"I don't want to have a token seat on the commission," Matijasevic told a news conference on Tuesday, stressing that the government and PM Ivo Sanader should become involved in the restructuring of the shipbuilding industry, which was in an unenviable situation.
The commission, which consists of Deputy PM Damir Polancec, Economy Minister Branko Vukelic, Finance Minister Ivan Suker and the State Secretary for the Economy, Vladimir Vrankovic, was formed in March last year, but it still has not drawn up a final proposal for the restructuring of the shipbuilding industry.
Matijasevic said that the only shipyard with a positive balance sheet was Pula's "Uljanik". A report on the operation of that shipyard should have been completed in October last year, but that has not been done yet, Matijasevic said.
The HUS has also requested the replacement of the management board of the Kraljevica shipyard due to the alarming situation in the company and its poor business performance, but it has not received any response, Matijasevic said.
The national shipbuilding industry has been accumulating losses over the last 15 years and in the meantime hundreds of people doing business with that sector, primarily from the so-called import lobbying group, have become millionaires, Matijasevic said.
The government should introduce strict supervision of the shipyards' business transactions, notably the procurement sector. More than 40,000 jobs and over 2,000 business entities are dependent on the shipbuilding industry, through which they are putting their products on the international market and making an annual turnover of 2.5 billion kuna, Matijasevic said.