Slovenia ready to adopt Lex Mercator – Aiming to protect Slovenian food industry and workers

If the need arises, Slovenia is ready to protect Mercator and its employees by adopting a law, stated Slovenian Minister of Economy Zdravko Pocivalsek.

For all intents and purposes, this would be a special law, lex specialis, modeled after Croatia's Lex Agrokor, which should enable the restructuring of the concern, also the owner of the Slovenian chain, and protect the Croatian financial sector, suppliers and employees.

Prior to Pocivalsek's statement, Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar met with Mercator CEO Tomislav Cizmic and the chain's regional managers in Serbia and Montenegro. In his statement following the meeting, he emphasized that, regardless of the ownership, the company's current stability should be protected. The company employs more than 10,000 people in Slovenia and is the country' food industry's main channel of export.

– So far, speculations of potential draining of funds from Mercator to Agrokor have not been confirmed – Cerar said and added that he believed that it would also be shown by the upcoming meeting of Mercator's Supervisory Board.

Poslovni sistem Mercator d.d. Ljubljana

Fortenova grupa d.d.

Ministarstvo ekonomskog razvoja i tehnologije Slovenije Ljubljana

Vlada Republike Slovenije

Mercator

Agrokor

Ministry of Economy of Slovenia

Zdravko Pocivalsek

lex specialis

Lex Agrokor

Lex Mercator

Tomislav Cizmic

Miro Cerar

Government of Slovenia