The decision by Commercial Court judge Mislav Kolakusic to suspend the pre-bankruptcy settlement proceedings in the case of power transmission equipment manufacturer Dalekovod could have far-reaching consequences not just for Dalekovod, but also for many other companies and their workers, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Croatia (SSSH) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The SSSH said that the existing Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement Act was a chance for the recovery of companies whose accounts were blocked and where workers had not received their wages in months. Any termination or blockade of the pre-bankruptcy settlement system would make the recovery process impossible and would lead to companies' liquidation, it said.
The SSSH said that any problems in the implementation of the law should be dealt with along the way rather than compromise the entire mechanism which could save many jobs and which "represents one of the few concrete measures directed at salvaging the Croatian economy."
The Croatian Association of Trade Unions (HUS) said the judge's decision challenged legal security, economic flows and the efforts by companies, workers and creditors to overcome the problem of illiquidity and lay the ground for the normalisation of the national economy.
