As Prime Minister Miloš Vučević prepares to resign, the Serbian government faces significant uncertainty regarding the future of the country’s national oil company, NIS. Talks have been ongoing with both the USA and Russia about requesting a delay in the application of sanctions, which could impact Russian ownership in NIS. Currently, the deadline for reducing Russian ownership to zero is set for February 25, but there is a possibility of an extension, according to Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović Handanović.
This means that the shares of Gazprom and Gazpromneft, totaling 56% ownership, would need to be transferred to another party, potentially including the state of Serbia. While the Croatian Janaf pipeline, which delivers crude oil to NIS refineries, has requested an exemption from sanctions, no response has been received as of yet.
Serbia’s government is currently in a technical mandate, leading to questions about whether it has the legal authority to make decisions about NIS, particularly in light of Vučević’s resignation. Forbes Serbia explored this issue, consulting legal experts to understand whether the government can act in its current form.
Under the Constitution and the Law on Government, the resignation of the Prime Minister triggers a 30-day period during which the President must propose a new representative. Legal experts agree that while there is no strict deadline for the parliament to formally accept the resignation, a delay in convening the session could be politically motivated. Milan Jovanović, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, emphasized that while the session may not need to be immediate, it should not take an unreasonable amount of time.
Vesna Rakić Vodinelić, a former professor at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, suggested that the government might be deliberately delaying the session to maintain control over decisions like the future of NIS. According to her, holding off on the session would allow the government to decide NIS’s fate while still having full authority.
If the session is held later and Vučević’s resignation is confirmed, the government would technically be in resignation, raising questions about whether it could still make significant decisions, such as nationalizing Gazprom’s shares. Article 17 of the Law on Government restricts resigned governments to handling “current affairs,” but legal experts argue that given the importance of NIS to the state and economy, the government may still have the legal basis to proceed with decisions related to the company, particularly since the sanctions deadline was set prior to Vučević’s resignation.
Ultimately, legal experts agree that the government could, if it chooses, make a decision about NIS, viewing it as a critical issue that must be resolved within a specified timeframe.
