Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – According to the Office of the Montenegrin President, the airport concession procedure should be suspended because Montenegro does not need bad deals, compromised procedures, or attempts to present an old political project from the former regime as a development decision.

“The airports are now worth nearly twice as much, the procedure has been compromised, workers remain unprotected, and the damage to the state is measured in hundreds of millions of euros,” the Office said, recalling that the Protector of Property and Legal Interests had requested an urgent legal and financial analysis of the concession process.

They stated in a press release that the Government had selected the company through a concession process dating back to the old regime and is now shifting responsibility for a bad deal onto Parliament.

“This is not serious governance, but an attempt to present old prices, models, and political agreements as a new development decision. If something was worth €140 million and is now worth €264.4 million, then it should not be granted at the old price,” the press release reads.

They argued that, if the revenues of Airports of Montenegro have increased from €37.5 million to €55 million, if passenger numbers have grown from 2.4 million to 3.1 million, and if the company is now more valuable than seven years ago, then the authorities have no right to act against national interests.