EU says it won’t pay off Montenegro’s billion-dollar highway debt to China
- Balkan nation had begged Brussels to help cover the costs of the project, which has been described as one of the most expensive stretches of road in the world
- The project has raised concerns about the impact of Chinese investment, but a spokesman for the EU said it does not pay off partners’ loans from third parties
The European Union says it will not pay off Montenegro’s near-US$1 billion debts to China, rejecting the tiny Balkan nation’s repeated pleas for help.
A spokesman for the EU told the South China Morning Post that it “does not repay loans of partners which they took from third parties”, although he did express concern “over the socioeconomic and financial effects of some of China’s investments in Montenegro”.
He continued that Brussels was willing to work with the country, a candidate for EU membership, to put its debts on a sustainable footing.
Montenegro’s finance minister Milojko Spajic on Sunday became the latest cabinet member to ask Brussels for help in repaying a dollar-denominated loan signed with the Export-Import Bank of China in 2014 to build the first section of a highway linking the country with neighbouring Serbia.
“This is a small but easy win for them. It’s low-hanging fruit,” Spajic told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday.
