Belgrade  - Where until recently people quietly leafed through books in the heart of Belgrade or met to discuss literary works, today they read newspapers while drinking franchise coffee or eyeing designer clothes.

The government plan to privatize one of the older Serbian publishing houses, the Prosveta, stirred book lovers into a state of alarm amid concern that the city's oldest bookstore, which it owns, may be converted into another brand-name store.

Serbian intellectuals, writers, professors and ordinary citizens joined a petition urging the authorities to make sure Prosveta remains what it has been over more than a century even after it is sold.

Serbia wants to sell a 70-per-cent stake in Prosveta, once Yugoslavia's top publisher, best known for its dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Its assets, including real estate on prime locations in Belgrade, are estimated at some 6 million euros (8.2 million dollars), with currently 93 employees.

Among the assets, the flagship and the top concern is a bookstore in Belgrade's central pedestrian zone.

Named after the founder of the company, Geca Kon, the shop may share the fate of the stores of other privatized publishing houses which were snapped by big retail chains because of their attractive location, not because of an intent to print and sell books.

Officials promised to sell Prosveta only to another publisher, with the Geca Kon bookstore treated particularly carefully - but, as with other privatizations, concerns persist that one or other tycoon will eventually wipe out the bookstore.

Serbian Deputy Premier Mladjan Dinkic and Culture Minister Nebojsa Bradic called on prospective buyers to respect a special clause in the tender for the Prosveta sale, protecting the bookstore as a "cultural monument."

The tender inviting bidders opened in late November and will close on February 12.

"I'm an optimist regarding the sale of Prosveta. It needs new technology and ideas," Prosveta's chief editor Dejan Mihailovic said at the recent celebration of the company's 107th anniversary.

"But the Geca Kon bookstore needs to remain as a place of cultural importance where book lovers will continue to gather," he stressed.

Prosveta was launched in 1944, but only through the Communist- style nationalization of the firm started by the Jewish publisher, Geca Kon.

Kon founded the "publishing bookstore of Serbian and foreign literature" in 1901. His first location in the central Knez Mihajlova street has held cult status as a meeting place for the literary and intellectual elite since before the Second World War.

With smaller, more agile publishers releasing small-circulation editions of attractive titles - seldom more than 2,000 copies and, as a rule, no big, heavy and expensive books - competition has been too stiff for Prosveta.

The figures are reflected both in the average Serbian's falling purchases and dwindling interest in books. (dpa)