ZAGREB, November 24, 2018 – Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Darko Horvat said on Saturday that he had received the restructuring plan for Uljanik shipyard and that he would have more specific information after a meeting with the management board on Tuesday.
“The draft plan has come in for analysis by the Economy Ministry. We will respond to those figures on Tuesday. The management board has been invited to a brief meeting in the Ministry on Tuesday and after that meeting in the afternoon I will give you all relevant information on how to proceed with that programme and what partner we will enter into concrete talks with,” Horvat said.
In July, the European Commission sent 75 objections to the previous restructuring plan. The present plan was prepared by the new management board with Emil Bulić at the helm.
Minister Horvat said on Friday that two European groups were interested in Uljanik’s restructuring – Ukraine’s Smart Holding and Fincantieri from Italy.
Horvat was attending the “Coffee with Citizens” event and said that this was the 11th event organised with the aim of informing citizens of their consumer rights and answering their questions regarding consumer problems. “That is a very interesting area for every citizen in Croatia but also in the area of the EU,” he added.
The amendments to the Consumer Protection Act proposed by the government are aimed at providing counselling and educating consumers and I hope that consumers and retailers will use the opportunities being provided, the minister said.
He called on citizens to be careful and to be informed of their rights when purchasing something. “If anything that is unallowable occurs, they have the right to send a written complaint on the spot or on-line, if the product doesn’t correspond to its specifications. If they do not receive a response from the retailer, they can return the goods and the retailer is obliged to intervene within 30 days…if the retailer does not respond to the complaint, there are institutions that every consumer can turn to and seek help either in the form of arbitration or counselling,” he said.
Horvat said that until such time that he was appointed a minister, he too had sent complaints and returned goods, “sometimes successfully, sometimes not.”
For more on the Uljanik shipyard, click here.
