Croatia tries again to privatise ailing shipyards
(ZAGREB) - Croatia's government said Thursday it would try again to privatise its struggling shipyards, an important condition for EU membership, after an earlier call for international tenders failed.
The decision to launch another international tender by February 15 will involve five of the six shipyards, the government said on its website.
A decision on the Uljanik shipyard, the only one of the six that is currently solvent, was delayed until next week as the Economy Minister Djuro Popijac said management might be interested in buying it.
The Uljanik management later said this was not the case and there had been a misunderstanding.
The shipyards were first put up for sale in August but only two offers were received and both were rejected by Zagreb.
The European Union is insisting that Zagreb restructures its ailing shipyards as part of Zagreb's negotiations to join the 27-nation bloc.
The state-owned shipyards employ around 11,500 people.
Experts warn that all of them need a radical overhaul, saying they are technologically inferior to their global rivals and suffer from low productivity, overstaffing and outdated management.
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