(Podgorica, 27 January 2012) – While it continues to ignore the demands of Montenegro’s citizens and prepares more levies on us, the government continues to dispose of our money in order to secure surplus profits for domestic and foreign tycoons.
The citizens of Montenegro will again have to pay the price for the government’s disastrous decisions, including its decision to settle with the banks the Podgorica Aluminum Combine’s (KAP) €22-million loan and most probably the remaining €110-million since the total debt guarantee stands at €132-million.
On the other hand, citizens are already assisting this company with their own money given that they essentially subsidize KAP’s €60-million in electricity spending; though not even this appears to be sufficient. Instead, the Regulatory Agency for Energy (RAE) through its latest and illegal electricity price hike has prepared a shocking bill for us.
The recent announcement by Minister Vladimir Kavari� that Montenegro will borrow in order to settle a €22-million euro loan for KAP means that the government runs the risk of bankruptcy due to its problematic compliance with the interests of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska (the owner of KAP).
The €22-million debt service payment constitutes only a fraction of the €132-million debt that the government guaranteed to the Russian tycoon and which will most likely be paid by citizens out of their already empty pockets. The next installment for the payment of €50-million is due in April, posing the question of where exactly the cabinet of Igor Luk�i� would find the money for this, unless they invent ways of grabbing it from citizens first.
The government’s contentions that it supports KAP because of the large number of workers it employs and the social problems associated with their status is totally misleading, since if it had redirected the millions in subsidies and loan guarantees that it had gifted to Deripaska to the workers they would have been secure for the rest of their lives.
Therefore, the national interest in the government’s failing policy towards KAP clearly does not include the citizenry or the company’s workers.
For this reason, MANS calls on the government’s former and current officials to explain to citizens why they should pay for its shady deals with Oleg Deripaska, who is obviously simply using KAP to drain money from the enterprise and from the state (with taxpayers left footing his debts).
Since the state is threatened with financial collapse, it’s high time for Ranka �arapi� to finally investigate the motives and responsibility of Milo �ukanovi�, Branimir Gvozdenovi�, Igor Luk�i�, Branko Vujovi� and Vladimir Kavari� in KAP’s privatization (as well as others involved in this problematic deal).
Instead of KAP procuring electricity for its needs with its own funds, we continue to subsidize the enterprise through our own money. At the same time, we’re also required to satiate the appetites of another foreign partner/owner in the Electric Power Company of Montenegro (EPCG).
Thanks to the monopoly position of the EPCG, citizens aren’t given a choice when paying the costs of that company’s technical losses. This means that we pay for an unreliable power supply network that has not been improved because the state insists on keeping the money of its Italian partners in the First Bank (Prva Banka).
In fact, the money of Italy’s A2A is required to invest in the EPCG’s modernization is being stubbornly held by the First Bank. The government tolerates this, essentially seeking to protect the interests of these investors and Aco �ukanovi� (the former Prime Minister’s brother and largest First Bank shareholder) instead of those of its citizens (even though it is known that the investment of that money would reduce the totals on our monthly bills).
Furthermore, the RAE hid from citizens the fact that the recent increases in price on our bills were due to losses suffered by the company on its distribution network. Now through new rules for establishing the price of electricity, which will come into force on 1 June 2012, the government has also sought to secure profits for A2A.
In addition to all of the above, only 30% of the bill paid by electricity consumers is for actual energy use, while the other items on our bills are essentially related to bolstering the EPCG’s monopolistic position and its profits, continuously subsidizing KAP and ensuring the liquidity of Aco �ukanovi�’s First Bank.
