Air Serbia will be restructured, and in order to survive, recapitalization will be considered, announced today the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.
“We will have to submit some restructuring plan, because we are under the direct control of the European Commission for state aid. We can’t do anything that big European countries don’t do, and we want to save our company because it is better than everyone in the region,” he told reporters in Belgrade.
Vucic said that Air Serbia would survive.
“Air Serbia will not only survive, but we will also have the strength and knowledge, if we need to recapitalize, to take over a higher percentage, there is no problem. But Air Serbia will be a successful company and the pride of Serbia in every place in the world,” said Vucic.
He assessed that the Minister of Finance, Sinisa Mali, “shattered the claims of the Fiscal Council around Air Serbia to pieces”.
The Fiscal Council stated, among other things, that Air Serbia owes 200 million euros and that it needs restructuring.
Vucic said that the “attacks” on Air Serbia “mostly come from Serbia”.
“No one said, ‘Let’s do a study on how it is possible for Germany to help Lufthansa with nine billion euros, and the condition for that help was to lay off 25,000 people.’ Imagine that we said to fire 1,000 from Air Serbia!,” said Vucic.
He reminded that Serbia is the only one from the region to have a direct flight to New York, which “works great” and that Air Serbia received “the most favorable conditions at New York’s JFK airport”.
Numerous problems in the realization of large projects.
Today, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, stated that there are numerous problems in the realization of large infrastructure projects, but he hopes that they will be solved.
After the meeting with the representatives of the Government of Serbia and the directors of public companies of infrastructure, mining, energy and economy, Vucic said that he informed them about the talks with the representatives of the EU, China, Russia, USA and their interest in the economic situation in Serbia.
“I informed them about large projects in which several countries are interested,” said Vucic.
He pointed out that the intention is to find the best solution for economic growth and a better life of citizens through the activities of the President and the Government.
Vucic objected to the planning of budgets and projects in previous decades because expenditures were underestimated and revenues were overestimated.
“I am not satisfied with how it is planned now, although we are more realistic in estimating revenues and expenditures, as well as planning projects, especially those with international participation, because now the situation in the world is such that if you cooperate with some, it is perceived as against others,” said Vucic.
He stated that there are problems in the construction of the high-speed railway Stara Pazova-Novi Sad, in the displacement of parts of Roma families on the bypass around Belgrade, in the expropriation of land on the territory of Cacak, on Koridor 10.
He announced that 170 million loans taken from Azerbaijan for the construction of the Cacak-Ljig highway would be repaid by the end of this year:
“That loan was with an interest rate of four percent, and by repaying it, we will reduce the public debt by 0.4 percent.”
He said that four highways are being built in Serbia, that the construction of the power plant in Kostolac will be accelerated, so that it can be completed by the second half of 2022.
The construction of the Balkan Stream gas pipeline through Serbia will be completed by the end of this year, and a secondary network should be built next year, towards some cities in Serbia, such as Vranje, Vucic said.
He added that they are also working on the preparation of the construction of water supply and sewerage networks in more than 90 municipalities.
“We are still considering further steps in the restructuring of Petohemija, Simpo, Yumko, Lasta, Trajala, how to provide as much income as possible,” said Vucic, adding that “great benefits” are expected from the “Jadar” project, Danas reports.
