The Weakest Link of Kosovo's Democracy - KFOS

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The tendency to grant absolute majority to the PTK are unseen in regional practices.
Macedonia holds around 38% of the telecom, Croatia 49%, Slovenia 68%, Serbia 49%,
Bosnia 90%; only Albania owns little over 20%. Justification of the Government analysis
on selling of 75% of shares is that “... all investors insist that majority of ownership
be sold at the beginning”. Frankly said, investors would insist on obtaining the PTK for
free; but it is absurd to base actions on what investors insist.
We are not claiming that publically owned assets should not be transformed into possession
of the private sector. The hope that a country in transition facing institutional
problems and suffering from shortcomings and diseases of transitory and post-conflict
processes may be able to produce an encouraging output, an economic development,
would be ideological madness. It is as simple as that, public ownership in countries in
transition is a barrier to businesses, a nest of corruption and nepotism and a growing
self-suffocation. Public management is a bad skipper of our ship. Nevertheless, it
would be equally mad if we give up our assets without gaining something in return
or at least without taking part in their development journey. While the private sector
should be the skipper of our ship, public property should be the cargo in this journey.
Keeping of 49% of Telecom assets in public ownership, under private management
would provide the country with dividends of almost the same level we are gaining now
from public management, which is overwhelmed by serious problems of corruption,
over employment and absence of motivation.
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It is not late. The country should tackle the deficit. Kosovo is not able to get a loan
because it has no crediting ranking, cannot generate additional income since it has no
sufficient performing economy, and cannot expect financial assistance either, since it
has spoiled badly relations with assistance providers. So, what now? This brings us to
the situation we have to choose between selling of assets in haste or budgetary cuts.
Let us say that the sound logic supports the latter. Cutting of expenditures may take
place in salaries or in the highway.
The cut of 100 million in salaries would bring deficit to extreme limits, but, however,
acceptable. At the end of the day, in economic sense, salary increase, as it is now, does
not increase buying power of Kosovans since it has no reflection on inflation. On the
other hand, highway cost seems to be unaffordable. In order to avoid selling of national
assets and planned deficit, we have to look into contractual possibilities of stopping
work for at least a year. If salary cuts cause social unrest, let us say the highway cut is
less painful. We cannot risk the devaluation of all national assets, today the Telecom,
tomorrow Energy and the day after tomorrow Trepça, three short term profitable assets
for one long term profitable capital asset. Taking into account emergency needs of
the country, such an assessment is hasty and not wise at all.