Klica: I deserved it, I have nothing in Podgorica

The Director of National Parks, Elvir Klica, although his property record is full of real estate, and he took office only two years ago, does not see anything objectionable in the fact that he received a favorable housing loan from the state.

On the other hand, some high-ranking officials justify the fact that they received an apartment or housing loan from the state several times on favorable terms by the fact that it was while they were working in other positions - also in the state administration or in a state enterprise.

Klica, who is a member of the SD and received a cheap housing loan of 40.000 euros from the Government, owns three business premises, two houses and four cars... He claims that he bought the real estate more than 10 years ago when he was not an official: I have nothing in Podgorica and I pay rent for an apartment," said Klica.

He earns 650 euros per month from renting office space. Klica replied to "Vijesta" that with his work and results he certainly deserved to receive a housing loan on favorable terms from the state. When asked why, he said that the revenues of the state enterprise he manages have increased from 2,4 to 3,5 million euros, and the number of visitors to national parks has doubled. Ever since he started managing the National Parks, employees of that company accused Klica of employing party cadres and his fellow citizens from Rožaj. "Vijesti" previously wrote that during the year of his administration, at least twenty members of the Social Democrats (SD) were employed in Montenegrin national parks.

The Secretary General of the Government Nataša Pešić (DPS) received help from the Government twice - earlier a 65 square meter apartment, and more recently a housing loan of 30.000 euros. She told "Vijesti" that "she got the apartment more than seven years ago, not in this term".

She said that she got the one-room apartment, where she lives with her family, while she was the secretary of the Ministry of Justice.

Pešić also replied that it was not true that in addition to the apartment and the loan, she received another 15.000 euros for furnishing the apartment.

Her annual income last year amounted to more than 30.000 euros, which is the same amount as the favorable housing loan she received from the Government.

EUR 40 is the favorable housing loan that Ljiljana Simović, assistant to the Minister of Labour, received from the Government, despite the fact that she already earns EUR 1.500 per month from the rent, as stated in her property record. She has a cottage of 85 square meters, and her husband - Deputy Prime Minister Milutin Simović, a three-room apartment of 150 square meters.

The Minister of Transport, Osman Nurković (BS), received a favorable apartment from the state, although he previously used a loan of around 70.000 euros on favorable terms from Monteput. "Before, I did not use help from the government, but a loan from the company," said Nurković, who was the director of the state-owned company "Monteput". In his property record, it is written that he has an apartment of 90 square meters, another of 70 square meters, as well as an office space that he bought.

He told "Vijesta" that, although he is on the Government's list with an apartment of 90 square meters, he exchanged his 60 square meter apartment for a larger one.

Prime Minister Duško Marković fulfilled his promise from last month by announcing the names of officials who have received an apartment or loan on favorable terms since 2016. However, the individual conditions under which the winnings are returned and the criteria by which the winners were selected have not been published.

The list also includes officials who previously received assistance or already have apartments, and have a salary of around 1.000 or several thousand.

According to data from official records, the payment for an apartment is seven times lower for officials than for citizens, because the state covers up to 80 percent of the value of the loan or apartment. They, for example, repay a loan of 40.000 euros to solve the housing issue in installments of around 40, and citizens up to 300 euros.

The representative of the Education Union, Slobodan Savović, told "Vijesta" yesterday that it insults the intelligence of educators that with salaries lower than average they pay a monthly installment of 300 euros for an apartment, while on the other hand, ministers with more than double their earnings pay off the apartment in installments of 40 euros.

"Prime Minister Marković has laid bare the way a political system functions in which we citizens are only victims of their lack of modesty and mediocrity. "I think that by publishing these lists of privileged officials, this government could not have sent a better message to educators on the occasion of the beginning of the new school year," Savović assessed.

Democratic Montenegro announced that they will initiate the procedure to cancel the decision on the allocation of apartments to Minister of Labor Kemal Purisic and President of the Constitutional Court Dragoljub Drašković and to all those who received an apartment under privileged conditions and already owned an apartment or house. "Article 7 of the Decision on the method and criteria for solving the housing needs of officials has been violated, which mandates that the housing needs of officials be solved by applying the criteria of the existing housing situation. The government did not even refer to that criterion, which is not necessary to explain in more detail," said the party.

In the Socialist People's Party (SNP), they believe that the names of the winners of apartments or favorable loans confirmed that Montenegro is not a country of equal opportunities for everyone, but of the privileged, among whom are those who have a greater share of real estate. They reminded that some of the officials did not report their apartment or loan to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.

MANS: Publish the conditions under which apartments are shared

The Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) asked the Government to publish all the data on the conditions under which officials received apartments and loans. "Why are they so privileged compared to other citizens of Montenegro? Why does an official who earns 4 euros a month get a housing loan for which the monthly installment does not exceed 000 euros?

At the same time, an ordinary citizen of Montenegro, a tenant, who works for ten times less salary, often 7 days a week without insurance, pays huge interest to solve the housing issue", MANS announced.

The Constitutional Council will consider the initiative, but there will be no confiscation of apartments

Deputies of Democratic Montenegro have submitted a proposal for the constitutional review of the Law on the Maintenance of Residential Buildings, which, as they say, introduces the possibility of privileging officials through the back door, while discriminating against all other categories of the population.

"Given that the proposal was signed by five deputies, it will have to be considered in an urgent procedure", they announced.

However, even if the Constitutional Court accepts this initiative and determines that the Law is unconstitutional, the decision is not applied retroactively - to officials who have already received an apartment or loan from the state.