BELGRADE (Serbia), July 9 (SeeNews) – Serbia's prime minister Ana Brnabic denied on Tuesday the accusations of illegal state aid to flag carrier Air Serbia levelled by Slovenian air carrier Adria Airways.
"Serbia fully respects the Stabilisation and Association Agreement [with the EU], we do not give state aid, so we are completely clean in that," Brnabic said in a video file posted on the website of Tanjug news agency.
Last month, Serbian media reported that Adria Airways has filed a complaint against Air Serbia at European Union institutions about alleged illegal state aid provided to the company by the Serbian government.
"I do not have information whether proceedings on this [complaint] have been launched," Brnabic said on Tuesday.
Government support to Air Serbia violates both the country's state aid regulations and the international obligations of Serbia under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, local media quoted Serbian lawyer Dragan Gajin as saying in June.
In 2013, Etihad Airways signed a deal to acquire 49% of then state-owned Serbia's JAT Airways. Under the strategic partnership agreement Etihad was granted a five-year contract to run the airline and rebrand it to Air Serbia in October of the same year. The Serbian government owns the remaining 51%.
Under the agreement, the government committed to provide grants to support the stabilisation of the company until 2016. However, according to Serbian media reports, the government continued financing Air Serbia from the state budget after the agreed deadline. In 2017 alone, the government provided financing of 12 million euro ($13.4 million) to Air Serbia.
($ = 0.892533 euro)