ZAGREB, January 28, 2018 – The president of the MOST opposition party, Božo Petrov, has told Hina the INA oil company’s decision to shut down a fluid catalytic cracking plant in Sisak was not just a business decision, as claimed by the government, but something that “affects Croatia’s national interests in many ways.”
“We must secure energy independence in every form because we don’t know what might happen some day. If we crush the energy sector by our own inaction, then that can’t be called a poor business decision but a betrayal of national interests,” Petrov said.
Asked about the emergency administration in the indebted Agrokor group with Ante Ramljak at the helm and if he felt that the salaries of Ramljak and his advisers, which might total 69 million euro, were contentious, Petrov said, “Of course they are contentious.” “Nobody’s ruling out the need for advisers, but to such an extent, that’s groundless. An even bigger problem is that a huge opportunity has been missed to clear things up in the Croatian economy and make a clean start for businesses and the whole economy,” Petrov said.
“When MOST left the government, it made a score of bad decisions, cementing a future crash of the bulk of the Croatian economy. They decided on the rollup model and the economy has become a debtor of huge loans which must be repaid doubly. They let a vulture fund in, of which MOST had not heard and which was not mentioned even once when we were part of the government.” MOST was part of the ruling coalition until spring 2017, when it was replaced by HNS.
Asked what he thought of Russia’s Rosneft’s offer to replace Hungary’s MOL in INA, Petrov said that MOST felt that, in order to secure energy supply, Croatia must apply market principles to manage strategic resources and the energy infrastructure.
“Everything that’s not strategic should be put on the market. Energy must be in the service of the economy and citizens and not an end in itself. The current INA situation is unsustainable. MOST is behind the business model of buying out MOL’s stake in INA without raising the public debt, which it proposed as a serious party which gives answers to all important issues and has experts,” he said, adding that the government’s model included the sale of the HEP power utility. “The government is not ambitious or serious about energy. Rosneft can be a partner in joint cooperation projects with INA.”
Asked if he would run for president, Petrov said MOST had not discussed it and that the party would decide if it would nominate someone and who when the time came.
Asked if he supported the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, he said MOST let its members and MPs decide of their own accord on all legal initiatives concerning ideological and worldview matters. He said that if there was a vote on the Convention, he would hear out all arguments.
Petrov said he was “absolutely against violence against women and every person,” but wondered if the Istanbul Convention “is about fighting violence or fighting for some other ideological things.” He said that instead of talking about the Convention, MPs should immediately embark on amending laws and securing bigger funding for fighting violence against women.
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