The Count-Down Begins

Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia was closed down on February 23, 1996. If mighty powers decide, there might be two Soros Foundations in the future. Legally, this is how the story goes: Serbia's Ministry of Culture on October 28, 1991 allowed the registration of Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia. The founders were the Federal Government of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Open Society Foundation from New York, founded by George Soros. Four years later, the same Ministry of Culture decided the Federal Government had not submitted an official application for the registration of Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia (but participated in the making of the agreement on the establishment of Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia) so the Ministry said the registration of the former Foundation was not valid. The Soros Foundation brought charges. The Supreme Court of Serbia, however, said that the documentation which accompanied the application for the registration of the Soros Foundation and the application itself were contradictory, i.e. that there was a big difference between the names - Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia and Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia - so it was the Ministry's duty to remove contradiction.

Since Soros Foundation had developed a great many activities over the years and had a number of obligations concerning third persons, the principle of legal safety, undoubtedly, called for the protection of the legal subject. The Supreme Court could have cancelled the Ministry of Culture's registration of Soros Foundation and asked the Ministry to remove the above mentioned contradictions, before reaching the final decision. However, the Court did not do so. It did not choose the legal possibility of maintaining the subjectivity of the Foundation, but instead, on February 7 rejected the appeal lodged by Soros Foundation. Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia received the verdict of the Supreme Court of Serbia on February 23 and that is the date when the Foundation stopped working. Soros Foundation has appealed to the Federal Court against the verdict passed by the Supreme Court of Serbia and has asked the Public Prosecutor to institute proceedings for the protection of legality. The procedure might be a lengthy one, and this is for the time being the end of the story on the former Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia.

A new story pertains to a (possible) future Soros Foundation, which would have a different name but would be doing the same things. President of the Executive Committee of Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia, Mrs. Sonja Liht, and Mr. George Soros have made an agreement according to which they are to found an Open Society Foundation for the accomplishment of humanitarian and other socially useful aims, especially improvement of activities in the fields of science, culture, art, information, education and humanities, the enhancement of creativity and initiative, professional connections, provision and distribution of medical supplies and food, help to the refugees from the war-ravaged areas, and especially children without parents... This agreement was signed on March 7, and the application for the registration of the Foundation was submitted to the Ministry of Culture of Serbia a week later on March 14. The application, submitted by both co-founders, was accompanied by the Decision on the establishment of the Foundation, Foundation Regulations, evidence of the founder's deposit. The deposit for the founding of the Foundation is 100 thousand German Marks and Mr. Soros has taken up the obligation to provide further 20.5 million Marks for the accomplishment of the Foundation's aims over the next two years.

The Ministry of Culture, in accordance with the law, should make the decision on the registration within 30 days. If the Ministry does not do so, the founders may address it once again asking it to make the decision. If the Ministry do not do so in the next seven days, the application would be considered as rejected. What criteria will the Ministry's decision be based on? According to Article 24 of the Law on endowments and foundations, the "Republican body in charge of culture assessed the appropriateness of the founding and makes the decision approving the registration." The "appropriateness" is not precisely defined in the text of the Law.

"The agreement on the founding of the Open Society Foundation, as well as all the accompanying documents, has been made completely in accordance with articles of the Law on endowments and foundations, so we hope that the Ministry of Culture will allow registration. The Open Society Foundation is an entirely new foundation and is legally not related to the previous Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia, so should the case of the Soros Foundation Yugoslavia be positively resolved, its activities will be independent of the activities of the Open Society Foundation," explained Zorka Borozan, the legal representative of Sonja Liht and George Soros.