In response to the announcement by the shareholders of the Bajo Sekulić Saltworks AD in bankruptcy following the recent ruling of the Administrative Court to annul the decision of the Ministry of Finance from June 2022, the Center for Bird Research and Study (CZIP) also spoke out, claiming that the oldest Ulcinj company was never the owner, but only the user, or concessionaire, of 15 million square meters of land.
On April 28, 2025, the Administrative Court of Montenegro issued a judgment accepting the claims of the bankruptcy debtor Solana "Bajo Sekulić" AD Ulcinj and the State of Montenegro, annulling the decision of the Ministry of Finance from June 2022, and thus challenging the registration of the state as the owner of the land.
"With this ruling, the Court did not decide who owns the land on which the Ulcinj Saltworks is located. Instead, the Court clearly indicated that the procedure for registering state ownership of that land was carried out illegally and ordered that the same procedure be repeated, but with the full participation of all interested parties and compliance with the procedures prescribed by law," the CZIP letter states.
It is claimed that after the verdict, incorrect interpretations emerged in the public that the land was "returned" to the Eurofund and minority shareholders.
"Eurofond was never the owner of the land, but exclusively the majority shareholder of the salt production factory. In the real estate cadastre, the land was never registered as the property of the Bajo Sekulić saltworks, but it had a registered right of use, which was regulated through concession agreements with the state, the last one concluded in 1995, for a period of 10 years, which further implies that the property right of ownership is state-owned. These agreements granted the Bajo Sekulić company permission to use the land and water for the purpose of salt exploitation, and for that right it was obliged to pay a concession fee," CZIP believes.
The letter to the media states that the very right of use that Solana had is legally questionable.
"The company was a concessionaire, not the holder of the right of management or permanent use. According to the Law on Property and Legal Relations, specifically Article 419, the concessionaire cannot become the owner of the land based on that right, neither during the validity of the contract nor after its expiration. Therefore, the company "Bajo Sekulić" never acquired the right of ownership over the land, nor did it pay market compensation for the land in question in the privatization process, or by any other lawful action, which would serve as the basis for acquiring ownership," claim the CZIP.
They emphasize that the Administrative Court's ruling must not be manipulatively presented to the public "because it does not mean that ownership of the land has been confirmed or assigned to any party."
"It indicates that the state had no legal basis to register itself as the owner of the land, referring to Articles 419 and 420 of the Law on Property and Legal Relations, because it had not previously been registered as the holder of the right of management or permanent use. In order for the state to acquire ownership of the land, it had to initiate appropriate legal proceedings - either civil or administrative - and prove therein the basis for acquiring ownership rights. That is precisely why the judgment opens the way for the re-implementation of the proceedings, this time in accordance with the law and with the transparent participation of all parties - the bankruptcy administration of the Saltworks, the state, the municipality of Ulcinj, the civil sector and international partners who monitor the process of protecting the Saltworks," the letter states.
It is particularly emphasized that the Ulcinj Salt Pan is a protected area, declared a Nature Park and internationally recognized as a key habitat for migratory birds. Resolving ownership relations, according to CZIP, is a prerequisite for the long-term protection of this area, planned management of the water regime and harmonization with international obligations on the path to the EU, which Montenegro has assumed.
"Therefore, we want to make it clear - the Administrative Court's ruling does not return ownership to any private entity, nor does it dispute or confirm that the state is the owner. The Administrative Court's ruling explicitly states that the state still has the right to file a lawsuit to determine ownership through civil or administrative proceedings and does not enter into the merits of the decision submitted for registration in the cadastre of the Municipality of Ulcinj, but rather procedurally disputes the registration procedure that was initiated. Namely, the Commercial Court, in response to Eurofond's lawsuit, requested the opinion of the Privatization Council regarding property-legal relations. That opinion should have been submitted to the court in the form of evidentiary material on the basis of which this lawsuit would finally be resolved," the letter states.
Therefore, the CZIP, it is added at the end, the protector of property-legal relations, calls on the state's legal representative to immediately begin a new court proceeding that will be completely transparent and aimed at preserving the public interest, the natural values of the Saltworks, and the legal security of all participants.
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