Kosovo Postpones Vote on Disputed Mine Takeover

A vote in the Kosovo Assembly intended to partially privatise the Trepca mine complex, with the government of Kosovo holding the majority of the shares, was postponed just before the start of the parliamentary session on Monday.

The mine complex was Kosovo's most profitable conglomerate during the Yugoslav period before falling into disrepair.

The plan had sparked anger in Serbia, which claims ownership of the complex and warned that the proposed change would damage EU-backed efforts to normalise relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

But the Kosovo government announced on Monday that it had reformulated the proposed legislation, allowing for an 18-month period during which amendments can be made.

Trepca, a complex of lead, zinc and silver mines that stretch along the entire eastern side of Kosovo and employed more than 20,000 people in the Yugoslav era, has long been the subject of political dispute.

The mines are split along ethnic lines. The northern part of the complex employs people from the Serb-majority north of Kosovo, and is run by Belgrade, while the southern part employs Kosovo Albanian workers and is under the control of Pristina. It has two parallel directors, one Serb and one Kosovo Albanian.

Formerly a Yugoslav state-owned company, the southern part of the mines came under the oversight of the Kosovo Privatisation Agency after the 1998-99 war. The northern part remained under the control of Belgrade which claims  it owns 55 per cent of the company and says that an additional 20 per cent is in the hands of Serbian companies.

Marko Djuric, the head of the Serbian government's Office for Kosovo, called the proposed plan a violation of property rights.

"The attempt to change the ownership structure of...