Đurović: Anyone who scolds the government and the prime minister is undesirable

The President of the Governing Board of the NGO Coalition "Cooperation to the Goal" Goran Đurović said that the Government resorted to the creation of a parallel, desirable NGO sector.

He believes that this is the government's response to the strengthening of NGOs and that the "individual statements" of Prime Minister Milo Đukanović do not contribute to the establishment of cooperation, from which it is noticeable "the existence of desirable and undesirable", based on the degree of criticism towards the government.

"The Prime Minister finds time to meet with desirable NGOs, while others remain with inappropriate qualifications," said Đurović in an interview with "Vijesti".

• How do "preferred" NGOs work?

They manifest mainly in two ways. The first is that civil servants establish NGOs that appear in tenders for the allocation of funds. This would not be problematic if public sector employees within NGOs and with compensation did not engage in the same work for which they were paid as civil servants. In this way, the work of those NGOs that work dedicatedly in the public interest and are not ready to trade with representatives of the public sector is endangered. The second, much more dangerous type of creation of a parallel NGO sector is reflected in the awarding of (non)monetary support beyond the rules and criteria. The allocation of office space or land by the Government or local self-governments is an increasingly common phenomenon, and it takes place in a completely non-transparent procedure, which creates clientelistic relationships that will put the ruling party structures into operation as needed.

• To what extent does the Government respect the opinions and initiatives of NGOs?

In general, we cannot talk about the sincere intention of the government. If there was a sincere intention of the Government and the political parties that make up the current government, DPS-SDP, it would not be possible to illegally reduce the funds intended for NGO projects by around 8 million euros in the last five years. That much was taken from the NGO by the violation of the Law on Games of Chance by the Ministry of Finance.

• The fact is, however, that representatives of NGOs are increasingly numerous in working bodies that deal with the drafting of regulations, strategies, acts... which affect the rights and freedoms of citizens. What is their influence in those bodies?

We are witnessing the dissatisfaction of some NGO representatives with the status and way of working in different bodies, which is why it is necessary to work on the qualitative improvement of this cooperation.

• Amendments to the Law on NGOs in the part related to project financing are in the process. In what way did the Coalition participate in the drafting of the Law?

She submitted specific proposals to the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the changes, three of which are key.

The first is a complete change in the current way of evaluating and deciding on projects. It was suggested that the projects be evaluated neither by representatives of NGOs nor the Government, but by professional evaluators... We believe that this is the most effective way to free the process from any influence of various structures, both governmental and non-governmental, on the decision on which projects will be financed.

Another key proposal is that the amount of funds earmarked annually for financing NGO projects and programs should not be below one percent of the current budget. Funding of NGO projects should ultimately be understood as investing in a better quality of life for citizens. In Croatia, about 200 million euros are allocated annually from public funds for NGO projects, and in BiH more than 60 million euros. In Montenegro, through one available fund, NGOs are financed with about 2 million euros.

And the third is that, for the sake of greater sustainability of the results of funded projects as well as the development of NGOs, insist on partnership between more developed and less developed NGOs.

Attacks also come from "contractors"

• How much does the media influence the differentiation of the NGO sector into, as you said, desirable and undesirable?

Unargued media attacks directed at NGOs, which sometimes come from some NGOs - contractors of political parties, are aimed at creating negative generalizations and scandalizing the entire NGO sector. The generalization of sporadic, individual, NGO failures aims to portray all segments of society as dirty, in order to reduce the responsibility of state bodies for irregularities and illegalities. The creation of such an image of NGOs is often helped by the media, which with their superficial reporting contribute to the creation of a distorted image.

He advocates that NGOs be held accountable

• Why do you intend to launch an initiative to return to the Law on Accounting and Auditing the provision repealed in 2011, according to which NGOs are also obliged to submit annual financial reports to the Tax Administration?

Thus, the interested public will be able to have an insight into the functioning of the NGO. The NGO coalition publishes the annual financial reports of its members, in the desire to use its example to influence the increase of transparency in the work of non-governmental organizations, which is precisely one of the goals for which it was founded.