Mugoša: Suspend the procedure for granting concessions for airports

The head of the European Alliance parliamentary group, Boris Mugoša, said that he expects the concession awarding procedure for the airports in Podgorica and Tivat to be suspended as soon as possible and that a serious, responsible and professional discussion be held on the necessary improvement of the airports.

"More than a year ago, I pointed out that the tender procedure was discredited for many reasons, because it has been going on for over six years and is accompanied by many controversies, which is why it should be suspended, and that the existing concession act has economic and legal shortcomings. We have lost precious time. Three months ago, the Government nevertheless proposed a concession, only to have coalition partners' bargaining and blackmailing begin, which resulted in the aforementioned proposal for a government decision on the concession not even entering the parliamentary procedure for three months. Some probably did not want it to be discussed transparently in Parliament, because they would have to explain how they changed their position on the concession because of their positions, and others wanted to avoid explaining the indefensible, which is that after such a controversial tender procedure, you are giving a strategic resource to someone for 30 years. Of course, blackmail and bargaining over the reconstruction of the Government have interfered with this, where the majority has the principle of 'you give it to me, I give it to you'. Now the Government is informing us, three months after proposing the concession decision, that the South Korean group has backed out. "The incredible frivolity and irresponsibility of the majority," Mugoša wrote on Iks.

He says that the European Union's position is clear and consistent:

"Airports need to improve their infrastructure and business performance; we are against giving both airports under concession for 30 years; we need to seriously analyze and consider other valorization models (investment by the state using EU funds, giving one of the two airports under concession, recapitalization by a foreign investor, foreign management, etc.) and then make a strategically mature decision," Mugoša said.