PM says gov't to do its best to help Uljanik but in line with relevant laws

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that the situation in the shipbuilding industry was the central economic, social and political topic at the moment, underlining that the Uljanik Group was a private company and that responsibility for its business operations rested primarily with its management as well as that the government would do its best to help it, but in line with the relevant legislation and European rules on state aid.

Plenkovic recalled that the government had approved a state guarantee in the amount of HRK 700 million for Uljanik in January this year and that the guarantee had enabled the shipyard to function for the past seven months.

"This is a private company and responsibility for its performance rests primarily with its management," Plenkovic said, adding that the government wanted to help the company and its workers but that its decisions had to be in line with the relevant laws and EU rules on state aid.

"Of course, the maritime and shipbuilding industries are important for our country, they have a long tradition. In the 1980s we were the world's third biggest ship producer. That was the situation 30 years ago. Today we are around 10th place in the global shipbuilding ranking, with a share of 0.33%. In Europe, Croatia is third, with a share of 21.4%," said the prime minister.

He stressed that in the past decade the shipbuilding industry employed 2-5% of all workers and accounted for 0.8 to 1.8% of GDP, accounting for as much as 10-15% of exports.

Plenkovic went on to say that since Croatia gained independence HRK 31.3 billion had been invested to help bail out the shipbuilding sector, and that apart from the state, other stakeholders participated in those efforts as well, primarily by writing off their claims, waiving their right to property that was declared part of the maritime domain in the amount of HRK 7.8 billion, etc.

He recalled that the process of restructuring the shipbuilding sector was launched ahead of the beginning of Croatia's EU membership and that within that process the ownership structure of the shipyard in Split and of the 3. Maj shipyard had been changed, while Uljanik at the time was one of the few successful shipyards.

He noted that the period of allowed state grants as a contribution to restructuring expired in late 2017.

Plenkovic said that he would meet today with representatives of Uljanik's management and their chosen strategic partner to discuss ways of finding money for the payment of wages but that account would be taken of the sustainability of the proposed restructuring plan in dialogue with the EU.

Summing up results in the tourism sector so far, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli said at the start of the government session on Thursday that this year's very successful tourist season would be better than last year's record season.

Investments in the tourism sector in 2017 amounted to EUR 870 million and this year they have been increased to around one billion euros as part of a concept of sustainable tourism, with investments focusing on better service quality in Croatian destinations.

Statistics released so far show a 5% increase in arrivals and a 4% increase in overnight stays. Since the start of the year, 14.6 million tourists have visited Croatia, generating 80 million overnight stays, and announcements for the post-season are very good as well, it was said.

"All these indicators show that results in the tourism sector this year are very encouraging," said Plenkovic.

The prime minister also said that the number of fires had been reduced this year by 75%.

Text: Hina

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