The Hide and Seek Game of Investors and the State

I do not wish to generalize, and it is an understatement to say that I do not like such discourse. On the contrary, just the other day I was pleasantly surprised by the professionalism and, at least seemingly, the enthusiasm of some high-ranking state officials.

And I admit, I had prejudices. It is a pity that they are still true endemic species, so I still have prejudices.
How, indeed, to explain what is happening with the sagas of Brodosplit and/or TLM, to mention just the large and exposed cases. How is it possible that no one knows where the short circuit originated and why necessary decisions are not made, not for months but for years. Tomislav Debeljak, the owner of DIV, regardless of what one thinks of him and the whole case, received the green light for the takeover of Brodosplit two years ago, from both the Croatian government and the European Commission. Only now, when it has burned down to the nails, allegedly, it is not exactly known what kind of purchase agreement has gone for the buyer’s signature. What was done in the previous two years? Responsibility was passed from the Agency for Management of State Property, to the Ministry of Economy, then to the Ministry of Finance, and so on in circles. This is a game that has been perfected to the smallest details in the voids of administration. It is essential to remove responsibility from oneself, even if the world collapses. Of course, there is a lot of ignorance involved. The fact that someone in a state institution is doing something who does not understand and does not know how to do their job and is afraid to sign some paper, especially if millions and billions are on it, should not be a problem for taxpayers, but it is.
It is similar with the saga around the privatization of TLM that took place five years ago, with significant circumstances still not clarified to this day. Due to ambiguities about who did what and how during and after the sale of TLM to a domestic consortium, the previous buyer of the Rolling Mill, the Austrian Montana Tech, fled without looking back. They were not clear about what obligations would arise for them once all those circumstances around state aid, HEP, electricity, etc., were clarified, so they decided they did not want to participate in that game of hide and seek with the Croatian administration. How is it possible that the situation has not been clarified in five years? Well, because some state officials would have to enter the problem and take responsibility for its resolution.

The third case of procrastination is allegedly the lobbying of Croatian bureaucrats for the retention of privileges from the CEFTA agreement after we enter the EU. Food companies for whom this is a vital issue rely on these state bureaucrats to solve their problem, which is their big problem. In the game of the state with investors and entrepreneurs, as in the case of CEFTA-EU, it is not even disputed that little more can be achieved here, but that bureaucrats will not sincerely and timely say: ‘The chances are minimal, take care of yourselves.’ Instead, the matter is always ‘in process’, ‘negotiations are ongoing’….. Otherwise, it would mean that someone has taken responsibility for a concrete move and has eliminated the reason for their ’employment’ or at least the daily allowances for frequent trips to endless agreements in Brussels.

In the first two cases, only an external force, this time the EU, could change things. In the third, both citizens and entrepreneurs should finally understand that there is no State that solves problems. It seems that it can only create them. And time, as a category that is vital for entrepreneurs, is relative to state officials to the point of pain. While in Africa they would say ‘you have watches, but we have time’, they have both watches and time.