Prime Minister, Mr Duško Marković, and Minister of Transport, Mr Osman Nurković, both said that Government’s decision to invest €155 million in Montenegro Airlines (MA) was right, since shutting down national airline company would inflict substantial damage to Montenegro and its economy. As expected, this decision drew harsh criticism by the opposition parties.
Independent MP, Mr Aleksandar Damjanović, thinks that the Government should answer at least two questions why it decided to take this step.
“Several hundreds of millions of euros have already been spent in past years. Now seems like this new “luxury” will cost us a quarter of a billion total”, says Mr Damjanović.
Hopefully, the Government will discuss at least two key questions in the Parliament.
“First of all, what projections indicate that MA will be operating without losses in future? Second of all, does this settling of debts and financial injection mean that MA is getting ready for privatization? Answers to those questions would be very helpful for us to understand the real intentions of throwing lifebelts worth €155 million from the budget which is still going through recovery”, concluded Mr Damjanović.
Economic analyst, Mr Vasilije Kostić, thinks the Government’s decision is right.
“The Government did what it should do”, said Mr Kostić.
Political parties have voiced their opinion on the matter.
DPS members believe this decision is right and that the investment will pay off.
Members of Socialist Democratic Party and Democratic Montenegro disagree.
“Now education staff, doctors, police officers and retired people should know why there are no conditions for increase in their salaries”, said members of SDP.
Democrats agree that every state should take care of national companies. However, when it comes to MA, they say, any financial intervention is a constant for a long time period.
“The state should invest, not cover the losses of the national air carrier”, Democrats think.
