‘Unfortunate’ that MOL-INA dispute ‘overshadows’ Hungary-Croatia cooperation, says Hungarian FM

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, in an interview to Croatian public service television HRT broadcast late on Wednesday, called it “unfortunate” that the dispute surrounding Hungarian oil and gas company MOL and Croatian energy company INA was “overshadowing” Hungarian-Croatian cooperation, which he said could otherwise be “excellent”.

“If we look at just the numbers, trade and cooperation, when it comes to investments, are thriving,” Szijjártó said. “More than half a million Hungarians spend their summer holidays in Croatia, and whenever we mention the Croatian people, we speak of them as friends.”

The minister called it “truly sad” that the MOL-INA dispute was still dragging on.

MOL holds just under half of INA’s shares but has management rights in the company. The other big stakeholder is the state of Croatia. The sides have long been at odds over INA’s strategy.

“It’s hard to understand why it [the dispute] is even on the agenda and why we don’t try to settle it rationally and pragmatically,” the minister said. He added that if the two countries did ever manage to settle the affair, they could both profit from the ensuing upswing in cooperation.