Recent privatisation drives in south-eastern Europe show there is still a need for further private sector ownership in the region, but politics could yet bring these quests to a halt. Serbia and Slovenia, former members of Yugoslavia, have recognised the need for a less state-funded economic model and are pushing ahead with privatisation plans in 2016. Greece, having dragged its feet in the past five years despite commitments to sell $50bn of state-owned assets as part of its bail-out agreement, is now also reconsidering privatisation.
Lists have been drawn up across the three countries, detailing the assets the governments are seeking to sell and authorities are moving ahead with the privatisation processes. These are encouraging signs, but there are also signs of how inherently political, and at times poisonous, privatisation processes can be.
