lupo-de-mare
Gesperrt
siehe Buch von Ex-Bundeskanzler Schmidt: "Der Raubtier Kapitalismus"
Serben wehren sich gegen den Ausverkauf des Landes
"ECONOMY-SERBIA:
'Patriotic Capitalism' Damaging Road to EU
Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE, Oct 15 (IPS) - Serbia and Montenegro are back in consideration for EU membership but growing local resistance to foreign capital could be in the way.
European Union (EU) external relations commissioner Chris Patten said in Luxembourg this week that "we don't want to see Serbia and Montengro fall behind its neighbours." A feasibility study should be finished by next spring, he added.
"It's too early to think about 2007 or 2009 (for full EU membership), but the realistic moment would be 2012," Serbian deputy prime minister Miroljub Labus told journalists.
Of the nations that emerged from former Yugoslavia, only Slovenia is a EU member. A feasibility study for Croatia says it can join by 2007, together with Romania and Bulgaria. Macedonia is next in row for membership in 2009. Bosnia and Herzegovina is still going through an assessment process.
Experts say a major obstacle for Serbia could be a "patriotic capitalism" that is taking over. "It's about preventing foreign capital from coming over here under the pretext that domestic firms are able to finance privatisation," leading sociologist Stjepan Gredelj told IPS.
The resistance exploded in recent months over moves to privatise the mineral water giant Knjaz Milos and the biggest Serbian supermarket chain C Market.
Workers at the Knjaz Milos plant in Arandjelovac 70 km south of Belgrade came to protest in Belgrade earlier this month against a move by the French company Danone and the London-based FPP Balkans to buy the facility.
The workers blocked traffic for hours in the capital of two million by parking their delivery trucks in downtown intersections. They carried banners that said "No to foreigners" and "We want Serbs to own Knjaz".
Serbian minister for capital investment Velja Ilic welcomed the protests. "Serbs are fed up with the new world order," he said. "We have to be on our own with our own means."
C Market employees have collected some 200,000 signatures outside the stores in support of "keeping C Market Serb".
The protest was launched after the biggest Slovenian retail chain Merkator offered to buy majority shares in C Market. The employees also protested outside a Merkator store which opened in Belgrade two years ago.
"Serbs remember who started the war", a banner said. "Dead soldiers make us remember", said another. Slovenes were the first to proclaim independence from Belgrade in 1991 and many Serbs blame them for starting the war that broke Yugoslavia.
"This all resembles the paranoid atmosphere of the late 80s that preceded the wars," analyst Misa Brkic told IPS. "This time, it's economy that is being abused, with outdated slogans."
Analysts say local tycoons want the road to privatisation to go in their direction. They offer low prices for shares, but instigate patriotic feelings, where employees, who are often the small shareholders, do not know what shareholding and takeovers are about.
Most employees in the state-owned companies were given free shares in the late 1990s under former leader Slobodan Milosevic. This was a make-believe scheme that the state was doing something towards privatisation. The shares were considered worthless.
In the meantime a new generation of local tycoons who thrived under the sanctions with smuggling of gasoline, food, cigarettes and other goods became the dominant economic factor.
"What we see now is privatisation that should be read among ordinary people as 'domestic' and for many that sounds very good," economics professor Miodrag Zec told IPS.
Transition to a market economy since 2000 has been painful and slow, and many Serbs think privatisation only makes them poorer. They blame foreigners for that.
"The feeling that the state should take care about all the needs of the people (as under communists) is still very strong," Zec says. "Only few people are able to clearly see that those times are gone for ever."
Privatisation since Milosevic fell in 2000 has brought billions of dollars into state coffers, but ordinary people have yet to see benefits.
The Association of Foreign Investors of Serbia has warned Serbian authorities that protests by employees and hate speech can tarnish the image of the country and make it unattractive to foreign capital.
"This can only bring additional problems to Serbia...the country should have a clear vision regarding the development of its economy," said Richard Danicic, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Belgrade. "Otherwise, many roads for it would be closed." (END/2004)"
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25869
Offenbar haben viele Serben die Schnauze voll vom Mülltonnenkapitalismus.
Serben wehren sich gegen den Ausverkauf des Landes
"ECONOMY-SERBIA:
'Patriotic Capitalism' Damaging Road to EU
Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE, Oct 15 (IPS) - Serbia and Montenegro are back in consideration for EU membership but growing local resistance to foreign capital could be in the way.
European Union (EU) external relations commissioner Chris Patten said in Luxembourg this week that "we don't want to see Serbia and Montengro fall behind its neighbours." A feasibility study should be finished by next spring, he added.
"It's too early to think about 2007 or 2009 (for full EU membership), but the realistic moment would be 2012," Serbian deputy prime minister Miroljub Labus told journalists.
Of the nations that emerged from former Yugoslavia, only Slovenia is a EU member. A feasibility study for Croatia says it can join by 2007, together with Romania and Bulgaria. Macedonia is next in row for membership in 2009. Bosnia and Herzegovina is still going through an assessment process.
Experts say a major obstacle for Serbia could be a "patriotic capitalism" that is taking over. "It's about preventing foreign capital from coming over here under the pretext that domestic firms are able to finance privatisation," leading sociologist Stjepan Gredelj told IPS.
The resistance exploded in recent months over moves to privatise the mineral water giant Knjaz Milos and the biggest Serbian supermarket chain C Market.
Workers at the Knjaz Milos plant in Arandjelovac 70 km south of Belgrade came to protest in Belgrade earlier this month against a move by the French company Danone and the London-based FPP Balkans to buy the facility.
The workers blocked traffic for hours in the capital of two million by parking their delivery trucks in downtown intersections. They carried banners that said "No to foreigners" and "We want Serbs to own Knjaz".
Serbian minister for capital investment Velja Ilic welcomed the protests. "Serbs are fed up with the new world order," he said. "We have to be on our own with our own means."
C Market employees have collected some 200,000 signatures outside the stores in support of "keeping C Market Serb".
The protest was launched after the biggest Slovenian retail chain Merkator offered to buy majority shares in C Market. The employees also protested outside a Merkator store which opened in Belgrade two years ago.
"Serbs remember who started the war", a banner said. "Dead soldiers make us remember", said another. Slovenes were the first to proclaim independence from Belgrade in 1991 and many Serbs blame them for starting the war that broke Yugoslavia.
"This all resembles the paranoid atmosphere of the late 80s that preceded the wars," analyst Misa Brkic told IPS. "This time, it's economy that is being abused, with outdated slogans."
Analysts say local tycoons want the road to privatisation to go in their direction. They offer low prices for shares, but instigate patriotic feelings, where employees, who are often the small shareholders, do not know what shareholding and takeovers are about.
Most employees in the state-owned companies were given free shares in the late 1990s under former leader Slobodan Milosevic. This was a make-believe scheme that the state was doing something towards privatisation. The shares were considered worthless.
In the meantime a new generation of local tycoons who thrived under the sanctions with smuggling of gasoline, food, cigarettes and other goods became the dominant economic factor.
"What we see now is privatisation that should be read among ordinary people as 'domestic' and for many that sounds very good," economics professor Miodrag Zec told IPS.
Transition to a market economy since 2000 has been painful and slow, and many Serbs think privatisation only makes them poorer. They blame foreigners for that.
"The feeling that the state should take care about all the needs of the people (as under communists) is still very strong," Zec says. "Only few people are able to clearly see that those times are gone for ever."
Privatisation since Milosevic fell in 2000 has brought billions of dollars into state coffers, but ordinary people have yet to see benefits.
The Association of Foreign Investors of Serbia has warned Serbian authorities that protests by employees and hate speech can tarnish the image of the country and make it unattractive to foreign capital.
"This can only bring additional problems to Serbia...the country should have a clear vision regarding the development of its economy," said Richard Danicic, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Belgrade. "Otherwise, many roads for it would be closed." (END/2004)"
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=25869
Offenbar haben viele Serben die Schnauze voll vom Mülltonnenkapitalismus.
