Privatization still under risk of corruption
On the occasion of Draft Law on Privatization
Transparency – Serbia (official chapter of Transparency International) is of the opinion that current Draft Privatization Law does not sufficiently resolve risks of corruption in that area besides proclaiming transparency and disabling corruption among base-ground principles and brings some great new solutions.
Transparency Serbia estimates extreme importance of leaving out most disputable provision from draft law – possibility to privatize under method of „direct negotiation“. However, on the same day public was informed that direct negotiations will still occur, but they will be implemented directly on the basis of intergovernmental agreements[1]. That presents continuation of dangerous practice of creating parallel legal regime in which state, from one side, prescribes strict rules of bidding, transparency and procedures of disposing with public property, and on the other hand easily renounces of these provisions when it comes to doing business with foreign partners from selected countries, whether it refers to selling of enterprises, public procurements or public-private partnerships.
Draft law contains model of „strategic partnership“, that will allow competition and transparency („method of public collecting of bids“), but the problem is in imprecise appointing of criteria for choosing of this model and for qualifications of investors, it is rather left to the Government to determined arbitrarily from case to case.
Action Plan for implementing Anticorruption Strategy[2] envisaged risk analysis of corruption before changes of this law (by March 2014), but the draft law does not state performing of such analysis and what measures are envisaged for curbing corruption[3].
Besides that, potentially disputable provisions are the ones that enable privatization of public enterprises[4], lack of measures determined in advance for implementation of measures for discharging of privatization subjects (e.g. debt conversion), absence of rules on method of criteria implementation when choosing privatization model, norm on primate of Privatization Law in regards to other laws without stating which laws are they, absence of precise determining of Privatization Agency status in the authority organs' system of the Republic of Serbia[5], as well as regulation of criminal act by special law instead through amendments to Criminal Code. Envisaging of control for preventing money laundering should certainly be supported, but explicit prohibitions for participation of enterprises from off-shore zones were not stated.
Although Ministry of Economy organized public debate on this draft law, results of considering submitted prepositions unfortunately weren't published on the Ministry's web-page[6], or in elaboration. Some of the loopholes in the law that we pointed out to, could have been removed if, for example, comments of Anticorruption Agency to draft law[7] were taken into consideration. Special curiosity is the fact that this draft contains some significantly different solutions compared to draft law adopted by the Government in 2013[8], although most Ministers remained the same.
Transparency – Serbia
Belgrade 30.7.2014.
[1] Minister of Economy Dusan Vujovic in its statement for TANJUG on July 28 stated „Method of privatization with direct negotiation was excluded from Draft law since it represents instrument of intergovernmental agreements and will be regulated independently from this law.“
http://www.acas.rs/images/stories/Akcioni_plan_za_sprovodjenje_Strategije.pdf Тачке 3.3.1.1. и 3.3.1.2.
[3] Elaboration states merely following on anticorruption measures: „New law introduces mechanisms that remove risks of corruption and money laundering. Namely, before concluding the contract Privatization Agency obtains opinion from authorized organization for preventing money laundering on non existence of hindrance on buyers side or strategic investor for concluding the contract, which disables money laundering.“ In other words, there is no mention of preventing corruption but merely on measures for preventing money laundering.
[4] If the state or municipality feels as no longer necessary to ensure public interest through public enterprise, changing of legal status of that enterprise should precede selling of enterprise's property.
[5] It is said that the Agency has status of legal entity but its legal status is not being determined in any other way, e.g. whether it is public agency, special managerial-professional organization etc.
News
Response to the reaction of EXPO 2027 company
Reacting to the press release of TS according to which the average number of bids in EXPO procurement is 1.64, and the average number of acceptable bids is 1.16, the company EXPO 2027 stated that the average number of bids is 1.93. The problem, however, is that the EXPO 2027 company…
... detaljnije ...EXPO procurement - Half a billion euros without competition
Special rules for EXPO procurement significantly reduced even such a low level of competition in public procurement procedures. TS monitoring of all procurements carried out so far by special "EXPO companies", worth around 550 million euros, showed that the average number of bids in those procurements is 1.64 per procedure…
... detaljnije ...What the change of government means for the fight against corruption
The overwhelming victory of the list, which included numerous measures to fight corruption in its pre-election program, gives hope that Serbia will finally stop the decline in this area. In this regard, Transparency Serbia highlights as particularly significant: the promises of repealing special laws adopting with mere purpose of avoiding tenders…
... detaljnije ...The transformation of public enterprises did not bring an increase in transparency
The transformation of public companies into joint-stock companies and limited liability companies did not bring an increase in transparency, according to research conducted by Transparency Serbia. The PETRA 2026 survey included 34 state-owned enterprises that were evaluated and ranked based on 30 indicators. The average score is 42.1% (out of the…
... detaljnije ...Plans for Promotional Activities Have Rendered the Ban on Official-Holder Campaigning Meaningless
Official-holder campaigning in Serbia has neither been restricted nor prevented, as the recent amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Corruption have merely created the appearance that this area is regulated. Transparency Serbia’s monitoring shows that official-holder campaigning continues unabated through promotional activities. In most cases, officials have legal cover under…
... detaljnije ...Extended Incumbent’s Campaign
Nemanja Nenadić for CorD magazine The outcome of the election and the acceptance of results by participants remain uncertain. Legitimacy can be threatened by the bribing or blackmailing of voters (with the provision of evidence that they voted in a certain way), but mostly by the passivity of the police in…
... detaljnije ...Average LTI 2026 still 52 points — Novi Pazar shares the top with Veliko Gradište
The local self-government transparency index LTI 2026 remained at relatively low level 52 out of a possible 100 points. After several years of continuous growth, the average rating has now stagnated at the same level for the fourth year in a row, according to the survey Local Transparency Index -…
... detaljnije ...Elections to Be Held Under Worse Conditions Than in 2023
The elections, announced for 25 October, will be held under significantly worse conditions than those in 2023, despite several amendments to laws relevant to the electoral process. With regard to some of the key ODIHR recommendations, there has been no attempt whatsoever to introduce changes, either to the legislation or to…
... detaljnije ...Illegal Procurement Procedure for Voting Booths
Transparency Serbia has submitted an initiative to the Public Procurement Office to determine whether the Republic Electoral Commission violated the law in procuring voting booths. TS pointed out that the public procurement procedure was initiated even though it was not included in the annual procurement plan, and there are no grounds…
... detaljnije ...GRECO confirmed that recommendations have not been fulfilled
It is alarming that Serbia has fulfilled only three of the 24 GRECO recommendations for combating corruption in the executive branch and the police, even though the deadline expired almost three years ago (30 September 2023). Not only have laws that would contribute to fulfilling the recommendations not been adopted…
... detaljnije ...
ODIHR Opinion Confirms That the Debate on the Proposed Amendments to the Law on Financing Political Activities Is Premature
The proposed amendments to the Law on Financing Political Activities do not meet some of ODIHR’s key recommendations, according to Transparency Serbia1, and this assessment has now been confirmed in the ODIHR opinion published today2. Since it is evident that the authorities will need to amend and supplement the proposal…
... detaljnije ...Serbia slips into open backsliding: authorities dismantle even past reform gains
PrEUgovor Alarm report on the progress of Serbia in Cluster 1 – May 2026 is published and presented Serbia moved visibly further away from its goal of European Union membership, slipping from stagnation into open backsliding. It is no longer merely a matter of the authorities persistently refusing to fully implement…
... detaljnije ...ODIHR Confirms: Stronger Oversight and Credible Sanctions Needed for Election Campaign Financing
The draft amendments to the Law on Financing Political Activities, on which ODIHR issued an opinion, failed to address some of the key recommendations. These include measures that would ensure stronger oversight and appropriate sanctions. Many of the shortcomings identified by ODIHR could be remedied if the law were amended…
... detaljnije ...Agency Decisions on TS Complaints Regarding Violations of Campaign Regulations
The Agency for Prevention of Corruption has issued decisions on some of the complaints submitted by Transparency Serbia due to suspicions that political actors, as well as national and local officials, violated regulations during the local election campaigns in ten cities and municipalities. All cases in which decisions were made relate…
... detaljnije ...What is(not) visible from the preliminary campaign expenditure reports
Although all candidate lists for municipal assemblies in the ten municipalities were required to submit preliminary campaign expenditure reports by March 20, only slightly more than half (26 out of 49), according to the data published by the Anti-Corruption Agency, have fulfilled this obligation. Transparency Serbia advocates for a change…
... detaljnije ...Budgetary financing of campaigns – modest amounts, not planned in time
Of the ten cities, municipalities, and city municipalities where regular elections will be held on March 29, 2026, only Knjaževac clearly indicated how much it will allocate for financing the election campaign, while Sevojno is the only municipality that has calculated the total allocations for party financing during the budget…
... detaljnije ...Open Budget Index: Limited Transparency in Serbia
Serbia is among the countries where budget transparency is assessed as “limited,” scoring 53 out of a possible 100 points in the international Open Budget Index (OBI) survey, Transparency Serbia announced. Serbia has improved by two points compared to the previous round of this survey, which is conducted every two years. Of…
... detaljnije ...Corruption Perceptions Index 2025: Serbia scores worst in the past two decades
In the ranking of countries and territories by the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Serbia, with a score of 33 and 116th place, has further worsened its result and, for the first time, is ranked the worst in the region. Serbia’s index is two points lower than last year and the lowest…
... detaljnije ...Harmful consequences of changes in judicial regulations on the fight against corruption
Changes to judicial regulations will likely reduce the possibilities of the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime to investigate possible corruption of high-ranking public officials. The consequences of the legal changes are even more harmful because the performance in prosecuting "high corruption" has not been satisfactory until now, and all of…
... detaljnije ...Urgent Amendments to Judicial Laws – Bypassing the Profession and European Standards and Amounting to Political Retaliation for “Disobedience”
The Working Group of the National Convention on the European Union for Chapter 23 warns the public about the serious risks posed by the scheduling of an extraordinary session of the National Assembly for 14 January, at which amendments to systemic judicial laws will be considered under an urgent procedure.[1]…
... detaljnije ...
Fewer state-owned enterprises have a legal director
Of the 34 state-owned enterprises, regardless of whether they are in the status of public enterprises (PE), JSC or LLC, which would have to choose a director in a public competition, only two enter the year 2026 with a legally appointed director. Elektroprivreda Srbije got a director after a competition in…
... detaljnije ...New Year and Christmas holidays
Transparency Serbia's Office will be closed from January 1 until January 7. The first working day after the holiday will be Wednesday, January 8 2026.
... detaljnije ...Fight Against Corruption in the Executive Branch and the Police – A Year of Missed Opportunities
The Government of Serbia will not meet the recommendations for preventing corruption in the executive branch and the police that it received from GRECO in 2022, even by the second deadline, which expires in ten days, according to an analysis published today by Transparency Serbia. With regard to legislation, in 2025…
... detaljnije ...Elections in Mionica, Negotin, and Sečanj – Ministers Intensively Campaigning, Irregularities in Financing
The campaign for the November elections in three municipalities is the clearest indication that there is no intention to implement the key ODIHR recommendation from June 2024 – separating party activities from the state and preventing the misuse of public resources. In addition to local officials, national-level officials also participated…
... detaljnije ...Transparency Serbia in IBP's bulletin: leading voice in the Western Balkans
International Budget Partnership presented, in its bulletin, TI Serbia's efforts for deeper transparency and stronger oversight of public resources: Our long-time partner Transparency Serbia shows how sustained advocacy and credible data can strengthen accountability in public procurement. Since 2006, they have worked with us through the Open Budget Survey, using its…
... detaljnije ...Authentic Interpretation of the “Law” on the General Staff – Triple Legal Violence
The authentic “interpretation” of a special “law” for the General Staff, adopted under urgent procedure by the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and Legislation, constitutes a threefold act of legal violence and, instead of strengthening the rule of law, reinforces the construction of a lawless state. Transparency Serbia therefore calls on Members…
... detaljnije ...A Special Law Will Undermine Not Only the General Staff Building but the Legal System as Well
The draft of the special law concerning the land plots of the former General Staff, which the Parliament is set to place on the agenda in an expedited procedure, represents a combination of the two most dangerous forms of corruption – the legalization of law violations and the tailoring of general…
... detaljnije ...The Importance of the European Parliament’s Resolution for the Fight Against Corruption
In the draft of the European Parliament’s resolution which is being adopted on the occasion of the anniversary of the tragic collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad, and amid protests and polarization in society, the key problems of corruption in Serbia are addressed far more clearly and decisively than…
... detaljnije ...A Year of Concealed Information and False Claims
Serbia marks another International Right to Know Day, while problems in this field remain unresolved. Over the past year, in addition to the denial of important information upon request, numerous cases have been recorded in which public authorities falsely claimed that they did not possess the requested documents. Combined with…
... detaljnije ...Law on Legalization of Buildings – Breach of Rules and Corruption Risks
The announced adoption of the draft law introducing a new framework for the legalization of buildings at tomorrow’s session of the Government of Serbia would constitute a violation of several laws and of the Government’s Rules of Procedure, since no public debate was held and no corruption risk analysis was…
... detaljnije ...
- 1
- 2
- 3
