Mihajlovic: Key tasks - reform, company restructuring

BELGRADE - The most important tasks which the new Serbian government will have to tackle by the end of this year include the search for a solution to the fate of restructuring companies and the adoption of reform laws, Vice President of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and outgoing Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlovic stated.

“We need to solve the fate of 153 restructuring companies urgently. We will find strategic partners for some companies, while others will have to be liquidated and their employees will receive severance pay,” Mihajlovic said in an interview for the Belgrade-based weekly NIN.

She said that the government will simultaneously focus on changes in the manner of public company operation and draw up 20 reform laws which should be adopted by July 1.

She noted that thanks to reforms, public companies may record profit in the next three years. Otherwise, companies such as Srbijagas, Serbian Railways and the Electric Power Industry of Serbia may continue to record losses, Mihajlovic said.

When asked about potential additional savings measures and whether these will imply salary cuts or dismissals in the public sector, Mihajlovic said that the number of employees in the public sector exceeds the actual needs, especially in administration, and added that the healthcare and educational sectors are also in for a serious reform.

For the time being, it is certain that there will be no pension cuts because there are other possibilities to reduce costs, she said and noted that some unnecessary agencies would be closed and laws would be adopted to regulate the salaries for employees in other agencies.

When asked if Lazar Krstic agreed to keep his position as the finance minister in the new...