By signing the Agreement on Succession of the former common states, Croatia will soon lose much more than it could ever gain, as after 14 years the property and legal relations among the former Yugoslav republics will have to resolved, including Croatia’s obligation to pay many millions in compensation for thousands of properties that were confiscated in the early 1990s, primarily from Serbian companies.

The problem Croatia is facing stems primarily from the Decree on the “ban of handling property in the territory of the Republic of Croatia,” which the government at the time passed on 17 July 1991. This decree banned all handling and liens against property in the territory of the Republic of Croatia under the ownership of institutions, republics, companies and other legal persons from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia. As a result, many properties, whose owners were companies or other legal persons from other Yugoslav republics, were declared the state ownership of the Republic of Croatia, and quickly afterwards, the Croatian Privatization Fund included them in its catalogue of property for sale. Through this fund, the state quickly sold off the majority of these properties, including the most attractive ones on the Adriatic coast, likely not considering that the war situation would not last forever and sooner or later the time would come to settle accounts among all the sides at war.

The Serbian companies did not lose hope that their property would one day be returned to them. Over the years, many of the former owners began to believe that such a turn of events could ever take place, and then the mysterious middlemen came onto the scene. As Nacional has exclusively learned, several Czech agencies seated in Prague have purchased the rights to property in Croatia from the Serbian companies for a cost several times less than the actual cost, and those companies were happy to have gotten anything out of the deal. Nacional’s foreign source confirmed that the Czech companies who bought the rights to thousands of attractive properties along the Adriatic Sea have been waiting patiently for years for the former Yugoslav republics to sign the Succession Agreement, for that Agreement to come into effect and for the courts in Croatia to sign hundreds of compensation claims seeking the return of seized property from the state, as well as compensation which in certain cases amounts to several million Euros.

The Czech agencies have also hired local people who know best which properties are valuable and interesting for buyers, and with the help of an associate of one of the Czech companies, Nacional has received insight in the past days into a long list, revealing these attractive locations on the Adriatic Sea. Over the past ten years, over two thousand properties have been sold in this way, varying by type and location. The list includes land, houses, villas, resorts, flats, commercial space and other types of property along the entire coast and on the islands, from Dubrovnik, Hvar, Makarska, Split, Zadar, Šibenik, Rijeka, Opatija, Lovran, Pula, Rovinj and Novigrad all the way to Motovun. The example on the island of Hvar best illustrates how signing the Succession Agreement will have wide-reaching financial and political implications. The citizens of Stari Grad on that island have in recent days been debating about the elderly rest home which was once the holiday resort “Rest and Relaxation for the workers of Zemun”.

On 16 August 2001, the city of Stari Grad signed a gift contract with the Croatian Privatization Fund which permitted the rest home to be opened. However, this gift contract signed by then head of the CPF Hrvoje Vojković also contained an interesting clause protecting the CPF from any possible problems in the future, and which states that the city of Stari Grad takes on all obligations towards Serbia and Montenegro which may stem from succession. Considering that all of the responsibility has been shifted to the city, the citizens already fear a potentially exaggerated compensation claim which could arrive soon, as this resort is valued at about 2 million euro. A payment this size could through the city into bankruptcy.

One of the greatest problems with the Serbian claims in Croatia is the embarrassing fact that there is absolutely no one in Croatia responsible for this issue, as though it did not exist. As such, it is impossible to find a state representative who is adequately informed in this issue which could cost Croatia up to a billion euro, not to mention the lack of preparation or response. This lack of a position by the Croatian authorities is even more surprising considering the fact that Croatian companies have claims on seized property in Serbia, and therefore it should be of interest for our country to take action on this issue. However, those companies who once had their branch offices and other property in Serbia have been left to their own devices in the battle to get their property back, and many of them have lost all hope that their property in Serbia will ever be returned.

Some companies, such as Croatia Insurance and Dunav Insurance have succeeded in exchanging commercial space, which in this state of complete hopelessness many consider to be exceptional success. Other companies have already come to terms with the fact that they will never get their property in the other Yugoslav republics back. However, on both sides of the border, businessmen stress that the entire situation could be resolved soon, but only after the governments of Croatia and Serbia come to an agreement of the legal framework on how to return the property. To date though, not a single government representative has made any efforts to come to a quick resolution of the situation. Bozo Marendić, the head of the government office for succession, sent a request to Premier Sanader several months ago that he be removed from the post, however, the government did not do so, nor did it offer to resolve the situation in which only two people in the government are responsible for the entire issue of succession – Marendić and one expert associate.

PROPERTY OWNED BY NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES
It has been estimated that there is a total of about 200 properties in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, particularly in the area surrounding Dubrovnik, on the island of Korcula and the Pelješac peninsula that were once or are still under the ownership of Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro and Macedonia. Ownership over a certain number of villas and resorts has not changed hands. However, a large number of attractive properties along the coast have become state property, registered to the Republic of Croatia.

In the Patriotic War, the Aurora, a protected cultural monument, was devastated and plundered in the aggression by the Yugoslav army in the Dubrovnik area. Nor were the HV soldiers, staying in the villa as a base for the liberation operations, very gentle. The walls still show graffiti written in the war years. The Aurora has been falling apart for years, as BiH does not have the money to bring it back to its former glory. John Malkovich, the 52 year old actor who lives in France, wants to turn the Aurora into an exclusive Adriatic residence and return its old shine. Croatian and foreign agencies have estimated that the Aurora is worth 3 million pounds or about 4.5 million Euro. Malkovich did not state the amount he is willing to pay for the villa. However, he has still not received any response from Sarajevo. The BiH Council of Ministers has considered the neglected state of the villa, Malkovich’s interest and the fact that the BiH budget lacks the resources for the repairs and restoration of Villa Aurora. The decision on whether or not to sell the villa is expected to come before the BiH parliament soon.