The Association of Disabled Youth of Montenegro (UMHCG) and the Association of the Blind of Montenegro express dissatisfaction with the amount of funds planned for the Program: Fund for Professional Rehabilitation, provided for in the Budget Law Proposal for 2016, which was adopted by the Government at the session of November 14 this year , stated in a joint statement the executive director of UMHCG Marina Vujačić and the executive director of the Association of the Blind of Montenegro Goran Macanović.
"Namely, the Government planned to allocate two million euros for the expenses that will be available for measures of professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities, despite the fact that the amount of special contributions paid by employers for this purpose exceeds eight million euros with a growing trend. As in the previous two years, the special contribution for the employment of persons with disabilities was not shown on the revenue side of the budget of Montenegro, but only the amount of two million euros was planned as expenditure in the budget of the Employment Agency. The reason for not showing a special contribution on the revenue side of the budget is the non-existence of the Fund for Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities as a separate legal entity, i.e. an extra-budgetary category, which results in multimillion-dollar funds that have been misused so far since the establishment of this Fund," the announcement states. .
It is added that despite the findings of the State Audit Institution in the Report on the "Effectiveness of Using Funds from Contributions for Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities", and the statement that the state authorities were not efficient enough in using the funds of the Fund for Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, as and implementing the measures of the Strategy for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, the Government did not plan a larger amount of funds that will be available for the purposes provided for by law.
"In addition to the fact that for two years in a row, the public call for financing grant scheme projects has been announced at the end of the year, which results in the financing of approved projects from the budget for the following year, this kind of budget planning would not allocate a larger amount for grant scheme projects, even though last year's competition indicated this need. Also, the amount of two million euros will not enable the implementation of a number of other measures and activities. Although there has been talk of a Center for Work Integration of Hard-to-Employable Persons for a long time, and the Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities foresees and funding of special organizations for employment, protective workshops, work centers and working conditions, the government shows a clear lack of political will and irresponsibility towards the implementation of policies intended for people with disabilities," the announcement reads.
They remind that the European Commission stated in the Progress Report "that the funds paid by employers are not protected from abuse".
"All of the above indicates that our constant insistence on setting aside the Fund as a separate legal entity, with the aim of creating ever greater opportunities that contribute to the creation of conditions for the employment of persons with disabilities, is precisely the only way to systematically and permanently solve this issue. Until then, that is, the adoption of changes and amendments to the Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, which are planned for 2016, we call on the Government, as well as representatives of the Parliamentary Committees, to act as amendments and determine a significantly larger amount (of five million euros) for measures and activities of professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities with the aim of full implementation of the Law and dedicated expenditure of funds", the announcement states.
In the end, they pointed out that out of the proposed amount of five million euros, one million would be earmarked for the financing of approved grant scheme projects that were announced in November of this year, one million euros would be earmarked for subsidies and other professional rehabilitation measures, such as the financing of special organizations for employment, while three million euros would be earmarked for financing grant schemes for 2016.
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