Croatia will decide who will be actor on energy market, says PM

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday said that other countries are expressing their preference on whether they want to and in what way be actors on the Croatian energy market, however, it is  Croatia that will decided on that.

Asked to comment on a statement by US Ambassador to Croatia, Robert Kohorst, that Washington doesn't want INA to be bought by a Russian company, Plenkovic said that as far he understood, they had come here with regard to the LNG terminal.

"The LNG terminal is a strategic project for us and is exceptionally important to secure and diversify gas supplies, not just for Croatia but for a large part of central and eastern Europe," Plenkovic underscored after a conference on the single digital market organised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and the European Commission Representation in Croatia.

He reiterated that a specific law on LNG would be adopted and that that project was continuing and talks had been held in Brussels in that regard.

"As far as preferences are concerned about who and in what way, wishes to be an actor on the Croatian energy market, those are the opinions of other countries however, we will decide on that," Plenkovic said.

On Monday, Ambassador Kohorst said that Washington doesn't want INA to be bought by a Russian company. It is up to Croatia to decide to whom it will sell the company, however, we think that that would be a mistake, Kohorst told reporters. In addition he described Russia as a disturbing factor in the region.

The Americans are meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, violating the principle of a free market and are conducting policies of unfair competition, Russia's Ambassador to Croatia, Anvar Azimov said on Tuesday in response to Kohorst's statement.

"That statement is yet another example of the U.S. 's policies of unfair competition, meddling in the internal affairs of another country, violating the principle of a free market economy," Azimov said.

Commenting on his talks with visiting Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Monday, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that it was important to him that Croatia dealt with issues dating back to the time of the breakup of Yugoslavia, the time of the aggression of the Slobodan Milosevic regime against Croatia and occupation of a part of its territory, "which prevented and slowed down the country's development and integration with the EU and NATO."

"And for that we didn't even get an apology from anyone," he stressed.

Plenkovic went on to say that in developing relations with neighbours it was important to settle all outstanding issues, which was why he discussed with Vucic not only Europe's new enlargement strategy, the situation in the region and economic cooperation, but also outstanding issues between the two countries.

"And the outstanding issues are the war missing, the border, war reparations, protection of minorities, succession and the issue of cultural goods. We have to deal with all that in the period ahead," he said.

Plenkovic said that he had agreed with Vucic that the two countries' coordinators for outstanding issues would form a special task force to deal with the topic of war reparations.

Speaking about the issue of the border on the Danube river, he said that due to "Slovenia's manipulation" Croatia's experience with arbitration was not good.

"However, that does not mean that some other arbitration case could not be conducted in line with entirely different, solid rules and principles of international law. But we first have to hold bilateral talks, and then see which international forum to possibly approach and with what kind of an agreement," he said.

Plenkovic: Protesters clearly articulated their position on Vucic

Plenkovic would not comment on President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic's assessment that people protesting against the Serbian president's visit were politically marginal, noting that the protesters were people who had clearly articulated their position on the neighbouring country's leader with regard to his past.

"You should ask the President about that," he said when asked to comment on Grabar-Kitarovic's comment.

"Croatia is a democracy and those who for a number of reasons wanted to manifest their dissatisfaction, did so. That was not the first time it happened, such things happened in the case of some other visits, too," Plenkovic said.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday that contracts between the Agrokor Group and consultants hired in the process of the overhaul of that debt-laden conglomerate seemed to be correct in terms of their legality, as they were contracts between private companies, however, he found the ethical aspect of the contracts to be problematic.

Asked by reporters, on the margins of an international conference on the single digital market, whether he had made any decision in relation to Agrokor's emergency administration and a possible conflict of interest over hired consultants, Plenkovic said he had made no decision yet.

"The report (on the matter) is long and exhaustive. It seems that there are no legal dilemmas, as the contracts are between private companies. What I find to be problematic is the ethical aspect," Plenkovic said.

After some media outlets reported about fees for consultancy services and the involvement in the consulting process of a company for which current emergency administrator Ante Ramljak used to work, Plenkovic requested documentation on the matter.

Asked today whether the government should act on this information considering that creditors have expressed satisfaction with how the restructuring process has been going on, Plenkovic said that he and his cabinet found it important that the restructuring process was completed successfully, resulting in a settlement and enabling companies making up the Agrokor Group to continue doing business and keep jobs.

The purpose of the specific law on this process is to make sure that Croatia's economy and financial system remain stable, according to Plenkovic.

"This is a priority at this moment," Plenkovic said.

Text: Hina

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