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[This appears to read as follows: Michael Steiner, current UNMIK chief, wants to privatize Yugoslav/Serbia state and mixed assets - to be sold off cheap to foreign investors - while leaving the Yugoslav and Serbian governments, and their citizens, saddled with onerous World Bank interest and other debts. One-sided privatization. Recall that one of the first initiatives of UNMIK immediately after NATO troops took over the Serbian province of Kosovo in 1999 was, responding to a 'study' commissioned by the National Endowment For Democracy/George Soros Open Society Institute-funded International Crisis Group (also based in Brussels), was for then UNMIK head Bernard Kouchner to send NATO troops into the Trepca Mining Complex, perhaps the largest in Europe, to take it over and sell it off to foreign interests - reputedly to a Soros-controlled concern. Humanitarianism doesn't come free evidently.] Belgrade Rejects UN Privatization Plan for Kosovo BELGRADE, May 2, 2002 -- (dpa) Belgrade on Tuesday rejected the privatization plan proposed by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), saying assets of Kosovo companies must be privatized together with their debts. Chief of the state committee in charge of the province, Nebojsa Covic, said the plan was rejected at a meeting of Serbian finance and privatization ministers, chiefs of the Serbian Privatization Agency and federal and Serbian property directorates. "We gave our objections and finance and privatization ministers are now in charge of reaching an agreement with UNMIK on the concept," said Covic, a Serbian deputy premier. Kosovo, Serbia's southern province, has been under a virtual UN protectorate since NATO intervened against Yugoslavia to stop ethnic violence there and forced Belgrade to pull out its forces and administration in June 1999. But the province remained a part of Yugoslavia and is nominally under its sovereignty. "An approach in conjunction with our (Serbian) privatization will be made in the next 30 days," Covic said, adding that Belge "does not oppose privatization", but that revenue from the sale of Kosovo companies must go in package with their debts. Belgrade officials have balked at the Kosovo privatization plan, saying it refuses to acknowledge debts of companies in the province which it wants to sell. According to Covic, Yugoslavia owes 1.9 billion dollars only to the World Bank, 450 million of it "in the name of Kosovo". "Accounts must be settled first," Covic told a press conference. Serbian Privatization Minister Aleksandar Vlahovic said "the demand is to privatize the assets with debts", instead of delegating debts to Serbian banks. "We will not back off from this demand," he said, adding that the Serbian government would, in an earlier agreement with UNMIK, send its objections to the proposed privatization model by May 10. Chief of UNMIK, Michael Steiner, passed the draft law on to Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi on April 17. It envisages the sale of more than 400 firms in the muddled "social ownership". This was invented by the late president Josip Broz Tito's regime. It gives no clear titular claim to assets and has at some point hampered transition and foreign investments in the entire former Yugoslavia. (C)2002. dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
