The attitude of the former Acting Director of Elektroprivreda Srbije energy company Miroslav Tomašević that he does not see the need for Norwegian staff to sit on the Supervisory Board of that company is completely shared by the local professional public, which at the same time suspects that this is the first step towards the privatization of EPS “by the back door”.
As a reminder, the new composition of the Supervisory Board of Elektroprivreda Serbia includes three Norwegians, who were appointed by the company’s one-member Assembly of Shareholders, i.e. the Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović, and one of them, Oluf Ulset, was elected as the president of that body.
While guesting on Insider television in the show “Interview with Jugoslav Ćosić”, Tomašević pointed out that it was Ulset who was the representative of the Supervisory Board who informed him that he had been dismissed from the position of the first man of the Electric Power Company of Serbia.
When asked if he thinks it is necessary to hire people from Norway for the three members of the EPS Supervisory Board, Tomašević replied that he does not look down on anyone, but added that he always values “himself, his family, his country and his company”. I don’t see the need, as Miroslav Tomašević, for that. We have enough expert people who can perform this function, as there have been doctors of science and people from some faculties. I don’t know why the Norwegians were brought in now, but it is very important what the EPS development strategy is, and how It will be implemented – emphasized Tomašević.
Answering the question of whether the change in the legal form of EPS, i.e. the transformation from a public company to a joint-stock company, can guarantee greater independence in work or can we expect pressure from the state and interference through the Supervisory Board, Tomašević said that time will tell.
The form is form, and the essence is how EPS is managed. Furthermore, with the new Statute that was adopted, the person responsible for the work of EPS is the general director – emphasized Tomašević. The professional public in Serbia, on the other hand, doubts that the reason for the engagement of Norwegian personnel in the Supervisory Board of EPS is the first step towards the privatization of the company, as well as that they will represent interests that do not necessarily benefit the employees and the Serbian state, as the owner of the company.
The main criticism of the Serbian profession at the expense of Norwegian staff is that they are completely ignorant of the functioning of EPS, which receives the largest amount of electricity from coal-fired thermal power plants, which is not the case in Norway. Accordingly, our experts believe that the Norwegians do not have the knowledge and experience to question in any way how to manage a company like EPS.
The General Secretary of the Gas Association of Serbia, Vojislav Vuletić, tells Danas that Serbia, Norwegians in EPS: the first step towards the back door privatization? he fully agrees with what the former director of EPS stated in the Insider TV show, i.e. that his assessment that it is not necessary to hire Norwegians as part of the Supervisory Board is completely correct. Former director of EPS Tomašević is right when he advocates such a position. There is no single reason for Norwegians to sit on the Supervisory Board as its members when Serbia has enough professional staff who can adequately occupy those positions and know more about the electric power system of Serbia and EPS than is the case with appointed people from Norway – says our interlocutor.
He adds that the reason for withdrawing the wrong moves that are detrimental to the functioning of the Electric Power Company of Serbia is that the Ministry of Energy is managed by incompetent and incompetent personnel, both now when it is headed by Dubravka Đedović and previously when Zorana Mihajlović was in that position. I cannot claim that this will happen for sure, however, after the dismissal of Director Tomašević and the appointment of non-professional personnel in the composition of the Supervisory Board, it can be rightly stated that the claims of those who advocate the thesis that all changes in EPS are implemented to make the company in the end, it was privatized in some form quite possibly – Vuletić points out.
Economic analyst Branko Pavlović also believes that the personnel policy implemented in EPS, if things are viewed logically, cannot aim for anything other than to privatize the company. Former director Tomašević is one hundred percent right when he says that there are no reasons for Norwegian representatives to sit on the Supervisory Board of EPS. We have far more capable and professional people who can perform these functions. Unfortunately, in the last decades, there is a misconception that prevails in the public that everything that comes from the West is simultaneously “progressive and good”.
Events in the EPS are an indication that this is not the case. If, by any chance, someone from Africa far more professional and capable than the Norwegian personnel was appointed to the Supervisory Board of EPS, it would still cause great suspicion in the public, which does not occur when it comes to personnel from the West – concludes our interlocutor.
