Serbia threatened by sanctions over Srbijagas

The Energy Community will reach the decision on penalizing Serbia for not restructuring Srbijagas and Jugorosgas in October.

Serbia was obliged by the agreement with the Energy Community and the decision by the Ministerial Council of the Energy Community adopted in 2014 to separate its activities as a remote system operator and a supplier of natural gas, Novosti writes.

The newspaper reminds that the director of the Secretariat of the Energy Community, Janez Kopac, said in March that he would not tolerate decades of delays of fulfilling obligations taken regarding the restructuring of the Serbian gas company, which obliged in 2005 to separate its gas distribution and transport operations.

As the newspaper writes, Kopac set the deadline for July 1, 2016. He emphasized then that the sanctions might be symbolic, like being barred from voting at EC meetings and revocation of compensations for expenses of attending the meetings, but also the more serious ones, like revoking the financing from IPA funds in the area of energy.

The chief negotiator for Serbia's accession to the EU, Tanja Miscevic, said that Serbia shouldn't experience problems in accession negotiations if it didn't fulfill all it obligations to the Energy Community, but she also pointed out that the restructuring of Srbijagas was a prerequisite for the opening of chapter 15, which deals with energy.

JP Srbijagas Novi Sad

Yugorosgaz a.d. Beograd

Srbijagas

Jugorosgas

Energy Community

restructuring Srbijagas

restructuring Jugorogas

agreement with Energy Community

Ministerial Council of the Energy Community

Janez Kopac

distribution and transport of gas

Tanja Miscevic

chapter 15