[ad_1]
The position of the Fiscal Council is that the national airline Air Serbia should be restructured, not forced into bankruptcy, but it is crucial to determine the situation in that company publicly and accurately, and for it to operate transparently in the future, said the Chairman of the Fiscal Council Pavle Petrovic.
In the session of the Committee on Finance, Budget of the Republic and Control of the Spending of Public Funds of the Assembly, Petrovic assessed that the Fiscal Council, as well as the general public, can only guess how much money from taxpayers will be set aside to help to Air Serbia, and that the Council estimates that it will do so in 2020 and 2021 will amount to 200 million euros.
“Our estimate is that less than 50 percent of those costs are caused by pandemics. Since 2015, Air Serbia has shown accounting gains, but when state subsidies are excluded, you can see that it posted a loss and borrowed two. times”. € 50 million each at Etihad Partners this year and next, plus € 20 million for transaction costs, at a high interest rate of 7 percent, “Petrovic warned.
He assessed that from the rebalancing of the budget for 2020 and the draft budget for 2021, it can be concluded that the state will pay the debts of Air Serbia, apparently according to the model used for Srbijagas, that is, that the state takes over the debts and then for years. worth it.
Petrovic said that the position of the Fiscal Council is that Air Serbia should be restructured and not forced into bankruptcy, but that the precondition for that is to determine the role of Etihad’s strategic partner, as well as that Air Serbia will operate transparently in the future.
“Air Serbia does not publish a financial report on its website, unlike the vast majority of the world’s airlines. If it receives money from the state and taxpayers, its business should be transparent,” Petrovic emphasized.
Mali: Tax Council mentioned Air Serbia 80 times in report
The Fiscal Council mentioned Air Serbia 80 times in its report on the draft budget for 2021; such is the level of obsession with a company that does not represent a fiscal risk, said Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, announcing that a plan to restructure the national airline would be approved by the end of the year. .
In the session of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Budget of the Republic and Control of the Expenditure of Public Money, Mali said that Serbia, in regards to the national airline, has done nothing more or less than what is envisaged in the agreement, which, as he emphasized, is public and published. on the Government portal.
To the message from the Chairman of the Fiscal Council, Pavle Petrovic, that Air Serbia should be restructured and not forced into bankruptcy, Mali replied that it agreed and emphasized that the restructuring work is ongoing.
“Air Serbia’s restructuring program will be adopted by the end of the year, and then we will send it to the European Commission for approval, and then it will be clear how much money we give and why it is given,” Mali said, adding that the government does not will leave Air Serbia in the lurch.
He said that when it comes to the restructuring of Air Serbia, all options are being considered, from reducing the number of employees, salaries, the number of planes.
“They must reduce their costs, to adapt to the new situation, as Air Baltic and similar companies did, so will the Serbian government, and all in accordance with the European Commission’s rules on state aid,” Mali said.
He stressed that any aid, payment or dinar from the budget sent to Air Serbia was subject to analysis by the European Commission due to the rules on state aid, and that no one would allow the risk of violating those rules, as something like that would shut down Air Serbia. .
[ad_2]
