ZAGREB, 13 May 2022- Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Davor Filipović said on Friday that the Adriatic Oil Pipeline can significantly increase its oil transport capacity toward Hungary even without additional investment and Croatia will work on becoming an important factor in Europe's energy sector.

Responding to questions from reporters at a press conference, where he presented a call for applications for co-financing from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO), regarding the statement by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that Hungary had the sea taken away from it, Filipović said that Orban's statement was absolutely inappropriate.

In the context of the entire situation, Filopvić said that Croatia is working on becoming an important factor with regard to Europe's energy sector.

"Janaf's current capacity can be increased, without any investment whatsoever, when it comes to oil transport to Hungary, while with certain investment it can be doubled," Filipović said. He added that that is the direction Croatia will go in and that it will take advantage of the present situation to position itself as best it can regarding energy in Europe.

He noted that according to the current capacity, Janaf can transport 11.4 million tonnes of oil to Hungary a year, and currently it is transporting just 2 million. Filipović said that this shows that without any further investment it can significantly increase oil transport toward Hungary.

"In this situation, Croatia is a solution both for Hungary, depending on the outcome of the sanctions, and for other EU countries as well," claimed Filipović.

According to Janaf's website, the pipeline designed capacity is 34 million tonnes of crude oil transported annually (MTA) and the installed capacity is 20 MTA. The system was built for the needs of refineries in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina  (24 MTA), and for the users in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (10 MTA).

The prime minister's economic adviser, Zvonimir Savić, said that the prime minister has said several times that the recent circumstances have put Croatia in a position of additional energy strength. That means that its LNG terminal could become a "more serious factor."

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ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Tomislav Ćorić confirmed on Wednesday he was leaving the government, saying he was satisfied with what he had done during the last five and a half years in office.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting, Ćorić described his term in the government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković as five and a half years of work experience with difficult and less difficult moments. He said he was leaving with mixed feelings, but that ultimately he was satisfied.

He said that his decision making was guided by his profession and that he would not change any of his decisions. He recalled that his decisions concerned the LNG terminal and added that during his term Croatia had made progress in waste management, utility infrastructure and energy.

Ćorić said he was confident that his successor, Davor Filipović, would do his best in this largest government department.

Ćorić did not explicitly say whether he would continue his career at the Croatian National Bank, as speculated in the media, stressing that the Zagreb School of Economics was his base.

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ZAGREB, 15 April (2022) - So far, 4270 Croatian businesses have received a total of HRK 128 million (€17m) in subsidies to cushion the impact of increased natural gas prices on their operations, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Tomislav Ćorić said on Friday.

"In the first two weeks of the implementation of the government measure to mitigate the consequences of increased energy prices, 4,270 businesses applied for a natural gas subsidy allocated by the Ministry and HRK 128 million has been granted. We invite other SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) to apply," Ćorić wrote on Twitter.

On 1 April, the Ministry, in cooperation with the HAMAG-BICRO agency for SMEs, launched an aid scheme for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises with an annual natural gas consumption of up to 10 GWh, providing a subsidy of HRK 0.15 per kWh. This is de minimis aid aimed at reducing natural gas bills. Under the scheme, every month businesses pay the amount stated on their bills, while the Ministry pays the subsidised amount directly to the natural gas provider. The monthly subsidised amount is automatically deducted from the businesses' vouchers.

The total projected amount of this measure is HRK 600 million (€80m).

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