Vlajčić: The priority is to determine the exact state of Croatian forests

Minister of Agriculture David Vlajčić stated on Monday in Brussels that it is an absolute priority for him and the new management of Croatian forests (HŠ) to determine the overall state of this state-owned company so that it can operate transparently and responsibly.

Vlajčić said that the previous management of HŠ, which his predecessor Josip Dabro was very critical of and mentioned criminal activities, has already filed criminal complaints to establish the facts.

– Certain problems have been detected, and it is certainly an absolute priority for the new management and me to determine the complete state. Our focus should be on establishing all the facts and bringing operations to a transparent and responsible manner – said the minister.

He also commented on today’s announcement from the European Commission that it has launched an investigation into possible illegal state aid to Croatian forests and some wood companies. He stated that communication on this matter has been ongoing since 2021 and expressed the government’s and ministry’s readiness to provide the Commission with all the information it requests.

He noted that this is a preliminary investigation in which the Commission is gathering information. The European Commission, in fact, announced on Monday that it has opened a detailed investigation into Croatian state aid for wood companies to verify whether it constitutes illegal aid.

The Commission stated that it opened the investigation following a complaint alleging that Croatian forests (HŠ), a company wholly owned by the state, and some Croatian wood processing companies benefited from state aid incompatible with the internal market.

The aid was allegedly granted in such a way that HŠ did not pay the Croatian state the exclusive right to manage and commercially exploit Croatian public forests, which could be considered an advantage over private forest owners. It was also alleged that HŠ offered some Croatian wood processing companies the purchase of wood at non-market prices.

Vlajčić participated for the first time on Monday in a meeting of the agriculture ministers of EU member states, who discussed, among other things, the vision for the future common agricultural policy that the Commission announced last week.

– There were discussions on two extremely important topics for Croatia, the vision for future agricultural policy and the preservation of rural areas in the EU – said Vlajčić. He stated that family farms are the backbone of agricultural policy without which there is neither production nor preservation of rural areas.

– In all discussions, we will strongly advocate for the interests of small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises and we will be their voice at the European level – said Vlajčić.