ZAGREB, January 17th, 2018 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that seven renowned finance houses had submitted bids to the government’s call for consultants in the buyout of Hungarian oil company MOL’s stake in its Croatian peer INA.
“A month ago the government invited renowned finance houses to participate as government consultants in the buyout of the stake in INA. Given that the call ended the day before yesterday, how many bids have been received and when will the government hire the consultants? When will they make recommendations and how much will they cost us?” Božo Petrov of the opposition party MOST asked Plenković during Question Time.
Plenković said seven bids had been received from eminent houses. “The call did not define the deadline by which the best bidder will be chosen, the energy ministry will analyse those bids and when everything is taken into account, the best consultant will be chosen.”
He said Hungary was willing to resolve this issue swiftly and equitably. “Those two words are the essence of what will happen in the months ahead.”
The PM said the INA-MOL situation had burdened Croatian-Hungarian relations and that this was not good. “Those relations are more important, also in terms of the economic relations between the two states, than one energy cooperation issue.”
Dissatisfied with the answer, Petrov asked about specific deadlines and measures. “I appeal to you so that the INA situation doesn’t end like the others, so that this government doesn’t become a government of failed promises,” he said.
