The campaigns that have been conducted in recent years against the critically oriented non-governmental sector seriously threaten the development of civil society, said the executive director of the Center for Civic Education (CEO) Daliborka Uljarević.
Uljarević, at the discussion forum "Democracy in focus - the relationship between government and civil society" organized by CGO, within the project "CSOs in Montenegro - from basic services to policy formulation - M'BASE", with the support of the EU Delegation in Montenegro and Ministry of Public Administration, said that even after four years, Montenegro failed to consolidate democratically.
"And it seems that the practices of the decision-makers do not even indicate that there is an agreed vision of what kind of state we need", said Uljarević, explaining that this results in the absence of a road map on how to strengthen, democratize and Europeanize the state, with an additional burden on the low-level political culture.
According to her, it is encouraging that NGOs continue to generate a positive perception of citizens, noting that at the same time, they are expected to be critical of the authorities.
Uljarević, speaking about the research conducted by the CGO, as part of the same project, reminded that the majority of citizens positively evaluate the work of NGOs, which, she added, is an increase compared to 2021, but she also stated that there is a decrease in the perception of those who believe that NGOs are completely or partially independent from the government in relation to the year 2021
She said that the negative campaigns led by politicians against critically oriented NGOs also result in the perception of a narrowed space for the free activity of NGOs.
Acting Director General of the Directorate for Development and Cooperation with NGOs in the Ministry of Public Administration, Lidija Ljumović, said that the Government is committed to the concept of civil society development and strengthening the enabling environment for NGO work.
She emphasized the importance of the existence of pluralism through the expression of different interests and values in the processes of creating public policies.
"By including NGOs as legitimate representatives of citizens in that process, public policies are given greater legitimacy, directions are jointly defined that enable a quality response to numerous social and economic challenges," said Ljumović.
Presenting a series of activities that the Ministry will implement in the coming period, with a focus on the new Law on NGOs, she also said that they are aware of the challenges regarding the register and certain challenges in the NGO registration process.
"The need to improve the existing register was born naturally. I believe that in the future we will have a digitized register of NGOs", explained Ljumović.
As she added, the government made a decision to determine the priority areas of public interest and the amount of funds for financing NGO projects for this year, which included 13 areas and for which over 5,5 million euros were allocated.
In addition, as she stated, 1,4 euros were allocated for the co-financing of NGO projects that were held from EU funds.
"With these funds, we believe that we will provide the sustainability of NGOs. In addition to these funds, we have allocated half a million euros for the development of resource centers," said Ljumović.
During the first panel "Cooperation and conflicts in the Montenegrin socio-political landscape", Deputy Prime Minister Momo Koprivica said that Montenegro badly needs stability, not only political but also social because, he added, it is a prerequisite for achieving Montenegro's strategic goals. , and one of those goals is accession to the European Union (EU).
He said that a lot has been done on the EU level and that clear European perspectives are opening up.
"And that obligates us to do everything so that any disagreements on some issues are overcome at the level of democracy," said Koprivica.
He stated that there were examples of reaching a consensus in the past, and he cited 2006, when there was a referendum, and 2023, when an agreement was reached on the census.
Koprivica said that the Government is ready to accept reasoned criticism and that this is a measure of the democracy and freedom of society, apostrophizing the importance of the relationship between the government and the civil sector, which is important for the consolidation of the democratic order.
"The government does not see the civil sector as a rival but as a partner," concluded Koprivica.
The president of the NGO Center for Democratic Transition, Milica Kovačević, speaking about how disinformation affects the relations between the government and the civil sector, said that for years in Montenegro, they have been working on the construction of an infrastructure that serves for disinformation.
Kovačević said that the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) was justifiably criticized for lack of transparency and added that the change of government after 2020 was supposed to bring at least democratic relaxation, but that did not happen, which was also reflected in the report of the European Commission.
"This Government has faced a lot of things that were urgent and important, but we will see the real situation when serious criticism is addressed to the Government. That test could happen very soon, we will see then how our criticisms will be accepted", said Kovačević.
She believes that the Government has a difficult task to establish trust with the NGO sector, with the impression that there is no dialogue on key issues.
The executive director of the Association of Disabled Youth of Montenegro, Marina Vujačić, said that it is positive, in the state's relationship with PWDs, that Montenegro has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of PWDs, and that it has long been positive that PWDs are more aware , but also that recent trends are not like that.
"There are fewer and fewer PWDs who are represented and who speak, and there are even fewer who criticize," Vujačić emphasized.
Vujacic assessed that there are laws that are discriminatory and bad, as well as that the distribution of funds through tenders for NGOs is not adequate and must be reformed.
"It shouldn't have happened that every subsequent government, since we have a changeable government, is not better than the previous one," said Vujacic.
She is of the opinion that the Government should also include NGOs, especially representative NGOs, in the decision-making process.
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