Writes: Dusko JOVANOVIC, a representative in the Parliament of the Republic of Montenegro (30th and 31st December 2000, 1st and 2nd January 2001. “DAN”)

The DPS experts want to straighten the thesis that the Montenegro and Serbia when separated will be still in brothers’ and happier economic and every other hug, in their “ordered” elaborates.
“The green cards” and “real scholarships” at the University in Belgrade, which will be certain if Montenegro separates, are the clean political marketing and the “pressure” on Montenegro for them.
The thesis, how in the case of the separation of Montenegro, the economic and every other relationship with Serbia will be saved or even developed, is represented very clumsily and transparently.
Actually, in that case Serbia would permit Montenegro, if it decides to escape the obligations which belong to it as a republic with the position of equal in the federal state, and to keep everything if not even more privileges which are set by using the unique market of goods, unique market of workers and using Belgrade for the “representing” of the huge Montenegrin intellectual potentials.
Or maybe, the Government of Montenegro has found the alternative even for that.
The same as they have done for “Ironworks”, “Obod”, “Tobacco Plant” etc.

Spent policy

All this allegedly expert’s ordered DPS- story has got just one purpose, and that is in a political sense, to go out through the only door which remained to DPS in Montenegro and that is the door of separate Montenegro .
That Montenegro towards which the head of DPS push their citizens is not separated just from Serbia but from the whole world.
How can be explained the wish to get away from that with which the whole world want to bind, and cooperate in the political and economic sense.
Montenegro where the workers are on the streets, where there aren’t investments, where the smuggling is the only economic branch, where the huge economic differences have been done is not necessary to Europe, or Serbia or Yugoslavia or at last to Montenegrins themselves.
There are a few of those who would have use from Montenegro which is ready, for sake of one man’s authority, to abandon many thousands of its nationals, who live outside its borders and which would be a precedent in the world.
There are a few of those who would have use from Montenegro where you wait for several years to get the identity card, because the citizens of Montenegro have to have the signature of a national security Special Forces policeman who before issuing the identity card is examining if the future citizen of Montenegro is enough “GREEN” to be able to include himself or herself into the separatist direction.
Only in Podgorica few thousand of the insufficiently “green” citizens are waiting for their identity cards.
There are a few of those who would have use from Montenegro to which a candle represents a prospective and the bridge “Verige” and highway through Albania represents the going out to the developed world and new millennium which is probable under this government,.
“FOR A BETTER LIVING” that sounds very spent.

Who pays and who doesn’t pay for the electricity

The situation with the electric power in Montenegro is worse day by day.
That doesn’t bother the Montenegrins much because they are “conscious” that that electricity is used by the developed Montenegrin capacities for the sake of all Montenegrin citizens
The government knows the job.
After this day’s “training” there is – there isn’t electricity, the Montenegrins will be better prepared for the following electricity price raising and which will be served to us after New Year.
However, these days we can hear certain dilemmas and uncertainties. Hence, according to the regime’s newspaper, actually according to the government’s admission, half of the total electricity which is spent in Montenegro is spent by the Aluminum Plant of Podgorica.
There isn’t the official information if KAP is under the regime of the turning off or it enjoys the huge privileges of the Montenegrin state’s which is actually people’s fortune.
According to the difficult reaching information, the Aluminum Plant owes to the Electric Power Company the sums which can cause headache.
Of course the total debts are hidden from the public.
No way.
On the 25th of December the daily “Pobjeda” published the statement from KAP, regarding the debts information, which should present KAP as a real generator of the development of Montenegro, which it used to be, until it became the ownership of “Glencor”, “Vektra” and different “B….ic” and who knows who else from the incumbent Montenegrin government.
So, that statement has everything except the situation of the debts in KAP.
It states about this year sums which KAP has paid to the certain creditors.
So, it is said:
It has been paid 75 million DEM to “Electric Power Company” and to “Mines”. There weren’t even a word about the total debts.
Further, it has been paid to “Jugopetrol” 33 million DEM. Not even a word about the debts.
It has been paid about two million of DEM to “Railway”; without the current debt situation.
Then there were the sums that had been paid to “Ironworks”, “Radoje Dakic”, and “Port of Bar”. Then how mach has been paid to the Montenegrin budget, how much has gone to the workers’ salaries, how much has been paid to the funds etc, etc.
There wasn’t even a word of how much KAP owes.
Actually there wasn’t a word how much it hadn’t paid and it should have to.
And why it hasn’t paid.
And how much the KAP’s agents and managers earned during 2000. and how much KAP invested in the development of Montenegro, Podgorica, the apartments for its employees etc, etc.
And there wasn’t precise information of how much KAP owed for the electric power.
And why the citizens who have paid all bills regularly to the Electric Power Company are cut off the electricity for every used kilowatt of electricity.
Is the situation same for KAP?
It is clear that the favorite of the regime can do whatever it wants.
As “Montenegrobanka” didn’t succeeded to charge its debts from KAP using the legal measures, because the political “bosses” didn’t permitted it, why it would be different for the others.

The privatization council and the new sales

In the meantime the Privatization Council announces the selling of three hotels on the Montenegrin coast (“26th December”)
All three are the parts of “Budvanska Rivijera”.
Just to remind, not even one hotel on the Montenegrin coast has been sold or privatized till now.
Except, it was the case with the part of the Institute “Simo Milosevic” which had been “given” not “sold”.
The Privatization Council allegedly announces the selling although, the Parliament of Montenegro has decided to stop all sales until the Law on Denationalization or Restitution is brought.
However, the mayor of Podgorica doesn’t respect that decision and why the Montenegrin government would.
It will be interesting to see how many buyers from abroad will be interested in purchase of these hotels.
As the reason for little or no interest of foreign buyers’ for the investments in Montenegro the Montenegrin government has found the influence of the “undemocratic” regime in Belgrade, from which all foreign investors allegedly run away.
Now, the reason would probably be that the foreign investors run away from Montenegro in Serbia because comparing with Serbia, Montenegro is uninteresting for investments although, it offers “the democratic economic and political ambient” to all investors.
Only thing that remains is that the “foreigners” can recognize that “democratic ambient” such as it is.
They obviously couldn’t do that in the last three years.
How much Montenegro is “attractive” to the foreign investors admitted the professor Veselin Vukotic, the main “expert” in the Privatization Council and the president of the Managing Board of the Development Fund.
Hence, the regime media carried surprisingly his statement, that unfortunately there was “modest market for our companies”.
As an example, he mentioned “Tobacco Plant” Podgorica. For the purchase of this company there was just one preliminary offer.
And actually the tobacco companies are considered as highly profitable so, they are very interesting to the foreign investors.
The exception is Montenegro.
Professor Vukotic also claimed that the tenders for the privatization of “Gornji Ibar” Rozaje and UTP “Crna Gora” in Podgorica hadn’t succeeded at all.
It is obvious that there is no point in the Montenegrin privatization, until domestic businessmen open their safes.
And we have them enough; we don’t need foreign investments.
It is obvious that the Montenegrin economic climate created by the incumbent Montenegrin government and which is responsible for it, doesn’t answer domestic or foreign businessmen needs.
The economic and every other chaos are good until money is “earned”.
However, for the investments the financial order and discipline are only necessary.
That financial order and discipline in Montenegro will be asked from those who suffered a lot in that economic chaos.
Who has a move and what is the order of moves will be known soon.
The author’s note:
Happy New Year to those who seek the interesting things in these stories and to those who seek themselves without a difference.

• < Prev
• Next >