministry representatives on the financial assistance model. Again, after meetings and consultations at which concrete assistance was agreed, the Croatian Government and the competent ministries failed to make a decision to solve the problem for companies whose moratoriums have now expired.
We must point out in this way that the leasing companies initially supported the requirements of Croatian transport companies who deal with passenger transport and that they expressed a desire to approve further reprogramming. What unpleasantly surprised us after such an initial attitude from the leasing companies was the fact that leasing companies still started confiscating vehicles. We have information that a minimum of 30 vehicles have been seized in the past two weeks alone. In addition to that, while we’ve been receiving information from leasing companies that they’re fully approving the reprogram, the situation on the ground is completely different. To our knowledge, leasing companies approve reprograms for vehicles that they’re sure they can’t sell, while for other vehicles that have a chance to be sold for half price, they aren’t approving the reprograms. It also happened to our members in which they had to sign a reprogram for a period of 12 months, only to receive a new offer just a few days later, in which 12 months is replaced by only 3 months,” the aforementioned Association explained in a statement.
The Croatian National Bank is also a big problem in this regard, as it has not issued any instructions for new moratoriums, ie reprograms. Leasing companies weren’t invited to a meeting at the Ministry of Finance to agree on potential reprograms and government guarantees at all.
“Additionally, we must point out that the Transport Committee has received information that a model is being designed according to which a monthly fee would be paid per vehicle from now on, following the example of other European countries. We must point out that other countries have been doing this since the very beginning of the coronavirus crisis and that you can’t just ‘erase’ the past year just like that.
In other countries, after a year of such assistance, carriers aren’t having any problems with paying interest due on leases because they’ve paid them from the said assistance in the meantime. Such a model cannot rescue any carrier because they have nothing to settle their debts that have accumulated in the last year with. We don’t understand why we’re trying to find a model that has nothing to do with what we’ve been arranging. The model that is now planned to be proposed will not be effective, it isn’t going to help anyone,” they added.
The Association is appealing for the acceptance of the proposals devised and proposed by Croatian transport companies together with the representatives of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure. It is an amount of 200 million kuna that will save the entire industry, jobs and ensure the survival of the new deeply weakened Croatian transport companies. Otherwise, this activity could become the first permanently destroyed branch of the Croatian economy without any chance of recovery.
“Less than four weeks ago, I stated that a light could be seen at the end of the tunnel for Croatian transport companies dealing with passenger transport. Unfortunately, that candle burned out. April the 1st is now long gone, all leasing companies have sent clients their full installments and interest for the past period. We’ve broken the due date for payment and that is unfortunately the end of it. It’s tragic that absolutely nothing has been done to help this sector.
I’d like to congratulate Prime Minister Plenkovic, Minister Maric (Minister of Finance) and Minister Butkovic (Minister of Transport) for classifying Croatia alongside Albania, as the only countries in Europe that haven’t helped the passenger transport business,” said Marko Sliskovic, the coordinator of the Transport Committee of the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association (UGP).
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