ZAGREB, September 22, 2018 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday the government had the motive and the political will to keep shipbuilding viable and help the Uljanik and 3. Maj docks, which must be done legally, and that the European Commission’s preliminary positions coincided with the suggestions the economy and finance ministries gave Uljanik’s management regarding its draft restructuring plan.
In January, when the government provided 176 million kuna in collateral, Uljanik’s management undertook the obligation to draw up a restructuring plan and find a strategic partner.
The restructuring plan was not drawn up by the government, he reiterated to the press in Beli Manastir after a reporter noted that the Commission had 75 remarks regarding the plan and asked if the Commission’s 30-day deadline to improve it would be met.
Plenković said the economy and finance ministries tried to tell Uljanik’s management from April to July to amend certain elements of the draft plan, and that the Commission’s preliminary positions “practically entirely coincide with the suggestions” made by the two ministries regarding the draft.
He reiterated that, had the government not provided collateral, Uljanik and 3. Maj workers would not have received wages this year. He said the government had the motive and the political will to keep shipbuilding viable and help the two docks, which must be done legally but in a different context. He said the financial situation in Uljanik was not a consequence of the government’s but the management’s work and that three scenarios were being worked on.
