Mihajlovic: Government of Serbia’s Moves Leading to Privatization of EPS

Former minister of mining and energy of Serbia Zorana Mihajlovic has stated that the moves of the Government of Serbia are leading to the privatization of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS).

– The recovery of the energy sector requires clear political will, which is not there, that is, it is oriented toward wrong goals and interests and people who are to carry this out need to make clear steps. What they are doing at the moment could be very close to changing the ownership structure of EPS and, if they continue this way, I believe it will happen – she said for the Danas daily and assessed this as a bad decision.

She pointed out that it was “visible to the naked eye” that the current minister of mining and energy, Dubravka Djedovic, did not decide on the energy questions in the Government of Serbia, despite it being her sector.

– Everything that is happening with the energy crisis, the procurement of all the necessary energy sources, all the decisions about the operations of public enterprises have been officially coordinated by the Ministry of Finance, and it has been practically controlled by the cabinet of the president of Serbia, that is, president Aleksandar Vucic, as well as all those who have various interests – Mihajlovic said.

She added that, while she had been the minister of energy, the director of the PE Srbijagas, Dusan Bajatovic, had been refusing to cooperate and communicate with her, while cooperating with Vucic’s cabinet and the president himself.

Mihajlovic estimated that Bajatovic ran Srbijagas very poorly and that it wasn’t Moscow that protected him in that position, but “energy tycoons”.

– The situation in the energy sector is not good, and no care is taken about energy security – Mihajlovic said.

As the wrong moves in the gas sector, she mentioned renting the storage site in Hungary instead of building some in Serbia, being late with the process of introducing the gas system, resistance to the construction of the alternative gas pipeline Nis-Dimitrovgrad, because it would entail “a diversification of suppliers, whereby those who are involved in the construction of the Balkan Stream and the procurement of gas would fail to benefit from it.”

– That actions are taken without the Ministry of Energy is clearly shown by the secret agreement with the private Norwegian company Rystad Energy, which is supposed to be the consultant of EPS. Nobody, and I mean nobody, from the competent ministry had any idea, nor were they invited to any talks about it – Mihajlovic said.

She emphasized that an agreement had been signed with the consultant “who will do as they are told by the cabinet of the president of Serbia and finance minister Sinisa Mali,” and that the Norwegian company was not a credible partner by any criterion.

Mihajlovic said that it was disastrous that Serbia was making a joint company with the Hungarians, where Srbijagas would be a minority owner, and called it a tragedy that the construction of the HPP Djerdap 3 could not begin, despite everything being ready, because of the counter-interest of first building the HPP Bistrica, despite it being less profitable that the power plant on the Danube by all parameters.

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

JP Srbijagas Novi Sad

Elektroprivreda Srbije

EPS

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Ministry of Finance

Srbijagas

cabinet of the president of Serbia

Zorana Mihajlović

Dubravka Đedović

Aleksandar Vučić

Dušan Bajatović

Rystad Energy

HPP Bistrica

construction of HPP Đerdap 3

privatization of EPS