The former state-owned airline "Montenegro Airlines" (MA) in bankruptcy must return 65,2 million euros to the state in the form of illegal state aid that it received on various grounds from 2013 to 2020, as well as interest on that amount of 5,4 million euros, according to the judgment of the Commercial Court of June 9, which the bankruptcy administration has the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal within eight days of receiving the judgment.
The Commercial Court did not accept part of the state's claim relating to the claim for illegally granted state aid of 28,1 million euros and interest on that amount of 8,3 million euros. Part of the claim for illegal state aid, which was rejected, relates to payments from the Government and several ministries for which the purpose of the payment to that company was not stated and for which the Competition Protection Agency did not request that they be returned to the state.
The nearly 40-page verdict lists payments from state accounts to this failing company on several disputed grounds or payments of multi-million euro amounts without legal basis. It also lists several then-secret "internal" decisions, in which several million euros were paid to this company from the budget reserve on several occasions.
A total of 22,2 million euros were paid to this company through illegal state aid from the account of the Ministry of Finance alone, and another 61,6 million euros from the account or by decisions of the Ministry of Transport.
The bankrupt state-owned airline also received a huge state aid of 25 million euros on August 25, 2020, but even that did not help it survive, and four months later the management suspended flights, explaining that the company could not function without continued state aid.
The Commercial Court did not accept part of the state's request relating to the claim for illegally granted state aid of 28,1 million euros and interest of 8,3 million euros, because this mostly refers to payments from the Government and several ministries for which the purpose of the payment was not stated and for which the Competition Protection Agency did not request that they be returned to the state.
MA went bankrupt in April 2021, and the previous bankruptcy claims were worth more than the company's assets, so the question is whether and how much the state will be able to collect. In June 2021, the company's then bankruptcy administrator Saša Zejak acknowledged creditors' claims of 33,8 million, while not acknowledging the company's debts of 170 million euros.
Among the unrecognized claims at the time was this debt of MA to the state of 93,3 million in the name of illegal state aid. At that time, the company's debt to the Tax Administration for taxes and contributions of 13,5 million was also not recognized, but only 15,5 thousand euros.
On 3 September 2020, the Council of the Agency for the Protection of Competition (AZZK) issued a decision ordering the immediate suspension of any further state aid to the national airline "Montenegro Airlines" until a final decision is made on its compliance with the rules. This happened four days after the previous DPS government, which had been providing illegal aid to the bankrupt company, lost the elections.
On December 24, 20 days after being elected, the new government announced that it no longer had the legal basis or the ability to make legal decisions to help MA. The day after that, the company's management, elected by the former government, decided to suspend all flights because they could not function without state aid.
In February 2021, the government founded a new airline, “ToMontenegro,” with 30 million euros, which began regular flights on June 10 of that year. The new company has been operating with a positive result since 2023, without state aid.
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