Montenegro company is the centre of EU concern

Montenegro company is the centre of EU concern

Russian investors and Montenegro officials are heading to arbitration over an aluminium plant.

Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica has been bankrupt since 2013. [Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica]

As the sale of the assets of Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica opens, the conflict between officials in Podgorica and the Russian investors who initially bought the plant has been taken to Brussels.

On February 20th, bidding opened to sell the company's infrastructure at an initial price of 28 million euros, which will be used to pay off part of the company debts.

Russia's Central European Aluminium Company, En+Group and VT bank bought 65.4 percent of Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica in 2005, and it fell into bankruptcy last year.

Due to accumulated debts of 350 million euros, the Montenegro Commercial Court opened bankruptcy proceedings in July 2013, and ordered the sale of the assets of Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica, which were estimated at 52 million euros.

Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica, as the country's largest exporter, represents 15 percent of the country's GDP.

Earlier this month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for Podgorica to quickly resolve the dispute. The EU emphasised the need for a transparent process in resolving commercial disputes without any political interference and based on the rule of law.

The EU Delegation in Podgorica said it will closely monitor what is happening.

"If there are systematic problems in the area of rule of law and public administration, we will address these issues in the context of Montenegro's EU accession negotiations," Dragan Mugoša, spokesperson for EU Delegation in Montenegro, told...