Since they were elected on December 4 last year, government ministers have had a large number of official trips outside Montenegro, and from the responses of the departments that provided information to "Vijesta", it appears that the leaders were paid around 15.000 euros in per diem.
These are, however, incomplete data - because "Vijesti" did not receive any answers from the Ministry of Defense even after twenty days (Olivera Injac), Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare (Milojko Spajic), Ministry of Economic Development (Jakov Milatovic) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Sergej Sekulovic).
Head of Montenegrin diplomacy Đorđe Radulović as expected, he had the highest number of trips - 21, and in some countries he was even three times since the beginning of his mandate.
Until the end of last month, based on bilateral and multilateral cooperation, Radulović traveled to Germany, Hungary, Belgium (three times), Greece (twice), France, Turkey, Luxembourg, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Poland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, United States of America (twice), Switzerland and Austria (twice). The Belgian capital, where he most often stayed, is the seat of the institutions of the European Union (EU) and NATO.
Although the calculation of all trips for the mentioned period has not been completed, EUR 4.282,47 was paid in the name of per diems for the minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told "Vijesti".
The MFA also emphasized that a large number of meetings and meetings with officials from the international community took place on the margins of international conferences, as well as numerous meetings with emigrants and representatives of our associations abroad during bilateral visits.
"Since the beginning of his mandate, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has been covering the expenses of the national team during bilateral meetings from his personal funds," his department told "Vijesta".
Per diems for travel are paid on the basis of the Regulation on reimbursement of expenses of employees in the public sector.
The ministers of agriculture, forestry and water management received more than 3.000 euros in the form of daily allowances for previous trips. Aleksandar Stijović and education, science, culture and sports Vesna Bratic. Stijović went on nine trips in 11 months.
When asked about completed trips and per diems, his Ministry told "News" that the minister had been to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Italy, Slovenia, Macedonia, Switzerland, Serbia, Hungary and Kosovo, "what was the total amount spent on (total expenses)?" 3.617,84 euros".
The total figure refers to per diems, travel and accommodation.
Minister Bratić started her travels in mid-May, when she visited Serbia. In June, she was in Turkey, in July in Bulgaria, to spend most of September on official trips to Russia, Switzerland and Austria. She was in Greece in October, and in the same month again in Serbia. Per diems for her trips cost the state 3.018,42 euros.
Minister of Capital Investments Mladen Bojanic traveled officially seven times during 11 months, and he was paid 1.630,16 euros as per diem.
And his first official trip since his appointment was to Serbia, followed by two trips to Bosnia and Herzegovina - Sarajevo and Trebinje, then Kranj in Slovenia, Warsaw in Poland, Durres in Albania and finally the Russian capital Moscow.
The Minister of Health had one less trip Jelena Borovinić Bojović. She was on official visits to Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, France, Turkey and Germany. In the name of per diems, the minister was paid a total of 1.298,45 euros for all six trips.
"The result of the minister's visits abroad are multimillion-dollar donations," her department pointed out in their response to "Vijesta".
They pointed out that during the visit to Serbia, the donation of vaccines was agreed upon, the minister agreed with her Hungarian colleague on the mutual recognition of PCR tests and the donation of 200.0000 vaccines, while during her stay in Croatia, details regarding the renewal of cooperation in the area of the transplantation program were clarified. The result of the official visit to Turkey was the donation of 100.000 doses of vaccines, while in France it was agreed that the professional training of Montenegrin doctors at the prestigious clinics there. In Berlin, as stated in the answer, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture attended the World Health Summit, provided a donation of monoclonal antibodies, therapies that are used in the initial phase of the fight against covid infection, and a memorandum of cooperation between the Institute for Public Health and the Institute was signed. Robert Koch".
Minister of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism Ratko Mitrović he had seven trips, for which he was paid 771,44 euros as per diem, his department said.
They explained that the minister had his first official trip to Zagreb in February, while in April he stayed in Belgrade, and in July in Ljubljana. He stayed in Belgrade again in September, and a few days later in Skopje and Vienna. Last month he was in Trieste, Italy.
The Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media told "Vijesta" that this department "spent 13.761,71 euros on official trips" in the past six months.
The Ministry of Justice did not specifically answer how many ministers there are Tamara Srzentić had official trips and how much was paid in the name of per diem. The answer came from her department that the most expensive among them "is the sum of 4.119,80 euros allocated for the minister's official trip to the USA". The minister, they explained, went as a member of the Montenegrin delegation led by the Minister of Finance and Social Welfare Milojko Spajic.
The Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to the questions of "Vijesti" about travel and per diems.
The Ministry of Justice, Human and Minority Rights has been without a minister since the middle of the year after the dismissal Vladimir Leposavić.
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