State-owned enterprise

Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek announced that the first phase of the reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) based on transparency and in line with austerity measures has been completed.

Şimşek, who recently highlighted the need for savings in the public sector in his speech to governors, has provided important information on the need to reform SOEs.

A lawyer for Obradovic has appealed against the decision to keep him in custody and some Serbs, including activists involved in months of anti-government demonstrations, have begun protesting in front of the prison in Belgrade.

"There is absolutely no reason to impose custody. Not one," the lawyer, Ljubisav Radosavljevic, told BIRN.

The Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (EESYP) will demand that the 15 state corporations which have just passed under its control submit their business plans by April, while it is preparing to complete the first stage of assessing their administration by June.

The operation of the new Public Holdings Company (EDIS), the subsidiary of state assets hyperfund EESYP which is supposed to directly control all state corporations until they are sold through the hyperfund, is far from certain, even though its creation was provided by law when EESYP was established.

Daniel Berg, Director for Serbia at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD, told BIRN that the Serbian government decision to swap the company's debts for equity would seem to have cleared one concern that investors may have about investing in a company with excessive financial liabilities.

The rules of disengagement for the government from the operation and management of state-owned corporations and the extent of the influence governments will have over them thereafter are two of the key issues in the talks between Athens and its creditors.

The government is keen to keep a tight grip on state corporations, which is why the transfer of such companies to the new hyperfund for state asset utilization, officially titled Hellenic Holdings and Properties Company SA, has been allowed to drag on. The transfers are a part of the framework of the second review of the third Greek bailout program.

Confusion reigned on Thursday in Parliament over the government's plans for the new state privatization fund, as the list of assets to go under the hammer changes so frequently that few knew what was actually included.

The State Agency for National Security (DANS) is conducting an inspection at Kintex, a state-owned company dealing with weapons trade, the Bulgarian National Radio has said.

Short of being a perquisition, the activities carried out at Kintex are related to deals done by the company, the public broadcaster quotes DANS sources as saying.

Serbia's Transport Minister Zorana Mihajlovic has said that Serbian Railways will shed 6,100 jobs in the next five years.