Opposition slams government for its role in new Fortenova Group ownership structure

After voting in the 2024 state budget on Thursday, opposition MPs took to the corridors of the parliament building, where they commented on news that the Fortenova Group, would be getting a new majority owner.

Commented on the news that Slavonian businessman Pavao Vujnovac will become the majority owner of the Fortenova Group, the successor to the Agrokor Group and the largest company operating in Croatia, opposition MPs blamed Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and his HDZ-led coalition government for creating an effective monopoly. SDP Party President Peđa Grbin: "I don't know that there is any other EU member state with such a dominant group that controls the trade in energy on the one hand, and controls the production of food and everything else that belongs to the Agrokor concern, including retail sales, on the other. This is a form of monopoly, and is the result of the work of Andrej Plenković and the HDZ."

The former Agrokor Group was forcibly taken over by the Plenković government and then transferred into new ownership under the name Fortenova Group. Agrokor founder Ivica Todorić maintains that the entire process against him and his company was criminal.

MOST MP Nikola Grmoja voiced similar concerns: "No one in Croatian history has ever been powerful as Vujnovac. Let's remember that this government sold him gas for a cent, let's remember how Plenković still keeps the Barbarić - who is responsible for that - at the head of the state electric utility, and is forbidden from touching him. This shows how much power he has. And this can be confirmed by just raising the issue, not just with the ruling coalition but part of the opposition as well."

Responding to the opposition after Thursday’s cabinet session, Deputy Prime Minister and Maritime Affairs, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković said that government has nothing to do with the composition of Fortenova's ownership structure: "The company has been consolidated and is operating at a profit. That is the situation right now. The company is stable, and there are no problems that would make us specifically focus on their business activity or anything going on in that company."

Source: HRT