Christian Danielsson News

According to a Bloomberg report, Croatia's to EU negotiator indicated the country’s next government will have to cut subsidies to the shipbuilding industry to move on with efforts to join the European Union. With 11,000 jobs at stake at five main shipyards, Croatia has put off the subsidy cuts until after elections on Nov. 25. EU rules bar government bailouts of unprofitable businesses, subjecting Croatia to the same clampdown that still provokes resentment in the eastern European countries that joined in 2004. Poland last month protested an EU order to reclaim aid payments to the Gdansk shipyard, home of the Solidarity movement. Some of the $500m in cash and guarantees that Croatia offered the shipyards in 2006 breaks EU rules, the negotiator said.