PM Plenkovic says Croatia exposed to hybrid media actions

Only naive people can believe that Croatia is not exposed to hybrid media actions, Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in Brussels on Friday ahead of the beginning of the EU summit with the Eastern Partnership members.

We should cast a glance at the topics of today's meeting, the meeting will revolve around hybrid media actions. There are references to many elections, referendums held in Europe. Only naive people can think that Croatia is not part of that process, Plenkovic told reporters while coming to the summit meeting.

The Eastern Partnership  is a joint initiative involving the EU and six Eastern European partners: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The Partnership id designed to reinforce the political association and economic integration with the above-mentioned six countries.

Asked by the press about media reports in connection with a report made by the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) about possibility of national security to be at risk due to the developments in the heavily indebted private food and retail corporation "Agrokor", and the discussion on that topic by the parliamentary national security committee, Plenkovic said that he had not followed those media reports closely.

On Thursday, the parliamentary Domestic Policy and National Security Committee discussed possible threats to the country's national security because of the situation in the ailing Agrokor group, based on a Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) report that the committee had requested. The committee's meeting ended inconclusively. Committee's chairman Ranko Ostojic of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that three conclusions had been put forward but that not one was adopted.

"SOA submits reports about all issues relevant for Croatia, including security aspects in the narrow sense to aspects of economic and financial threats. The situation in Agrokor at the start of this year was such that it required the passage of a special law and additional engagement. All that is being conducted (in connection with Agrokor) is for the sake of long-term restructuring and maintaining jobs as well as for the sake of making the corporation operative again, generating new revenues and, of course, reaching settlement with creditors, which is is of the utter importance," Plenkovic said.

In reference to the European Commission's assessment that risks to Croatia's  economic outlook "are related to developments in the ongoing restructuring of the large conglomerate Agrokor",  the premier pointed out difference between the two things.

The committee was convened at the request of Opposition lawmakers who wanted to keep the focus at the topic of Agrokor, what they are doing now. Contrary to them, the government has the steady and consistent attitude. We are faced with that problem, we found the ways how to deal with it and we stick to that plan. There are deadlines in the law and we will try to reach the settlement until the expiry of the deadlines, and enable the corporation be sustainable,"  Plenkovic said. 

Text: Hina

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