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Croatia sells struggling shipyard, key for EU entry

28 February 2013, 19:09 CET
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(ZAGREB) - The Croatian government on Thursday privatised the country's largest shipyard, Brodosplit, thus meeting a key condition for its July entry into the European Union.

"The signing of this deal brings to an end the restructuring of the shipbuilding industry" that started in 2009, said Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak, who signed the contract selling the loss-making shipyard to the local company DIV.

He said the deal enables shipbuilding to continue at Brodosplit and accomplishes "maybe the most painful task before Croatia's EU entry".

The European Commission approved the Brodosplit restructuring plan and draft privatisation agreement earlier this month, the minister said.

The DIV company bought 99 percent of the shipyard's shares for some 3.7 million kunas (487,000 euros, $638,000).

It pledged to implement 1.7-billion-euro restructuring plan by 2022 and said it would keep some 2,500 out of the 3,300 workers currently employed.

Restructuring of its heavily subsidised shipyards was among the key issues Croatia had to meet on its long path towards becoming the 28th member of the EU on July 1.

More than 10,000 people are employed in the shipyards, which are estimated to have accumulated losses of about 3.7 billion euros during the past 20 years.

The privatisation of two other smaller shipyards is expected to be completed soon without difficulty.


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