GP URA: Instead of sanctioning those who do not act according to the law, PES would like to punish citizens who seek information

The Civic Movement URA parliamentary group will not vote for Vasilije Čarapić's amendment to the Law on Free Access to Information, which seeks to render this regulation meaningless and shift the burden of irresponsibility of state bodies and public officials onto citizens, the URA parliamentary group announced.

They state that the essence of this Law is to enable citizens, the civil sector, journalists and all interested parties to have access to the documents and decisions of those who are financed from the budget, that is, from citizens' money.

"Instead of sanctioning officials and heads of authorities who do not respond to requests for access to information and do not act according to the law, PES wants to punish citizens and all others who seek information, to which they are entitled under the Constitution," the URA Police Headquarters said.

"Čarapić's new proposal, that each party bear its own costs, is also contrary to the law and shows a basic ignorance of the system. This is contrary to the Law on Civil Procedure, because only the court can decide that each party bears its own costs under clearly prescribed conditions, i.e. when one party's lawsuit is partially accepted. If the lawsuit is accepted in full, then the one who lost - the defendant, pays all the costs," GP URA explains.

They add that such amendments and actions, in addition to ignorance, also show the clear and bad intention of this government to hide information from citizens, because this is actually their way of operating.

"While the Dritan Abazović government opened its sessions to the public, this one is holding them via WhatsApp, so even ministers do not know what is on the agenda and do not have time to look at the documents that are sent to them at the last minute. When this retrograde amendment by PES is added to this, it is clear that this is not a transparent government and government, but that like DPS, they sometimes want to hide tenders, decisions, concessions, property, secret agreements. We hope that such amendments will not be adopted in the end and that MP Čarapić will withdraw them, which he has done countless times under pressure so far," the GP URA said.

The party concludes that, knowing that this majority did not want to support an increase in child benefits and confirmed that it does not care about children, it would not be surprising if it voted for new taxes on citizens.