"We should wait for the negotiations to finish first," Linic told the press in the Parliament building when asked how the issue of management rights over INA would be solved.

"I want to see how the negotiating principles will be set, but as far as the government is concerned, its interest is to amend the shareholders' agreement and return to square one -- investments in the oil and gas fields and in the two refineries. The toughest part of the negotiations will always be the gas business, which has caused enormous damage, and actually we still don't know what will happen to it. This, in a way, is connected with the verdict for Sanader (in the INA-MOL case). I expect the talks to be very tough, but they must provide answers to these questions," Linic said.

When asked if the government had formed a negotiating team, Linic said: "You have to ask the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister that, because that does not fall within the authority of the Finance Minister, but of the Economy Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. I just said what I thought should be done, but I am not involved in the negotiations."

The business daily Poslovni Dnevnik said on Thursday that the government next week planned to dissolve the old negotiating team for talks with MOL on amending the shareholders' agreement for INA and to appoint a new team of negotiators. The newspaper said that the new team would comprise Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak and the head of the State Property Management Office, Mladen Pejnovic, as well as special advisers, including INA Management Board member Davor Mayer and the adviser to Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and chairman of the INA Supervisory Board, Sinisa Petrovic.