Privatization and Transparency

At the Privatization and Transparency round table organized by Transparency International Serbia and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Belgrade on June 12^th, 2001. our prominent experts presented their positions on the latest draft of the Privatization Bill, its advantages and shortcomings and the like hood of its being implemented.

Professor Veselin Vukotic discussed the transparency of Montenegro’s economy and the process of privatization in the republic. "Transparency is an integral part of the system, economic and political, and a way of thinking in a society. I see transparency as the protection of an individual’s freedom! This is why transparency is a constituent part of the quality of people’s life." Prof. Vukotic explained that corruption is only one of the ramifications of non-transparency. "It is wrong to think that transparency has to do only with corruption. No! It includes corruption but is a much wider issue. It includes everything which has to do with access to information, the relevance of information, respect for rules of the game and procedures, as well as control." At the end of his presentation, Prof. Vukotic added that budget transparency and transparency of public procurement are equally as important as transparency of privatization. The budget figures are fixed and only the Parliament is authorized to alter them. As for public procurement, any order involving more than 50,000 DM should be put to public tender.

"The latest draft privatization legislation in Serbia is characterized by following: (1) majority privatization and (2) the government plays the major role with discretionary right to pass decisions", emphasized Dr Danilo Sukovic in his comments on Serbia’s fourth privatization act. He added that the proposal raises a number of contentious issues.

The presentations of Prof. Vukotic and Dr Sukovic were followed by many comments from those present.

"This is not voluntary privatization but privatization which is compulsory for all", said DR Miodrag Zec of the Privatization Ministry, one of the authors of the latest draft privatization legislation. "The draft is a cross-section of current political will and political interests and it is necessary for the privatization process to be governed by legislation. As for the results of privatization, we must take into account the atmosphere in which the privatization is being implemented. No matter what kind of a law we pass, we cannot expect an imMEDIAte change in people’s thinking, and this is the greatest limiting factor for every transition. The other limiting factor is the years of multiple crises in our country’s institutions. As for transparency, it is one thing whether corruption had been systematically incorporated in the law and an entirely different one whether we predict there will be corruption in the future, and this is exactly the approach which should be taken in the analysis of the law."

"As far as transparency is concerned we cannot expect much from the present government. The Serbian Government sent its legislation to the Parliament for adoption without so much as a nod to the labor unions. If they did not ask us anything when passing the legislation for privatization, what can we expect during the privatization process itself?" this was the question raised by Mr. Darko Marinkovic, the head of the United Nezavisnost labor unions.

Dr Stojan Stamenkovic asked what happens to the proceeds of sales. Dr Bozidar Cerovic presented the non-transparent points in the draft legislation. The participants also discussed the potential problems in implementing the new law. Mr. Danijel Pantic proposed two solutions for successful implementation: "The first is an intense social dialogue and maximum openness of the government. The other is the administrative reinforcement of the government."

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