ZAGREB, March 5, 2018 – Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said on Monday he hoped the new emergency administrator for the ailing Agrokor food and retail conglomerate Fabris Peruško would successfully bring its restructuring to an end and reach a settlement that would salvage the company.
“Changes have occurred and, in my opinion, they were justified. I believe that the new emergency administrator will successfully bring that process to an end and that a settlement will be reached that will salvage the company, jobs and Croatian suppliers. I hope that by summer, we can finally say that the huge project to salvage Agrokor has been brought to a successful end,” Jandroković told Croatian Radio in an interview.
He confirmed that Peruško and his deputy Irena Weber would face the Committee on the Economy on April 5. “That practice was introduced by the committee chairman Darinko Kosor (HSLS) and already at its first meeting that proved to be beneficial. I consider that for the sake of the public and MPs, it is beneficial to conduct that form of examination,” he said.
He didn’t agree with the claim that the previous committee meeting marked the beginning of the end of the former emergency administrator Ante Ramljak. When it became known that a contract existed between Alix Partners and companies where the former administrator worked, it was obvious that this was an undesirable business practice, and in my opinion it was clear that that could not go on any further, Jandroković said. “The changes were necessary and the committee meeting only set the course and sped up that process,” he added.
Jandroković expects the law on emergency procedures in systemic companies to pass the test of constitutionality and in the next few months it will be obvious whether that law needs to be amended.
“In my opinion the motion will not pass, and the deputy prime minister will not be replaced,” Jandroković said about an opposition motion for a no confidence vote in Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Martina Dalić, noting that it was the opposition’s legitimate right to question the work of ministers and government.
He commented on the work of the council for dealing with the consequences of undemocratic regimes and said that it had invested a great deal of effort, which needs to be respected. However, he was not happy that the recommendations had met with hostility in some quarters. Talks on that should continue and passions need to be toned down, but some people involved in public debate are doing it in an unacceptable way, he said. These recommendations constitute very good material to start a debate and efforts should be made to find a solution in a civilised atmosphere, he said. Jandroković agreed that it would not be easy to translate the recommendations into legislation.
