Old-age allowances for April were also paid in the amount of 40 euros instead of 50,2 euros, as stipulated by the Law on Agriculture, which has been in force since the beginning of the year. With this, the Ministry of Agriculture damaged the beneficiaries of this aid for a total of about 200 thousand euros in four months.
About 5.000 holders of agricultural property, who have no other income, engage in agriculture and are older than 65 for men and 60 for women, receive this compensation.
Yesterday, the Cabinet of the Minister of Agriculture Petar Ivanović told "Vijesta" that they are still paying the fees in the old amount because there is no money in the budget for the increase. April's reduced payment happened after human rights defender - ombudsman Sućko Baković officially warned the ministry that they were breaking the law and after MP Neven Gošović asked Finance Minister Radoj Žugić to react.
Baković announced that he will take a position and possibly give recommendations when he receives all the answers.
The Ministry told "Vijesta" that they are not in any dispute with the ombudsman.
"It is not about the intentions of the ombudsman or the Ministry to apply the law, but about the fact that there are no funds to pay the increased fees," the Ministry stated.
They recalled that the Assembly first adopted the Law on the Budget for 2015, which provided for the payment of old-age benefits in an earlier amount, and that after that an amendment to the law was adopted that increased them.
"There are no funds for the payment of increased old-age benefits in the budget of the Ministry, because, we repeat, they were not even planned. If the intention of the proposer was sincere and legally based, it would have been normal for the 2015 budget to have corrected the item related to the payment of old-age benefits", the Ministry informed "Vijesta".
Ombudsman Baković then pointed out that the lack of budget funds cannot be an excuse for disobeying the Law. He requested additional information from Ivanovic on whether, in accordance with the amended Law on Agriculture, he proposed to the Government within 60 days the adoption of a by-law that is necessary for the payment of old-age benefits.
"We want to look at the complete situation and whether the Government considered and passed the accompanying by-law within the legal deadline from the entry into force of the amended law", explained Baković, stating that the deadline was exceeded by more than a month.
The budget provides 2,65 million euros for the payment of these fees, and now about 600 thousand euros are missing.
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