After a period of strained relations in which the government and the HUP traded accusations for the poor state of the Croatian economy, today's news conference should testify to the establishment of a partnership that will enable economic recovery.
The HUP is not a political organisation nor does it intend to deal in politics. We are the government's partners and will remain so, regardless of the sometimes "harsh exchanges," HUP acting president Ivan Miloloza said. He refuted claims that he was in conflict with Finance Minister Slavko Linic, saying "there never was nor will there ever be" such a conflict.
Cacic said the HUP was a serious institution that must work together with the government, and announced the institutionalisation of the government's partnership with employers, adding that unions, as the third social partner, would not left aside.
Cacic said he understood the employers' problems because of the stricter tax discipline at a time when the economy was barely functioning. Order, work, discipline and tax revenue must be ensured, but with measure, he added.
The HUP leaders supported Cacic's projects in the energy sector, such as the Plomin 3 and Ombla power plants, with Miloloza noting that Croatia needed every investment possible to pull out of the crisis.
Cacic said part of the public was irrational for attacking those projects, adding that they would bring the national economy billions of kuna.
Plomin and Ombla are investments totalling EUR 950 million, the biggest in Croatian history, and they are expected to cut the price of electricity by 40 per cent, employ the domestic construction companies, ensure offset jobs for other Croatian companies, and improve by 55 per cent the local ecology, said Cacic.
He announced legislative initiatives to break down the barriers slowing down investments, saying the government was "endlessly slow" in this segment.
Cacic said that on August 28, the government would select four out of 45 offers for the construction of the Plomin 3 plant and choose the partner and begin works by the end of March.
He said the first wave of public-private partnership projects, worth more than HRK 2 billion, would be launched by the end of October, and that a second wave of similar worth would follow soon after.
"The day after tomorrow we will sign the first six energy projects... We can finally start saving energy," he said.
As for Croatia's inclusion in the South Stream gas pipeline project, Cacic said it was too early to talk about it because it did not depend on Croatia alone, but Russia and the European Union as well. He said South Stream was one of the biggest, financially most profitable and strategically most important projects for Croatia, an investment of EUR 600 million and EUR 50 million in annual revenue, but that unfortunately, a previous government had turned it down.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.47)