Srbijagas and EPS are the two most important companies in this country, the pillars of Serbia’s economic development and must make a profit, said tonight the Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic and stressed that this requires reforms, separation of activities, transparent business public procurement and projects that are not late.
And that is not a question of one man, but of the entire system, Mihajlovic stated for RTV Vojvodina, it was announced from her office.
She pointed out that there are a lot of problems in Srbijagas and Elektroprovreda Srbije and that it is necessary to redefine investment plans.
“It is important to reduce losses in order to get quality, to have efficient, modern and powerful companies in the energy sector. And that is the vision of the President and the Government of Serbia. These are not private companies, the directors were appointed by the state and they must work in accordance with the decisions of the Government,” Mihajlovic pointed out.
But, she added, when you need to make big changes, you always have huge resistance.
It is easiest to hide behind personal and party conflicts, various conspiracy theories. In fact, the most important thing is what they have done so far and whether they can implement reforms, she said.
Mihajlovic added that the reform plan for these companies will be made public and that it is necessary to separate Transportgas and Distribucijagas because we are losing millions of euros in the transport network alone.
“In December, we will probably have fines from the Energy Community. This means that in 2021, we will not be able to influence any decision in the EC because Srbijagas has not separated its activities,” the minister warned.
She emphasized that she has nothing against someone being a director for 10, 15 years if they brings results.
“Here we have groups of people who have appanages in various companies of 5, 10 thousand euros each, they employ husbands, wives. I repeat, these are not private companies. Srbijagas had to realize the gasification of Serbia, gas interconnections, they are here to bring results for the citizens of Serbia. The institutionalization of individuals must stop,” concluded Mihajlovic, it is stated in the announcement, Danas reports.
