PM: Extra effort must be made to reach Agrokor settlement by July 10

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at the start of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning that the emergency administration in Agrokor and all participants in the restructuring of this indebted food and retail conglomerate must make an extra effort to reach a settlement by July 10 as provided for by the law on Agrokor and to ensure its functioning in the future.

Speaking of Monday's resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Martina Dalic, Plenkovic said he had accepted her resignation in light of developments concerning the restructuring of Agrokor and "certain details which from today's perspective could have been done with greater consideration and transparency so that, in my opinion, the very successful process of preventing an economic and financial crisis in Croatia would not be threatened."

He recalled that Agrokor and its affiliates were facing a bankruptcy a year ago, which would have affected the company's retail network, jobs, the tourist season and the stability of the national economy in general.

Speaking of the restructuring process, the prime minister said that within a very short period of time Croatia had created a legal framework that was good enough so that it did not have to use budget money and that nationalisation of the company would certainly have increased public debt, which is currently on the decline.

"Right now, we all, and here I mean in particular the emergency administration and all participants in this process, must make an extra effort to reach a settlement by July 10 as provided for by the law on the emergency administration, to ensure the functioning of the company in the future and all those connected with it, and what is most important to us, to ensure their economic future," Plenkovic said.

He recalled that the Constitutional Court said last week that the law on the emergency administration was in line with the Constitution and that failure by the government to act in such circumstances would have been unconstitutional.

"We did what we could in such extraordinary circumstances with good intentions, to do good for the Croatian economy, and we will continue our involvement in this regard. The members of the Temporary Creditors Council, with whom we talked yesterday, have similar ambitions. The parliamentary majority also fully supports efforts to bring this process to a completion and it is up to us to help the emergency administration to finalise this process successfully," Plenkovic said.

Text: Hina

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