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NEDIMOVIC: No contract with Tonnies, only negotiation platform
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(Branislav Nedimovic) The Government of Serbia has not signed any contract with the German meat company Tonnies, Minister of Agriculture Branislav Nedimovic stated for the Insajder portal.
As reported, Nedimovic said, commenting on the writings of the Danas daily, which reported that there was an umbrella agreement between the government and Tonnies Invest signed in May 2016, that it wasn't an agreement, but only a “platform for negotiations”.
– They sent us a draft contract in May, but that is only a platform for negotiations. We haven't signed any sort of contract with Tonnies. The only thing agreed so far is the lease of land in Zrenjanin and Kikinda, where they took part in the public invitation, just as everybody else – the minister said.
According to Danas, the “platform for negotiations”, as Nedimovic calls it, obliges the Republic of Serbia to honor the Agreement on State Aid, to facilitate the obtaining of construction and exploitation permits for the investors, but also to “make efforts to have mandatory vaccination against the swine plague abolished by December 31, 2022”.
Nedimovic said that Tonnies had not been promised any benefits and that “at this point” they had the same options ans all local investors.
– They may apply for benefits as everyone else. No additional privileges have been agreed – the minister said.
As Insajder reminds, the alleged arrival of Tonnies has been discussed since December 2014, and the Government of Serbia signed a legally non-binding memorandum of Understanding with the German investor in April 2015, in which the project of investing in Serbia is outlined. The Memorandum says that Tonnies is interested in building up to 20 technologically modern pig farms in Serbia, whereas the investment per farm would amount to approximately EUR 21 million.
Insajder reminds that the current president, then prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic stated following the signing of the Memorandum that the investments of the German company in Serbia would be around EUR 420 million and that there would be 700 to 800 thousand pigs in the first investment phase.
The portal says that the first step and the condition for the Tonnies investment in Serbia was the adoption of the Law on Agricultural Land in late 2015 and the implementation of the right of priority of land lease, which enabled investors to lease state-owned land for a period of 30 years without an auction.
The quality of the projects investors apply with is rated by the government's commission, which consists of ministers and their assistants, and which has the discretionary right of deciding which investor is to be given the right of lease.
Experts and associations of agriculturists criticized the law harshly, accusing the Government of having prepared it specifically to benefit the German company.
Immediately following the adoption of the law, the ministry placed a public invitation for the lease of state land.
As Insajder reports, it is still largely unknown who is to be given the land for 30 years in line with the priority right and under preferential terms for investing in the food and processing production.
What is known so far is that Tonnies has obtained permits from the commissions in Kikinda and Zrenjanin, and Minister Nedimovic confirmed for Insajder that the German company was waiting for approval in another three locations – Plandiste, Vrsanj and Secanj.
These locations, according to Insajder, are identical to those mentioned in the Memorandum of Understanding.
Although the commission of the Ministry of Agriculture should have completed the deliberation of the bids by investors before April 15, 2017, they failed to do so due to an excessive number of requests, as they stated for Insajder earlier.
The minister of agriculture said that it was precisely procedural reasons and necessity why Tonnies is “late” with its investment in Serbia.
– The issue of agricultural land is remarkably complex. We had to adopt a new Law on Agricultural Land. Also, we had to go through an important examination process related to restitution. These are the main reasons for the process being a little slower than expected – Nedimovic explained for Insajder.
As reported, Nedimovic said, commenting on the writings of the Danas daily, which reported that there was an umbrella agreement between the government and Tonnies Invest signed in May 2016, that it wasn't an agreement, but only a “platform for negotiations”.
– They sent us a draft contract in May, but that is only a platform for negotiations. We haven't signed any sort of contract with Tonnies. The only thing agreed so far is the lease of land in Zrenjanin and Kikinda, where they took part in the public invitation, just as everybody else – the minister said.
According to Danas, the “platform for negotiations”, as Nedimovic calls it, obliges the Republic of Serbia to honor the Agreement on State Aid, to facilitate the obtaining of construction and exploitation permits for the investors, but also to “make efforts to have mandatory vaccination against the swine plague abolished by December 31, 2022”.
Nedimovic said that Tonnies had not been promised any benefits and that “at this point” they had the same options ans all local investors.
– They may apply for benefits as everyone else. No additional privileges have been agreed – the minister said.
As Insajder reminds, the alleged arrival of Tonnies has been discussed since December 2014, and the Government of Serbia signed a legally non-binding memorandum of Understanding with the German investor in April 2015, in which the project of investing in Serbia is outlined. The Memorandum says that Tonnies is interested in building up to 20 technologically modern pig farms in Serbia, whereas the investment per farm would amount to approximately EUR 21 million.
Insajder reminds that the current president, then prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic stated following the signing of the Memorandum that the investments of the German company in Serbia would be around EUR 420 million and that there would be 700 to 800 thousand pigs in the first investment phase.
The portal says that the first step and the condition for the Tonnies investment in Serbia was the adoption of the Law on Agricultural Land in late 2015 and the implementation of the right of priority of land lease, which enabled investors to lease state-owned land for a period of 30 years without an auction.
The quality of the projects investors apply with is rated by the government's commission, which consists of ministers and their assistants, and which has the discretionary right of deciding which investor is to be given the right of lease.
Experts and associations of agriculturists criticized the law harshly, accusing the Government of having prepared it specifically to benefit the German company.
Immediately following the adoption of the law, the ministry placed a public invitation for the lease of state land.
As Insajder reports, it is still largely unknown who is to be given the land for 30 years in line with the priority right and under preferential terms for investing in the food and processing production.
What is known so far is that Tonnies has obtained permits from the commissions in Kikinda and Zrenjanin, and Minister Nedimovic confirmed for Insajder that the German company was waiting for approval in another three locations – Plandiste, Vrsanj and Secanj.
These locations, according to Insajder, are identical to those mentioned in the Memorandum of Understanding.
Although the commission of the Ministry of Agriculture should have completed the deliberation of the bids by investors before April 15, 2017, they failed to do so due to an excessive number of requests, as they stated for Insajder earlier.
The minister of agriculture said that it was precisely procedural reasons and necessity why Tonnies is “late” with its investment in Serbia.
– The issue of agricultural land is remarkably complex. We had to adopt a new Law on Agricultural Land. Also, we had to go through an important examination process related to restitution. These are the main reasons for the process being a little slower than expected – Nedimovic explained for Insajder.
Companies:
Toennies Invest d.o.o. Beograd
Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije
Vlada Republike Srbije
Tags:
Tonnies
Branislav Nedimovic
Law on Agricultural Land
Aleksandar Vucic
pig farming
investments of Tonnies in Serbia
lease of agricultural land
agricultural land
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