21.08.2019.
Communication
In the wake of politically motivated and malicious writings regarding power cuts at the Bristol Hotel, the Ministry of Defence reiterates that, in accordance with the Government's conclusion of 28th August 2018, the right of the Ministry of Defence to use the Bristol Hotel facility ceased, after which a decision was made to exclude the Bristol Hotel from facilities intended to provide accommodation services for professional members of the Serbian Armed Forces and employees of the Ministry of Defence.
The Ministry of Defence takes all measures to act in accordance with the recommendation of the Ombudsman, but with regard to provision of the electrical power supply in the former Bristol Hotel, we emphasise that there is no legal basis under which the Ministry would remain under contract with EPS for the supply and payment of electricity at that monitoring point.
Please note that the Ministry of Defence remains at the position that it will abide by the law and that it cannot fulfil the requirements of persons who have remained in Bristol to be granted permanent housing apart from the law.
The Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces have an integrated ranking list for those interested in solving housing problem for more than 18,000 people and if former Bristol tenants had been awarded flats against the law and apart from the existing ranking list, 18,000 active members and pensioners would have the right to sue the Ministry of Defence and win the lawsuit. Due to similar violations of the law in 2008, the Ministry of Defence has paid RSD 6 billion in the last two years for court judgements on claims of discrimination against reservists. That is why such violations of the law would not be repeated.
The Ministry of Defence offered the remaining occupants of accommodation in Bristol an adequate solution and urged them to move immediately to the temporary accommodation units obtained from the city of Belgrade in the A block or the military hotels Zvezdara and Galeb in Belgrade, in accordance with the rights they exercise.
Certain pressures exerted on the Ministry of Defence to resolve this issue outside the law are clearly politically motivated. The Ministry of Defence in its conduct will be guided solely by the legal possibilities for resolving the claims of the persons who remained at the Bristol Hotel.
