State to sell Tanjug in October?

The press agency Tanjug will be privatized in October, Danas reports.

According to the allegations of the Belgrade daily's interviewee, the information was given to representatives of journalists' organizations and associations comprising the media Team for Dialogue by the head of the Media Cooperation Coordination Group of the Government of Serbia, Suzana Vasiljevic, at the meeting on Friday, September 28, without explaining how the legal vacuum created after the agency's formal closing three years before, would be filled.

Allegedly, what's on offer is the brand, as Tanjug doesn't have property. We remind that, over a year ago, two draft laws were prepared for solving the status of Tanjug, but neither one has been officially presented. As it was announced unofficially at the time, Tanjug was supposed to become a JSC or an LLC, Danas writes.

Following an unsuccessful privatization, Tanjug was closed on October 31, 2015, under the Law on Public Informing, but hasn't stopped reporting despite this. Allegedly, the state was powerless, as the management of this public enterprise had not filed the statement of accounts for 2015, which is the requirement for the change of status, that is, for the formal erasure from the register of the Business Registers Agency.

A potential sale as a new step in the privatization is not supported by the current law and neither are Tanjug's operations, backed by substantial financial help of the state, Danas adds.

Tanjug Beograd

sale of Tanjug

privatization of Tanjug

Suzana Vasiljevic

Media Cooperation Coordination Group of the Government of Serbia