Hungary sent a clear message to Croatia when the Government asked national oil company MOL to consider selling its shares in Croatian counterpart INA, Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi told commercial HirTV on 3 October 2013.

“The time has come when Hungary can no longer hide its opinion but this does not exclude the possibility of coming to an agreement,” Minister Martonyi said.

The Minister said the Government’s move was “not drastic” and it came in the wake of “signals that Croatia does not hold Central European cooperation and the strengthening of economic ties high on its agenda”. Minister Martonyi referred to a remark by the Croatian finance minister that Croatia should get rid of MOL, “a bad business partner”.

If the Croatian Government now thinks that it was a bad decision to sell INA shares to MOL, it would be better to sell MOL's portfolio, he said. “Energy cooperation may be less important for Croatia than we thought,” he added.

Earlier the Hungarian Government instructed the Minister of Justice and top officials of the Hungarian National Asset Management company, which exercises the ownership rights of state-owned shares in oil and gas company MOL, to assess possible legal steps within civil and criminal law that could be taken to address accusations against Hungary and MOL in connection with a MOL-INA case.

The Hungarian Government has asked the oil company’s management to review MOL’s portfolio, and if necessary, prepare the sale of INA shares.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)