ZAGREB, January 20, 2018 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Saturday that shutting down the Sisak oil refinery would have serious repercussions for the population in that city 50 kilometres southeast of Zagreb, and that it was essential to do all that is necessary to salvage the refinery.
We all do our utmost to help Sisak, and I also do all I can for the refinery, although it does not fall directly within my remit, the President said during the observance of Mimosa Day, held at Zagreb's Cvjetni Trg square on Saturday, aimed at raising the public awareness of the importance of cervical cancer prevention.
"We will continue doing our best to salvage the refinery. I think that it would be disaster for Sisak, if the refinery closed down, after the local steel mill was shut, resulting in many layoffs that affected thousands of people," the President said.
On Friday, the INA oil and gas company stated that it had proposed organisational changes in the Sisak refinery which envisage the transport of products between the Sisak and Rijeka refineries and closing the FCC plant in the Sisak refinery, which will result in a maximum 40 layoffs in the second half of the year.
The announced organisational change triggered strong reactions from the opposition. The leader of GLAS party Anka Mrak Taritaš said on Saturday that MOL, which holds some 49% in INA, failed to keep its promise to invest into modernisation of INA's two refineries, one in Rijeka and the other in Sisak.
