Finance Minister Slavko Linic told reporters after the government session on Thursday that he could not say whether the contract between the Croatian petrochemical group Dioki and Turkey's Celiskan had been signed "because the government is not negotiating with Celiskan", adding however that the government was willing to help the restructuring of the Dioki Group so that its company from Omisalj - Dina Petrokemija - would be given an opportunity to resume production.
Clearly, the negotiations between Dioki and Celiskan "are very, very difficult." Linic said adding it was not the Turkish investor's fault that the negotiations were long, as there had been investors in the past interested in entering this transaction, but were unsuccessful.
He underlined the government was prepared to assist the restructuring of Dioki, adding however, that the primary interest was to secure money for the payment of back salaries to Dina Petrokemija and Dioki workers.
Linic dismissed the opposition's criticism that the government was socially insensitive, stressing that the only way for the government to pay out the late salaries was if the bankruptcy proceedings was launched and that workers too could initiate bankruptcy.
