Economy Minister Djuro Popijac suggested proceeding with the privatisation of Brodogradjevna Industrija Split, for which the DIV company from Samobor has submitted a bid, of the Brodotrogir shipyard from Trogir, for which a bid submitted by Jadranska Ulaganja from Zagreb has been selected, and of the Rijeka-based 3. Maj, for which a bid has been submitted by Crown Investment on behalf of the Austrian concern A-tec.

Popijac recalled that programmes for the restructuring of the shipyards were crucial for the continuation of the privatisation process. The programmes have been submitted to the Croatian Competition Agency and once they are harmonised, they will need to be adopted by the European Commission.

"We are on the right track when it comes to the completion of the shipyard privatisation process and meeting one of the main criteria for the completion of the EU accession talks - market competition," Popijac said.

When it comes to the Uljanik shipyard from Pula, the government has asked the EC to exempt it from the process of restructuring because that process refers to ailing shipyards, and Uljanik is not one of them, the minister said.

During the second round of privatisation of the six state-owned shipyards, four bids were submitted for three shipyards.

The Brodotrogir shipyard received two bids, one from Jadranska Ulaganja and the other from the More Trogir company.

No bids were submitted for Uljanik, Brodogradiliste Kraljevica and Brodosplit-Brodogradiliste Specijalnih Objekata.