Vecernje Novosti: Acting Directors Have Become the Norm

Serbian government building (Beta/Nenad Petrovic)

Twenty-one public and state enterprises of public importance are led by acting directors, while only eight directors were elected in a public competition, reported the Vecernje Novosti daily on Jan. 16.

The Law on Public Enterprises stipulates that the companies’ directors should be exclusively selected through public competitions, while the International Monetary Fund recently warned the Serbian government that it has been disregarding the law for three years. The IMF urged the government to, as soon as possible, do what it has so that professionals, who would stay in office for their full term, are appointed as heads of public companies.

According to the law, acting directors in public enterprises may not hold the position for longer than a year, nor can the same person be appointed twice to the same post.

That the government has no regard for the law is reflected in the fact that a few days ago, Jelena Trivian was reappointed as the acting director of the Sluzbeni Glasnik publishing company, the paper said.   

The “record-holder” in the number of appointments is the head of the Roads of Serbia public company, Zoran Drobnjak, who has been its acting director since November 2013, according to the Vecernje Novosti newspaper.