The director of the Chamber of Crafts of Montenegro (ZKCG) and signatory of the Black on White platform, Boris Marđonović, announced that the Black on White coalition recognizes the importance of a regulated regulatory environment for crafts and small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as that they will support the economic and political goals of artisans through three key dots.
"First, we will form the Ministry of Crafts and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in order to prepare the missing legal solutions and gaps that prevent the functioning of the economic bloodstream. Second, we will implement dual education according to today's highest standards, because it is a key link for professional staff for the economy and livelihood and career for young people. Third, we will create programs to support the economy through the mechanisms of the social market economy, which enable economic dynamics and social balance, and at the same time guarantee prosperity and well-being", announced Marđonović.
As he pointed out, over 100 citizens who work in 130 professions and 8 sectors live from the crafts in Montenegro. "Owners of business entities are also investors who create not only new market value, but also new jobs. For decades, the government has treated them as a bottomless well from which the flow can be cut off at any moment. As a specific economic branch due to the complex professional image of the occupation and the way for such education, craftsmen must have a systemic law on craftsmanship and be included as social partners in professional education. The chamber system should have public powers and the ability to provide professional and technical support and articulate the common needs of all artisans in order to create sustainable solutions," says Marđonović.
He pointed out that craftsmen in Montenegro are forced to become members of the Chamber of Commerce, even though they have their own public self-government, and the conditions in which they operate are still natural and burdened by the gray economy.
"The Ministry of Crafts and Small and Medium Enterprises will prepare amendments to the law on crafts and professional education, transfer public powers to the Chamber of Crafts in the field of professional and master qualifications and exams, create prerequisites for dual education and the appointment of experts in the craft profession. Artisans will be exempted from mandatory membership in the Chamber of Commerce and thus injustice and discrimination will be corrected," explains Marđonović.
According to him, the second focus will be the dual education of interested young people, that is, individual training with an extremely pronounced practical component. "It is a golden solution, which gains additional importance now that the school system is forced to work in an online format. In this way, we will ensure domestic professional staff for the economy, as well as employment for young people. Through early business integration and the development of key competencies, they realize both their existence and their career. We will leave it to the industry to negotiate and propose professional standards to the Government, form examination committees, conduct professional training in cooperation with the school system, which will be in charge of theory. This will enable science and practice to complement each other and cooperate intensively for the first time, and professors will have a chance to give their best. The job of the Ministry is to perform legal supervision, improve the environment and create support programs, not to administer things for which it is not an expert".
The third key point, according to Marđonović, will be support programs, that is, conjunctural programs for generating demand. "We will introduce social market economy mechanisms modeled on the European Union, Article 3 of the Treaty of Lisbon, which enable economic dynamics and social balance at the same time. We will not finance these programs from the taxes of all Montenegrin citizens, as the current government intended through economic support packages. They are unsustainable, selective and clientelistic. Nowhere can a political party's logo be placed on a public decision funded by all citizens of Montenegro. We will secure the funds from positive conjunctures. For example, if the construction industry performed positively at the end of the year, part of the collected taxes will go to support programs for the tourism industry, i.e. to those who had a negative conjuncture and vice versa. It is a permissible model of intervention in the economy and that is why it is called the social market economy", explains the signatory of the Black on White list.
As he also said, artisans and owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as all employees in the real sector in Montenegro, have for the first time the chance to get a legal and business environment tailored to their needs. "This is not an experiment or an excursion, but a tested and functional model, which was developed in direct communication with the base, profession and international partners. Between the current element and anachronistic clientelism, this offer is refreshment, certainty and perspective for the economy, but also security for work, family and investments. Changes are certain, the entrepreneurial middle class will choose responsible representatives", concluded Marđonović.
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