If Serbia gives “Telekom Srbija” to Kosovo, it will be the prelude to give them other Serbia’s property in Kosovo and Metohija, which is the biggest fear of the authorities in Serbia, writes Serbian daily “Kurir” citing a source in the government. According to the latest estimates, it is a sum of more than 2 billion euros.
The amount includes the value of EPS in Kosovo – 1.2 billion euros, then mining 577.5 million euros, then Telekom, which is estimated to about 31.5 million euros, etc.
Economist Mladen Kovacevic says that it is hard to assess the value of the assets. “It is difficult to say now what is the total sum, especially when one considers that there are mineral resources, non-ferrous metals, waters … The value is certainly large,” said Kovacevic.
According to analyst Branko Radun, it is unreal to expect that Serbia would recover all of the assets, but it can fight for at least some part of it.
“Lobbying and arbitration could help Serbia recover part of the assets. It is big, but the question is what is the actual price,” says Radun.
Dusan Janjic, political analyst, also believes that it is hard to make an assessment. Especially, he adds, when taking into consideration the mineral resources, water…
However, he believes that when it comes to infrastructure, buildings, the amount does not exceed the value of around 40 billion euros.
“It is symptomatic that no one, Serbia or Kosovo, did not make a new, accurate assessment of the assets, and it is not difficult to calculate,” said Janjic for “Kurir”.
Analyst Nenad Djurdjevic from Forum for Ethnic Relations said for the daily that it is certain that if there is not a positive response from Belgrade on the issue of telecommunications and privatization of “Trepca”, one should not expect a positive report on the progress in the negotiations with the EU in October.
Djurdjevic says that at this point it is not known what kind of warning Belgrade and Pristina are faced in Brussels, for the “most serious impasse in the negotiations arose because of property issues”.
He states that it is “obvious that the issue of Telekom and some other parts of the Brussels agreement remain unfulfilled, suggesting that the political dialogue is in crisis, as well technical one, which comes from it”.
