Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor launched a ship for the domestic shipping company Jadrolinija at a ceremony in Split's Brodosplit shipyard on Friday, saying that her government would do all it could to help the shipyard maintain production.
The ship can carry 1,200 passengers and 138 cars. It was built as part of a government-backed project for the construction of vessels for domestic shipping companies.
Jadrolinija CEO Slavko Loncar said this was the eighth ship built with government aid, adding that his company intended to take loans for the construction of new vessels in domestic shipyards over the next five years. He said that Jadrolinija transported nearly 10 million passengers annually.
The launch ceremony was preceded by a meeting of Kosor, Finance Minister Ivan Suker, Transport Minister Bozidar Kalmeta, Economy Minister Djuro Popijac and Privatisation Fund president Vedran Duvnjak with Brodosplit's management and trade union leaders.
Kosor told reporters that the management and the trade unions accepted the proposal that work should begin immediately on a possible Plan B in case the second round of privatisation failed.
Kosor expressed confidence that the second privatisation round would be successful. "The government will do all it can so that production here will continue if privatisation fails."
Asked whether the government was under pressure from Brussels over the privatisation of the shipyards, Kosor said that "no one is pressuring us," stressing that Croatia's "strategic and historic goal" was to complete EU accession negotiations this year.
