The tenant of Sveti Stefan has been illegally using the promenades between Kraljičina beach and the Aman spa center and the public road connecting Sveti Stefan island with the coast for more than a decade and illegally prohibits others from using them. These public roads are not covered by the lease agreement and it is a matter of unlimited private (mis)use of what is not the subject of the agreement.
This is stated in the reply of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Economic Development Nika Đeljošaj to a parliamentary question Dejan Đurović from the New Serbian Democracy.
"Is it realistic that Sveti Stefan will be open in this tourist season? Regarding the solution of this, as you recently stated, 'and unresolved issue from the past period', what did you specifically propose to the tenant 'Adriatik Properties' and are the views of the Government acceptable to that tenant? What is the tenant looking for in order to open Sveti Stefan", is the parliamentary question of Đurović.
Đeljošaj replied that the Government's intention from the very beginning was to try to negotiate with the tenant of the Hotel Sv. Stefan and Miločer around the opening.
"Both the previous and the current government and relevant ministries decided to communicate with the tenant in a genuine effort to explore what mutually acceptable solutions regarding a large number of burdensome disputed issues could be possible, but only in accordance with Montenegrin positive legal regulations. However, the tenant persistently repeats the same requests that are not suitable for a solution for the fourth year in a row. He specifically refers to his letter dated July 1, 2021, then addressed to the cabinet of the former prime minister (Zdravka) Krivokapića. In that letter, among other concessions, he asked for the principle of "exclusivity" and "exclusive use of the beaches" as an "indisputable right" - precisely the point that remains problematic, bearing in mind Montenegrin positive legal regulations", replied Đeljošaj.
He stated that "the tenant's entire correspondence does not move from that "dead spot"".
"In circumstances where the lessee is in possession of the hotel facilities according to the Lease Agreement, opening the hotel is his obligation as long as the agreement is in force, or until the parties agree otherwise. In this regard, the Government is ready to take advantage of all possible opportunities for the purpose of opening hotels and managing them, in order to ensure their operation, but without conducting negotiations to amend the Agreement on long-term lease/agreement on the use of marine property and the consent of the Parliament of Montenegro, the Government cannot be ready to use its guarantees to change the existing regime of property use, in a way that, according to the understanding of the Ministry of Economic Development and JP Morsko dobro, would be in conflict with the signed contract and positive legal regulations. Providing guarantees that are not legally sustainable and aligned with positive legal regulations could potentially cause multiple damages to the state".
Certainly, as he states, in this situation it would be best if an agreement could be reached that would eventually result in the withdrawal of arbitration proceedings.
"Otherwise, the Ministry and the Government are ready to undertake all other actions that are in the public interest, and find a sustainable solution for the further operation of the hotel on St. Stefan, in accordance with the highest standards, compatible with the natural and cultural-historical peculiarities of St. Stefan as an icon of world tourism. When we say other measures and actions, we mean first of all that if the contractual party does not respect the contractual obligations and after so much time has passed, it is not ready to open St. Stefan and keep it open for six months, in which case the Government will proceed to review the economic rationality of further maintaining such a contract in force. Considering that the tenant stopped paying the rent (four quarters were not paid in full, in the amount of 1.555.478 euros, and the other quarters were paid partially), this clearly undermines the remaining commercial rationality of keeping the tenant and keeping the Lease Agreement in unchanged form. The financial findings show exactly that the state, the economy, and the tourism sector suffer concrete measurable damage from such (non)work, which is valued at tens of millions of euros and which damage, both financial and measurable, as well as in terms of the image of the destination, "spills over" from the tourist area to everything other sectors, the economy as a whole".
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