Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and First Deputy PM Radimir Cacic said in Sisak on Saturday the government would urgently see to the solving of the problems of Sisak's steel mill, Herbos and other failing local companies, adding that Sisak's economy had hit bottom and the only way was up.
We haven't come to Sisak with a magic wand and demagogic promises but want to work on projects that will help the companies in trouble, Milanovic said after meeting town and county officials and union representatives.
The state does not have the money to directly help the steel mill and Herbos, a manufacturer of plant protection products, whose more than 1,000 workers are out of a job, but it can create conditions so that they pull out of the crisis by ensuring the terms, issuing permits and revoking duties, said Milanovic.
Cacic announced the establishment of a special team to work on such projects, saying one person would be put in charge of the steel mill. He said the government and the mill's owner, the US company CMC, and the local authorities would deal with the required permits in which, he said, the power supply company HEP had played the negative part, as well as solve infrastructure and antidumping duty issues.
Within three months we will issue the permits without which, for example, CMC cannot sell the steel mill, within one month we will solve the infrastructure "Gordian knot", and by the spring, with help from US diplomats, we will remove the antidumping obstacle of 29 per cent of added duty on exports to the European Union, said Cacic.
He said the government would not allow the liquidation of Herbos, which is in receivership, but try, together with the receiver, to retain the core production until the company recovered.
The government will not allow the collapse of Sisak's refinery or drink manufacturer Segestica either, both of which are at serious risk, said Cacic.
