"There are solutions for 40 restructuring companies"

"There are solutions for 40 restructuring companies"

It was Vučić's and Vulin's first meeting with one of the representative unions since the adoption of the laws on labour and pension and disability insurance in mid-July, which were opposed by the unions.

Vučić told reporters after the meeting it was key that the government had got support from unions not to treat everything within the restructuring companies as property during their upcoming sale.

He proposed at the meeting to form a committee for restructuring companies according to their industrial branch, adding that he would seek support from other unions as well for measures to help those companies, in order to privatise all the restructuring companies and another 584 that have yet to go through the process.

The government is prepared to write off the companies' debts, which form 65 percent of all the debts owed by the restructuring companies, he pointed out.

Those companies owe EUR 2.4 billion to the government, but those debts cannot be collected, he said.

That is not all, because they cost the state EUR 750 million annually, so a solution for them has to be found, he noted.

"We were going in the wrong direction for some 15-20 years, given out aid, but never solved the problem," he said.

"If we settled the matter of Železara and the chemical complex, it would cover 2 percent of GDP. with economic measures and fiscal consolidation, I expect Serbia to be among the fastest growing European nations in 2016," he remarked.

Orbović said he expected the meeting with Vučić to be a turning point.

"We have spoken about individual companies, in order to get companies that have been in restructuring for decades to move forward," he said.

A solution to the problem with restructuring companies would provide support for 55,000 of their employees and help out another 700,000 who are looking for work, since a large number of small and medium companies would be started if the restructuring companies began working again, he said.

Vulin says government decisions will be used to regulate the rights of the employees of the restructuring companies, explaining that the issue will not be prescribed by law, but by decisions stemming from the laws on bankruptcy and privatization.

"We have spoken with officials of the Ministry of Economy and agreed there would be no new regulations, but appropriate decisions by the government," he stated.