Former EPS Director Tomasevic: Serbia Has No Legal Framework for Green Transition, Chasing Imposed Goals

Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) adopted the document titled “Go Green Road” last year, because Serbia doesn’t have a clearly defined legal framework and is instead constantly racing to fulfill the imposed green transition goals which are accepted and then cannot be fulfilled, which is not good, said the former director of that company, Miroslav Tomasevic.

At the expert gathering “Hydro Energy of the Southeast European Region” at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA), talking about electrical energy independence in the conditions of the green transition, he said that, with the “Go Green Road” document, EPS had accepted the conclusions of the Second World Climate Conference in Geneva in 1990 about a 9.8% reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions.

As he said, the Paris Agreement from 2015 on limiting the temperature increase, as well as the Decarbonization Strategy Until 2030 with a Perspective Until 2050, were also accepted, whereas the domestic Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan is undergoing the necessary procedure.

– Our Energy Development Strategy, adopted in 2015 until 2025 with a projection until 2030, is practically obsolete and a new one should be prepared, and that is a basic document that the Ministry of Mining and Energy is supposed to adopt – Tomasevic said.

He added that the “Go Green Road” document was adopted by EPS, among other things, because the banks had not wanted to extend the validity of short-term loans before it had been made clear where EPS was going and whether it would implement all the obligations imposed by the Energy Community that the company had taken on.

The document, he said, was given to all banks in Serbia, and then also to the European Investment Bank, the German Development Bank KfW, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and they all accepted it without a comment, so all the arrangements were extended without a problem.

– The most crucial thing is to analyze the situation and the possibilities, and then also the potential technologies, and then to adopted an energy development strategy, and then the necessary documentation, and I believe we are doing everything backwards – said Tomasevic.

He pointed out that that was the vision of “Go Green Road” which he was the director of EPS.

– Then, somehow, I don’t know how, Norwegians were brought to the Supervisory Board, despite the fact that we had the necessary skills and knowledge. I have nothing against anybody, but I see no reason for them being there. I don’t know whose interest that is. Whether the plan will be used, I don’t know. It is likely that this Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan will be pulled through, so it’s obvious that things will not be done in line with what EPS previously planned, but in line with what’s been dictated – said Tomasevic.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

EPS

Miroslav Tomšević

Go Green Road

Hydro Energy of the Southeast European Region