Trepca manager: Bill could trigger riots in northern Kosovo

ZVECAN - If adopted in the Kosovo assembly, the bill amending the law on public enterprises could destabilise the situation in northern Kosovo and put the implementation of the Brussels Agreement in jeopardy, Jovan Dimkic, general manager of the Mining, Metallurgical and Chemical Combine Trepca, warned on Friday.

The announced amendments, initiated by the Kosovo government, have caused massive concern, fear and resentment among the more than 3,300 Trepca employees in northern Kosovo, Dimkic told a press conference.

Trepca is completely destabilised by this and its workers cannot accept a unilateral expression of political will and legislative acts characterised by legal violence, Dimkic said.

The issue of Trepca must be put on the agenda of the Brussels talks urgently, Dimkic noted, adding that the negotiations should produce a solution that is acceptable to all.

"In that sense, we support the statement by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and the positions presented regarding the significance and method of solving what is one of the most difficult issues for the Serb community in Kosovo-Metohija", he said.

Trepca is property of the Development Fund of the Republic of Serbia, the Republic of Serbia - and the Serbian government as its representative, and the goal of adopting the amendments to the law on public enterprises is to transfer the ownership to the Kosovo government, Dimkic said.

"The adoption of the law on public enterprises will alter and drastically aggravate the complete economic, social, and security situation and the overall political situation in Kosovo, with unforeseeable consequences," he warned.

Dimkic expressed concern that, if adopted, the amendments to the law on Kosovo's...