It is necessary to urgently form a working group consisting of representatives of the Government of Serbia and representatives of caterers, and we want to address the Republic Crisis Staff, because we can no longer live like this, reads the announcement of the Association of Night Clubs and Bars.
“After the Association of Night Bars and Clubs turned to the state for concrete help, which will help businesses survive this devastating period, the state promised favorable and fast loans that would serve to repay debts, to no one but the state itself,” the statement said.
As they add, at the level of statistical error, the loan was approved only to a single-digit number of companies, so it is safe to say that no one did. They also say that the new measures again practically prevent these catering facilities from working indoors, which can be a kind of “knockout” for most of the endangered.
“This means that 16,000 people who come from nightclubs and clubs will lose their jobs, and with a possible additional reduction of working hours, this could be the end for potentially 64,000 people in catering, in Belgrade alone,” said the owners of nightclubs and bars.
Therefore, they demand the urgent formation of a working group with the Government of Serbia and the participation of representatives of the association in the crisis headquarters at the sessions when deciding on their jobs and lives. They also remind that they have not been able to operate at full capacity for seven months, because their bars are completely closed.
“We cannot and do not know how to live under prohibitions! We are breadwinners, employers and taxpayers. The first on the bumper of the attack, the last on the list of subsidies,” stated the Association.
They also remind that there is permanent tension, financial collapse, all kinds of measures and frequent accusations against the caterers as the main and responsible transmitters of the greatest evil of today – the corona, which must stop.
“We are short of air! A lot of life depends on our destiny! We are not murderers, nor messengers of death! We are on the wallpaper of ruthless untruth that without us there would be no corona,” the statement reads.
The association demands either that they be allowed to work normally or that their companies be finally helped with concrete financial measures.
This, he adds, includes a fast credit line with the Development Fund, minimum wages for employees in the hospitality industry and a moratorium on contributions, rents in state and city bars, company fees for the period when they could not work, as well as all other fiscal and parafiscal levies, Kamatica reports.
