Fight Club: The State Needs to Take Responsibility for Uljanik

The County Prefect of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Zlatko Komadina, due to the difficult situation in shipyards, proposed the adoption of the lex shipyard law and the establishment of a crisis headquarters for shipbuilding.

Komadina advocates for the expansion of legal regulations to include legal, not just political, responsibility of the state over shipbuilding, specifically the extension of lex Agrokor to legal entities and companies such as Uljanik and 3. maj.

In this case, the alibi cannot be that the restructuring plan is inadequate, as laws such as lex Agrokor or lex shipyard disempower management and the state assumes responsibility.

He also proposes the establishment of a crisis headquarters for shipbuilding with representatives from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the management of Uljanik and 3. maj, and the owners, in order to urgently find solutions. He emphasizes that he discussed the state of shipbuilding with Andrej Plenković, who, he says, expressed critical views towards the management of Uljanik regarding the circumstances of seeking a loan from HBOR, and tasked Finance Minister Zdravko Marić with finding a way for HBOR to respond, as there is currently no other solution.

Marić: The Government Does Not Shy Away from Its Role

Minister Marić commented on the possibilities of paying wages to shipyard workers who began a strike on Wednesday morning, stating that HBOR strives, wants, and is willing to help entrepreneurship, but they also have their limitations. He also reflected on the government’s possibilities regarding this case, as reported by N1.

– The government does not shy away from its role, but we know what the ownership and management model of that company is. Various guarantees have been approved, but all of that comes to an end, said Marić.

When asked if a change in management would help the situation in the shipyards, he said he would not enter into hypothetical questions, adding that the last assistance was provided at the beginning of this year.

If the Uljanik shipyard fails to find money for wage payments and continued operations, the first guarantees could come due by the end of the year. When asked if the management of Uljanik is blackmailing the government, Marić said:

– I am not talking about blackmail, but we all need to behave responsibly, Marić responded to the question of whether the management of Uljanik is blackmailing the government.

He gave the same response to the question of whether shipbuilding is a bottomless pit into which billions of kuna have been poured over the last two decades.

– We are all taxpayers, we must behave responsibly, emphasizes Marić.