Djelic askes ratification of SAA and warns that economic turmoils within the EU will affect the conditions for accession

Belgrade/Brussels May. 14. 2010 (Serbia Today) - Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said  that the latest economic turmoil within the EU and the establishing of a European mechanism for the maintenance of financial stability of the EU member states will affect the conditions for EU accession, which will become more demanding and strict. According to him, the EU will no longer "tolerate the EU accession of countries that  are not fully prepared," which can also be an opportunity to obtain greater support for Serbia and other Western Balkan countries.  He has requested support from the European officials for the continuation of Serbia's EU integration. He also expressed hope that the ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) could begin already in June, based on the positive report that he expects from the visit of Hague Prosecutor (Serge) Brammertz. After the meeting with Djelic, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek referred to Serbia's fight against crime, particularly when it comes to the processing of war crimes, stressing that he is familiar with Djelic's position regarding this matter and that the EU expects concrete steps in that direction.  

Dragutinovic : Serbia wiil not end up like Greece

Belgrade, May 13. 2010 (Serbia Today)  - The economic situations in Serbia and Greece should not be compared, since Serbia’s public debt is not as extensive, claims the Serbian Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic. “Serbia’s public debt is not as great as in Greece” Dragutinovic said for daily “Vecernje novosti”. She added that the experience of Greece will be helpful, also pointing out that poor fiscal policies, not the financial crisis, led to Greece’s current situation.  Dragutinovic said that there must be a limit to how much debt a country can incur.  “That limit is 2.5 percent annually, to a maximum 40 percent of the gross domestic product,” Dragutinović said. Serbian Finance Minister  also announced  that Serbia is entering the new phase of talks wit IMF (beginning this week) in a very relaxed state, because it has fulfilled its tasks according to its IMF arrangement.  She announced an agreement with the IMF that pensions have to be harmonized three times by April 2012 according to wages in the public sector, and that they would then begin to be harmonized with the cost of living.

Before the arrival of IMF serbian officials give optimistic estimates

 
Belgrade May, 12. 2010 (Serbia today) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will arrive in Belgrade on May 12 to discuss the fourth revision of its stand-by arrangement with Serbia. The mission is expected to be in Serbia until May 26, and Albert Jaeger will once again lead the mission. According to earlier announcements, the talks will focus on tax and pension reforms and adopting the law for fiscal responsibility. Serbian Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic announced earlier that Serbia is entering the new phase of talks very relaxed, because it has fulfilled its tasks according to its IMF arrangement. She said that it was agreed with the IMF that pensions have to be harmonized three times by April 2012 according to wages in the public sector, and that they would then begin to be harmonized with the cost of living. One task Serbia must complete is to draft a law for fiscal responsibility, after which IMF experts would look at the law, which is expected to decrease public spending within the gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.75 percent, with the goal of balancing out Serbia's budget by 2015. On May 15, 2009, the IMF approved the stand-by arrangement for Serbia worth a total of EUR 2.9bn, which is valid until April 2011. Serbia has already withdrawn EUR 1.3bn in three installments from the IMF arrangement.

Detecting code of the new punto 25th May

Belgrade, May 08. 2010 (Serbia today) - The first model of car to be produced at the company “Fiat cars Serbia” should be disclosed on 25th May. Fiat's will send a delegation of top management, led by Vice President Alfredo Altavilla, to Belgade and participate in the Regional Conference of manufacturers of automobile parts. According to Novosti, it is expected to be a smaller B-class model. Dimensions of this class are the most famous of the "punto 188" and "grande" variant of this model. The Italian company laid out a five-year plan on 21 April. It expects to roll out 34 new models by the year of 2012, of which two new models will be produced in Kragujevac. The first contract stated that the production would start with class A, a small city car, "Topolino" and slightly larger B-class, this was changed due to the crisis and with the cooperation with Chrysler. It will start with the smaller B-class model, which is specifically designed for Southeast Europe market and it probably will be labeled with the redesigned Chrysler logo and exported to the U.S. Market.

NBS: Greek banks in Serbia stable

Belgrade, May. 07. 2010 (Serbia today) - The financial situation of Greek-owned domestic banks is stable and they are liquid and solvent, a statement the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) announced on Wednesday.These banks, as well as other banking institutions operating in Serbia, are resistant to external shocks, which has been confirmed by stress tests conducted by the NBS on the methodology of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the checks carried out by a joint team of the IMF and the World Bank under the program of assessment of Serbia's financial sector, the NBS statement reads. In Serbia, there are four banks that are majority-owned by legal entities from Greece - Alpha Bank Serbia, Eurobank EFG, Piraeus Bank and Vojvođanska Banka - with a participation in the market of 16 percent. In 2009 these banks increased their credit activity by 10 percent, and the growing trend is continuing in this year. These banks, as members of the financial companies from Greece, operate in Serbia as independent legal entities within the frameworks of their banking groups, with the license of the NBS and their own capital, which enables them to properly and efficiently fulfill all their obligations towards their creditors, including the citizens.

Financial support from EU

Belgrade, May 06. 2010 (Serbia Today) - Serbia and the EU will sign a new financial agreement in late May, writes daily Politika. The media announced that after the recently signed deal on the use of EUR 70mn from the IPA funds of the European Union for the year 2009, Deputy PM Božidar Đelić plans to sign a new financial agreement with the European Commission by the end of the May. As Politika reports, there are funds from the 2010 IPA program, based on which another 170. 000.000 EUR will be donated to Serbia for 26 projects. Money will be used for social and economic development of southern Serbia (Jablanica and Pčinj districts) and southwestern Serbia (Zlatibor, Raška, Morava and Rasina districts, and that will be supported with EUR 15mn from the 2010 package. Funds will also be used for infrastructural investments in institutions of high education (EUR 25mn) and supervision of works on Corridor 10 (EUR 10mn).EUR 2.5mn will be used for the fight against financial crime, while EUR 28mn will go toward the construction of the Leskovac-Vranje electrical substation.

Serbian Tycoons have no property in Serbia

Belgrade, May 03 2010 ( Source: Blic) – As Serbian daily Blic writes, even six of seven businessmen who recently represented domestic economy in negotiations with the Government have their mother companies registered in Cyprus, Holland or British Virgin Islands. Companies behind which there are Miroslav Miskovic, Milan Beko, Miodrag Kostic, Toplica Spasojevic, Zoran Drakulic and Slobodan Petrovic are all registered in tax heavens where tax rates are smaller and where it is also possible to hide the real owners of the capital. According to official evidence by the Agency for economic registries, they have almost no property in Serbia. Thus Milorad Miskovic is always said to be the owner of ‘Delta Holding’ but one cannot see so in the Agency documentation. There it is written that ‘Delta Holding’ is owned by a company ‘Hemslade’ of Cyprus and Miskovic is mentioned as president of that company’s management board. The same case is with all other above mentioned businessmen. It is impossible to find out who owners of those companies registered in tax heavens actually are .