Eight parliamentary parties have decided to charge a membership fee of no more than one euro, while for officials it is two to ten percent of monthly income, according to data submitted by the parties to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK).
The Europe Now Movement (PES), the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the Bosniak Party, the Democrats, the Social Democrats (SD), the Socialist People's Party (SNP) and the Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI) have obliged their members and officials to pay their membership fees for this year, while in the United Montenegro it is voluntary.
Students, pensioners, and members in need are exempt from membership fees, according to the party's decisions.
New Serbian Democracy (NSD), Democratic People's Party (DNP), Civic Movement URA, CIVIS and Albanian parties have decided not to charge membership fees.
Parties were obliged to make decisions on the amount of membership fees to ASK by January 31, based on the Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns.
Ruling PES, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, decided that the membership fee will be ten euros per year for members, while for officials it will be five percent of their income. This means that the prime minister, whose salary is around 2.000 euros, will allocate around 100 euros for membership fees to his party.
"As a rule, the membership fee is paid once a year, by March 31st for the current year, to the Movement's registered bank account," reads the PES decision on paying the membership fee for this year, which is the same as last year.
The membership fee in the DPS is one euro per month, while for party officials it is two to seven percent, as in the previous year.
Elected party officials at the state and local levels are required to pay a membership fee of five percent of their income, and those in the governing bodies (board of directors, councils) of institutions and companies pay a membership fee of seven percent of their income.
President of DPS Danijel Zivkovic In January, according to data from the Parliament's website, he received an MP's salary of 1.775 euros, of which he should allocate 88,7 euros per month (five percent) to the party, which is 1.064 euros per year.
For employees of the DPS General Secretariat, the membership fee is two percent of their income.
"As a rule, membership fees are paid once a month, by the 5th of the month for the previous month, in accordance with the monthly income earned," reads the DPS decision on paying membership fees published on the ASK website.
In Democratic Montenegro, membership fees are paid by officials on a monthly basis. According to the decision on membership fees, members of the Democrats “who are public officials at the state and local level in accordance with the Law on the Prevention of Corruption are obliged to pay a membership fee of 2,5 percent of their monthly income based on the performance of public office, and where the total amount of membership fees on a monthly basis cannot exceed ten percent of the average net salary in Montenegro for the previous year”.
"The membership fee is paid once a month for the previous month, no later than 5 days from the date of the monthly income," the decision states.
The Bosniak Party charges members one euro per month for membership, two euros for members of municipal committees, three euros for members of the Main Committee, and five euros for members of the Presidency.
BS officials in government bodies at the state and local levels allocate three percent of their income for membership fees.
The membership fee in the Social Democratic Party (SD) is one euro per month for members, while for party officials at the local or state level it is three percent of the official's personal income. For those who, in addition to permanent employment, also hold another position in the public sector, the membership fee is ten percent of the income.
The Socialist People's Party (SNP) charges membership fees from officials in the amount of five percent of their monthly income.
In the Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI), membership fees range from 12 to 20 euros per year.
"The annual membership fee per individual member is 12 euros. In families with two or more HGI members, the annual membership fee for all members is 20 euros," the decision on the membership fee states.
United Montenegro has made a decision on voluntary membership fees according to the capabilities of members, which, as stated, will not exceed 50 euros individually on an annual basis.
Monthly membership fee cannot exceed 10 percent of average earnings.
According to the Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns, monthly membership fees cannot exceed 10 percent of the average salary for the previous year.
The average net salary last year, according to Monstat data, amounted to 876 euros.
According to the Law, income earned by a political entity from membership fees and contributions is not subject to taxation.
Parties were obliged to make decisions on the amount of membership fees to ASK by January 31, based on the Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns.
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