The NGO accuses the Government of a negative attitude: Forget them or don't tolerate criticism

The Institute of Alternatives (IA) reiterated its harsh criticism of the Government's Proposal for Amendments to the Law on State Administration, which stipulates that there is no need to conduct a public hearing for laws and strategies in the field of defense, security and the state budget.

"After our condemnation of such a Government initiative, the Ministry of Public Administration announced itself and explained that such a ban already existed. It is very worrying that their only explanation is that the same restriction is taken from the by-law. It is even more worrisome that the ministry "does not remember" its promise that the disputed provisions will be deleted from the Regulation, and not reinforced by the law", the IA announced.

They recalled that they and other NGOs proposed last year at the public debate on that sub-legal act that the problematic exceptions be deleted. "Furthermore, the proposer of the Regulation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, i.e. the then Directorate for State Administration and Local Self-Government, accepted our proposal. There is a written record of this, the official report on the conducted public debate on the Draft Regulation, published on July 29 last year," states the reaction submitted to "Vijesti".

The Ministry of Public Administration, Suzana Pribilović, previously explained that the contested provisions of the law on public administration, which were adopted by the Government, prescribe by law what was in the by-laws.

The IA said that the ministry and the government are clearly taking a step back compared to the previous government's promise. "The draft law banning discussions is a very rigid move that leads to the further closure of the state administration and the expansion of space for the arbitrariness of decision-makers who no longer have to make an effort to defend the solutions they propose with arguments," the IA pointed out.

Ana Novaković, President of the Board of the NGO Coalition Cooperation to the Goal, announced that the year of work of the Government led by Prime Minister Duško Marković passed in an unexpectedly extremely unfavorable atmosphere for the work and activities of non-governmental organizations.

Novaković said that six ministries - internal affairs, public administration, science, sustainable development and tourism, finance and foreign affairs - did not plan funds for NGO projects in the coming year.

She announced that the government has a negative attitude towards NGOs. "The statement of the Prime Minister from September of this year says a lot about the Government's attitude towards NGOs: 'Non-governmental organizations are subjected to some kind of abuse all year and every day because they live on donations and not on real activities on the ground', but from the press conference during which questioned the right of NGOs to have a critical review of the Government's work.

With such statements, the prime minister revealed his sincere attitude towards the NGO sector", announced Novaković.