Among the people who have been allocated funds for the projects of the Fund for the Protection and Realization of Minority Rights for 2019 and 2020, there are those who are high local and public officials of the former government, which calls into question the process of distributing citizens' money.
This was said by the Democrat MP during the Fourth Session of the First Regular Session during the examination of the Report on the work of the Fund for the Protection and Realization of Minority Rights for 2019 and 2020.
"This process must be aimed at NGOs, at free society, at creators, so that the fund in the true sense supports activities for the protection and realization of minority rights... What is noticeable in the reports is the number of reported and approved projects by municipality for 2019 and 2020, right after Podgorica is Rožaje, so I don't get it wrong, I'm glad that there are a lot of creative creators in Rožaje and I believe that since the directors in this period were from Rožaje, there is also local patriotism, however , we must work on a more even distribution of funds. I assume you will say that after Podgorica Rožaje has the most registered projects and that is one of the reasons. The task of the Fund is education and animation of other municipalities," said Ćeman.
He called on the Fund to work on reducing nationalist tensions.
Member of Parliament of the "Crno na bijelo" coalition Božena Jelušić said that the report was too extensive and that there should be a more concise one. She pointed out that there are relatively few Roma projects compared to other minority peoples and that there must be affirmative actions of the Fund towards the Roma.
"For the future, I wonder about the existence of a strategy, which would in some way be guiding, regardless of the fact that one is trying to create a polyperspectivism and all possible diversity in the approach in the projects, various ideas, which could guide potential users and provide a different kind of credibility, we know what are the guidelines that concern cultural policies, first of all, and reducing the distance between the majority and possibly some of the minority peoples. I said this because I saw in the report that we saw a large number of rejected projects, so I wonder if there are any planned trainings for project writers , who could thus achieve greater access to funds," said Jelušić.
Democrat MP Tamara Vujović referred to the fact that in 2020, 348 - 196 projects were supported with a tranche in the spring, while the new tranche in 2019 was extended in the fall and spring for 190 projects with around one million euros, and that the Fund's actions in an election year are indicative.
"I hope that the fact that the amount of funds and the number of supported projects increased in the election year is not correlated with the political goals of the ruling coalition at the time, but it is indicative that in 2019 this distribution was in two tranches in the spring and fall, and in 2020 this entire amount was paid in the spring of one million and 128 thousand euros. A high number of appeals about the distribution of funds is noticeable, and the board of directors rejected each one as unfounded, while the reasons for the unfoundedness are not stated." said Vujović.
She also said that the rent of 1.600 euros for the rent of the premises where the Fund is located is high, as are their earnings.
Vujović also referred to the distribution of funds for the Roma community: "For projects primarily for the Roma and Egyptian communities, my review is that the majority of the funds received were closely related to the president of the Roma Council, who is a member of the DPS executive committee. The organizations that were given to promote Roma and Egyptian policy are not transparent in their work, here I state the need for quality monitoring of the Fund, which must be independent and objective, these projects do not contribute substantially to what they have proclaimed the Fund's stated goals, but only formally," Vujović said.
Bosniak Party MP Ervin Ibrahimović said that the right to culture is elementary and inalienable and should be preserved.
"We must preserve these values by promoting them, not by appropriating them. Anything different will cause intolerance, that is, the disappearance of certain cultures. Unfortunately, we also have the abuse of cultures and traditions of peoples, so various populists in the direction of spreading intolerance towards other peoples. That's why we need to be careful when promoting certain cultures," said Ibrahimović.
Democrat MP Vladimir Martinović pointed out that cooperation with the Public Service and the Fund must be at the highest possible level in order to promote minority peoples.
The representative of the real Montenegro, Marko Milačić, said that the report of the fund is the best example of corruption and segregation of a nation.
"The data that you gave us for the years 2019 and 2020 best show the relationship of this country to the Serbs in this country. This is shocking. When we look at the number of applicants and supported by national communities, we see that the Albanian corps applied for 46, 26 projects were supported, which means that 56 percent of the projects were supported. 64 percent. So, you supported the projects of the Serbian people twice less than the Bosniaks, twice less than the Croats, almost twice less than the Albanians, significantly less than the Muslims," said Milačić and added that the Serbian people are more numerous than other nations, and that they received much less in terms of money than other nations, even though the Serbs pay more in taxes.
Milačić pointed out that this is the best example of what the DPS did to maintain the favor of the coalition partners.
Ibrahimović denied Milačić's claims and pointed out that projects are not judged according to percentages, but according to quality.
"I am happy that in those areas where minority peoples are few, they got more projects. Well, the goal of the Fund is that if we don't get to know each other better, we will always be subject to populism and the introduction of hatred and xenophobia, and after that to the loss of human lives," Ibrahimović said and added that the goal of the Fund is to promote inclusivity.
Deputy of the Democratic Front Slaven Radunović said that the policy of the party, which he also propagated, is that Serbs do not take money through the Fund, so that they would not accept that they are minorities, but instead they accepted the fight for equality.
"I think that the Serbs, as a historical and traditional people here, who are the founders of this country, should not interfere with that fund and take this money from real minorities, I don't think we should, there is a way, there is no more Milo Đukanović's regime, to satisfy cultural and all other needs as members of the Montenegrin nation, together we make up more than 70 percent of the population. I hope that they will not be in the future report at all because there are quite a few of them," said Radunović with wishes for more money for minority nations.
In his final speech, the director of the Fund for the Protection and Realization of Manin Rights, Emir Dacić, said that Milačić's performance was bombastic, as if something was happening, but that nothing special was happening.
"Until today, the Serbian council, that is, the projects of the Serbian national minority, if we can say so, because they applied, (from the establishment of the Fund to this moment, it has received three million and 107 thousand euros of funds from the Fund for Minorities, which is four or five times more than some other national communities... Where were you when these funds were allocated in the amount of several hundred thousand, which there is nothing controversial (about the allocation of funds), that you then reported for segregation and discrimination, maybe you could have reported for the Roma who received, then a few tens to thousands. All the millions were used to finance Serbian television, the Serbian portal, Serbian newspapers and Serbian radio... So, I can't believe what you (Milačić) said... You talked about 2019 and 2020, but in the meantime, a law was passed according to which they cannot apply for funds from the fund, and that is the only reason why the Serbian National Council has significantly less funds," said Dacić.
He thanked the MPs for their suggestions and pointed out that there are many high-quality and good projects that have contributed to the preservation of the culture of national minorities.
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