Vucic sends warning to Serbia's biggest clubs: "Their debts are huge, if they don't pay, they'll go bankrupt"

Photo montage: Nikola Tomic

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic again commented on investments that the state has made in Serbia's biggest clubs and how much money it gave to Red Star and Partizan football and basketball clubs, as well as how much they owe in taxes.

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Vucic announced that in the future more money will be invested in other cities such as Nis, Krusevac, Kraljevo, Zrenjanin, Subotica, to the detriment of Belgrade.

"You could see the fair distribution of money for the eternal rivals (i.e., Red Star and Partizan), if you look at how much Vojvodina received, it's not a little money, but incomparably less than the eternals, which is our mistake and we accept it, we gave much less money to Nis, Krusevac , Kraljevo, but we should also give more to the north, to Zrenjanin, Subotica... When you look at Nis in comparison with Red Star and Partizan, there is no sense in that and we cannot justify it in any way. We will have to give more money to central Serbia compared to Belgrade. But we have seen a fair distribution and attitude of the state towards the eternals.

Along with that fair stance, it is a fact that with these investments we helped Red Star and Partizan compete more successfully on the European scene. We have two clubs that are among the top three in the region along with Zagreb's Dinamo in football, and in basketball the two best in the region. That would not be possible without the support of the state. As far as their mutual relationship is concerned, it can be seen from this that we took great care about much Red Star gets, how much Partizan, and we were absolutely fair there."

Vucic also touched on the debts that these clubs have in unpaid taxes and sent them a clear warning.

"What's important is paying taxes, we came up with figures, whether someone recognizes interest or not, interest exists everywhere in the world and my message is that everyone will have to pay taxes, that is our key message. Red Star basketball club owes the least, but everyone will have to pay.

The debts of FC Red Star and FC Partizan are great, I believe that they will be able to pay their obligations in accordance with the UPPR and refinancing, otherwise a blockade and bankruptcy will follow. Will we help them - we will help them.

You must keep in mind that they have a total of 91 percent of fans in Serbia, 56-35 (Red Star-Partizan) according to the latest survey, they represent our country, when they wear NIS or MTS on their jerseys, they promote our companies, I'll leave foreign ones aside. There are big obligations, however we can help, we will help, but they have to fulfill their obligations. We believe that they will have a large revenue because of playing in Europe, but that they will fulfill their obligations in accordance with the refinancing," Vucic stressed.

(Telegraf.rs)