PM: There will not be any new taxes. Gov't wants to find a solution that wil reduce the costs of the healthcare system

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday that the only possible option available to the Croatian government concerning Agrokor had been to find a legal and institutional framework that would prevent the ailing corporation from crashing and confirmed that communication had occurred between his ministers and Agrokor's owner Ivica Todoric, and that they were working in accordance with the law and best practice.

Asked by reporters whether it was Todoric who had filed an anonymous criminal complaint 'targeting' top government officials, Plenkovic said that it was not up to him to assess criminal complaints.

"That is primarily up to the police, the State Prosecutor's Office (DORH)," he said and added that the government had several options in the circumstances of such a crisis in which the largest business in the country was threatening to collapse.

"You can do nothing - it is a private company, free market, we have bankruptcy mechanisms and what happens happens. You have the option to provide a little more money in some creative way and to find yourself in the same situation three months down the track, because it is obvious that they who were tasked with lending liquidity, and that primarily means banks, credit institutions, business partners, no longer wanted to do so," Plenkovic said. The option of nationalisation, he added, was also out of the question in a Western democratic country like Croatia.

The only possible option, based on comparative practice in other countries, was to find a legal and institutional framework that would prevent the company from crashing, loss of jobs, enable restructuring and prevent what is most important, an uncontrolled chain reaction that would have affected the Croatian economy, the financial system and finally the tourism season, he said.

According to him, all the set objectives concerning Agrokor have been met.

"We have appointed an emergency administrator to manage this process and expect that all the expert advice being provided by global houses, not just auditors but also those engaged in business, financial and legal restructuring and consulting, will help us reach our goal eventually and that is the sustainable functioning of companies within the Agrokor system, keeping jobs and maintaining the stability of the Croatian economy," the prime minister underscored.

Asked what he thought Todoric's motives were to publish posts on hisweb site in the past few days, Plenkovic said he didn't know. "I have been exceptionally considerate in this entire process of communication concerning the crisis in the largest company from the very start when it came under the government's radar and I will continue to be so."

He stressed that he hadn't seen Agrokor's financial statement and that he would comment on it when it was released.

Asked to comment on a meeting of Finance Minister Zdravko Maric and Deputy Prime Minister Martina Dalic with Todoric and to comment on the anonymous criminal complaint, Plenkovic said that he didn't know who filed the complaint.

"What I do know is that all ministers in my government are working according to the law and best practice, and wish to responsibly contribute to the challenges emerging on the agenda of our government, not by any will of ours but due to the circumstances at hand caused by some other stakeholders and certainly not the Croatian government or ministers in this government. There has been some communication and all that communication has no substance that could in any way be in contradiction to what the government has decided," Plenkovic said.

Asked whether hospital debts which are estimated at HRK 3 billion would be resolved by rationalising the costs of the healthcare system or with new taxes, Plenkovic said that there would not be any new taxes.

He underlined that the government wanted to find a solution that would reduce the costs of the healthcare system and rationalise expenditure.

"It is a fact that modern health services cost a lot, either in Croatia or Europe or globally. Medicines cost, modern apparatuses cost and they are essential for health services. That is an issue that the government will approach in a comprehensive manner," he said.

In reference to a possible inquiry commission on Agrokor, Plenkovic said that the work of any inquiry commission should not influence the activities being undertaken by judicial institutions nor should such a commission be conditioned by any obligations on the parliament in selecting new constitutional judges.

Text: Hina

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