ZAGREB, January 16, 2019 – Economy Minister Darko Horvat during Question Time in Parliament on Wednesday dismissed criticism by MP Tulio Demetlika of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS), who said that Horvat lied that he had a strategic partner for Croatian shipyards, stressing that he was speaking about potential partners with whom talks were underway.
“I have never said we had a strategic partner for Croatian shipyards, I said we have potential partners with whom we are talking,” Horvat told Demetlika, who also asked Horvat why he asked local government units to break the law and pay salaries to Uljanik workers.
“Why don’t you say it clearly? Do you or do you not have a strategic partner for Uljanik,” Demetlika said, warning that uncertainty continues for the workers of Uljanik and 3. Maj shipyards, which lost more than 1,300 workers in less than a year.
The minister responded that if one were to calculate the amounts the government had injected into the docks in Rijeka and Pula in 2018, as assistance to workers, they would arrive at nearly one billion kuna. “You tell me, where is the local government in all of this? And take into account that the local government created the management in the two docks,” the minister said.
Dissatisfied with the “unclear position” of the government regarding the survival of the shipbuilding industry, Demetlika insisted that the government is the only one that can do something.
More news on the Croatian shipyards can be found in the Business section.
