April 12 (SeeNews) - Croatia's prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday he does not expect to have issues with the European Commission over the recently adopted law regulating extraordinary administration in ailing Croatian companies of systemic importance.
"What is most important is that there will be no direct state aid, nor will any debt held by Agrokor become state debt under this law", Plenkovic said, according to a government press release.
Plenkovic said that he recently discussed the emergency legislation, commonly known as Lex Agrokor, with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
"Our approach to this crisis was the only possible solution, we had to find legal grounds for this arrangement, it is very well balanced", he said.
Plenkovic added that the law has been translated for the European Commission and that as early as next week a delegation of experts will travel to Brussels for consultations.
"I see no problem in this. Other countries have had similar situations", the PM commented.
The law was drafted by Croatia's government and adopted by parliament in response to financial troubles at the country's biggest private concern, Agorkor, which emerged recently. The legislation allows the government to appoint temporary administrators to lead a restructuring process in distressed companies for a period of up to 15 months, during which the repayment of company debt is put on hold.
Earlier this week, financial and economic expert Ante Ramljak was named as Agrokor receiver, responsible for leading the restructuring process in the ailing food and retail concern.