Gasprom buys Serbian energy firm

Serbia is selling the state-owned mineral oil company NIS to Russia's Gasprom. Thomas Fuster suggests that this deal, which lacks transparency, shows Serbia's privatization policy has failed the "readiness test”. "It's doubtful that economic considerations were paramount in this deal. Rather, the delivery of this monopoly enterprise to Russia should probably be seen as Belgrade's appreciation for Moscow's support in the Kosovo conflict, especially since Kostunica makes no secret of his pro-Russian affinities. ... Once again, prospective European customers for NIS – such as the Austrian OMV company, and the European Union, which had requested in vain that Serbia evaluate bidding on objective criteria – are left out in the cold, in the competition with Russia."

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