Fourth delay of the negotiation ddn’t bring anything new. Itaians remained at the same position as earlier, as well as representatives of our government, so it’s almost certain that company A2A will not prolong the partnership with our government in EPCG, it was said to Pobjeda from multiple resources.
The dealine for agreement officially expired at the end of July. Considering that an agreement couldn’t be reached for the third time, final decision was postponed for two months. Negotiations are actively ongoing as Dnevne novine report, but A2A company doesn’t want to accept conditions of Montenegrin government related to the investments in EPCG.
Government of Montenegro still claims that second block of Thermal power plant is the priority, and that EPCG can finance the construction on its own because it has a significant amount of free assets, and it could also get a loan arrangement.
However, in Italian company A2A disagree with this position of the government, emphasizing that for construction of this infrastructural project in Pljevlja a third partner should be found.
Majority owner of EPCG is the country of Montenegro with 57,02 percent of shares, while Italian company A2A has 41,75 percent.
As the situation is now, there are three offers towards Italians. First and least probable option is the agreement on management and signing the new five year contract. This option means that the second block of Thermal power plant in Pljevlja would be built form the resources of EPCG. Second option means that the management contract would not be signed, and A2A would keep its shares, but not the right to decision making. In this case the construction of second block of Thermal power plant is inevitable too.
Third option and probably most realistic one is the sale of A2A’s shares, but according to contracts, shares would have to be offered to government of Montenegro first. For our country this would be an ideal chance to regain an almost 100% ownership of EPCG.
