Citizens have less and less trust in institutions, they are burdened by socio-economic problems, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are seen as the most prominent part of the civil sector and have a predominantly positive attitude towards them, as well as that they work in the public interest and have a significant influence in Montenegrin society. . Apathy and unwillingness of citizens for social activism is registered, but also a strong desire for membership in the EU, it was emphasized, among other things, today at the presentation findings of public opinion research on the role of civil society in the process of democratization and Europeanization of Montenegro, which the Center for Civic Education (CEO), with partners, carried out as part of the project "From basic services to policy formulation - M'BASE", with the support of the EU Delegation in Montenegro and the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media.
Petar Đukanović, program director of the CCE, in reviewing the research findings, notes the overall decline in the trust of citizens in all institutions compared to earlier CCE surveys.
"Religious communities have the highest average score (2.54), on a scale of 1 to 5, followed by the education system, then the police and healthcare, then the President of Montenegro, then NGOs. The least trusted are political parties, the prosecution, the media, the judiciary and trade unions." , Djukanovic said.
The CGE announced that the survey showed that the government bears the greatest responsibility for the well-being of society (2.71 on a scale from 1 to 3), followed by the president (2.68) and the Parliament of Montenegro (2.67), which, they add, indicates that, regardless of level of trust, they perceive well the competences, but also the possibilities, of the institution.
"Banks, NGOs, the business sector and trade unions are considered the least responsible for the welfare of society. On the other hand, many and different actors are key to promoting democracy, but primarily the Government, then the education system, the media, and the president, then religious communities and NGOs organizations", research findings show.
As the most important problems, those from the socio-economic sphere point out - unemployment (27%), fight against corruption and organized crime (17.1%) and improvement of living standards (13.5%), and health (10.7%).
Snežana Kaluđerović, senior legal advisor at CGO, states that the findings indicate that the majority of citizens are not generally or mostly informed about the work of the civil sector (57.4%), while a third of them (30.3%) are mostly or very informed, and with the increase in education level information about the civil sector is also growing.
She added that TV, media portals and social networks are the most important sources of information about NGOs.
"Although civil society is made up of numerous social actors, citizens predominantly recognize NGOs (44%), and trade unions (7.9%), foundations (7.6%), protest and social movements (5.8%), media (4.7%) ), professional associations (2.8%), religious groups (1.8%), etc. Almost a quarter of citizens did not know what civil society does," added Kaluđerović.
She said that in the general attitude towards NGOs, the positive attitude of citizens and the assessment that NGOs work well (47.6%) significantly prevails, while slightly more than a fifth (22%) have the opposite opinion.
She added that over a third of citizens (30.4%) are undecided about this issue.
"The creation of an attitude about an NGO is most influenced by the activities of that NGO (40.5%), followed by the perceived influence of that NGO on society (17.3%), but also by the attitudes of the leader of that NGO (12.1%). NGO activities become more important with the growth in the educational level of citizens and female citizens, while those without education are above average determined by the views of NGO leaders," explained Kaluđerović.
She also stated that the passive attitude of the citizens is worrisome, so more than half of them (54.7%) state that in the past 12 months they have not taken any action aimed at addressing a specific problem in their community, and some believe in advance that such an action of theirs I wouldn't change a thing.
"Citizens are divided in their assessment of the independence of NGOs from the authorities and political parties, and many of the positions of NGOs are currently undecided. There are significant percentages of those who believe that NGOs were critical of the previous Government, but that now they have become dominantly silent in their criticism, even though many old problems remain. In determining the most important role of NGOs in society, the prevailing opinion (38.1%) is that NGOs should be sharp critics of the work of the Government, local self-governments, state bodies and institutions. The following are the views that NGOs should monitor the work of the Government, local self-government, state bodies and institutions (28.3%), and to participate in the drafting of laws, strategies and other important acts and decisions (15.8%). Less than a fifth do not have an opinion on this," summarized Kaluđerović.
The research shows that the vast majority of citizens (45.1%) believe that NGOs work in their and the public interest, while almost a quarter also believe that NGOs serve the interests of their leaders.
"Slightly more than one in eight are of the opinion that NGOs work in the interests of political parties, and every tenth respondent appreciates that NGOs work in the interests of the Government. Although the most recognizable work of NGOs is in the field of fighting corruption, citizens believe that NGOs should be more more engaged in that field, but also in social care and humanitarian work," the research results show.
"According to the perception of citizens, NGOs have considerable influence in society, i.e. cumulatively 43.8% of them recognize a certain type of influence of NGOs, which is disproportionate to the real possibilities of NGOs, but also a reflection of the deficit of trust in the institutional framework. Next to the fifth are those who do not know how to determine that influence, while 37.7% appreciate that NGOs mostly or have no influence at all. Finally, NGOs are predominantly recognized as necessary, important, professional, reliable, accessible, transparent and those that help, and citizens also see them as modern and successful organizations. Attitudes are more divided about the speed of NGO work," Snežana Kaluđerović concluded.
The survey also shows that citizens see the EU (34.7%), followed by the Government of Montenegro (16.5%), then international organizations (14%) and the embassies of EU member states, UK, USA and Canada (11%) as the current main donors of the NGO sector.
When asked who should be the main donors, the order is similar, with the difference that there is a significantly higher number of those (22.6%) who believe that the Government should take greater responsibility in this area, which is completely contrary to the Government's plan that next year reduce budget allocations to NGOs by about 60%.
Among the issues raised by NGOs as the most important for democratization and Europeanization, citizens recognize the rule of law (25.3%), followed by human rights (20.7%), independence of the judiciary (13%) and the fight against corruption (11.2%), while facing the past is ranked lower. (9.4%) and responsibility of political decision makers (6.8%).
"When it comes to the attitude of the Government towards NGOs, the opinion expressed is that this Government has taken over those NGOs and leaders who answered to it, while it has a negative attitude towards others (24.2%). About a fifth of the respondents believe that this Government does not have an attitude towards NGOs, and approximately one-sixth (17.2%) that they are much more open to NGOs than the previous one. However, more than a third cannot be clearly determined according to this issue," said Đukanović.
Opinions are divided on the assessment of cooperation between the Government and NGOs, as well as the assessment of conditions for the development of NGOs that can freely criticize and limit the government when necessary.
Đukanović pointed out that more than three quarters of citizens (77.3%) support Montenegro's membership in the EU, and that the percentage of those who have a positive or mostly positive attitude towards the EU is even higher - 81.8%.
"The opinion of the majority (66.3%) is that Montenegro is moving slowly or very slowly in the process of negotiations with the EU. Nevertheless, the optimism of citizens that we will become a member of the EU, in relation to the perceived slowness of that path, exists. Thus, 29.5 of them % believe that Montenegro will become a member of the EU in five years, while 20.4% are of the opinion that it will be in 10 years, and 12% in 20 years. Slightly more than a fifth (22.6%) do not believe that we will ever become a member of the EU. , Djukanovic said.
"It seems that citizens, in these nine years of negotiations, have learned who does what in this process, so most of them (35.7%) believe that the Government is the most responsible for the dynamics of Montenegro's accession to the EU. Slightly less than a fifth (18.2%) ) believes that it is the Parliament, and the approximate responsibility, according to citizens, is shared by the judiciary (11.3%) and political parties (10.9%). It is interesting and good that citizens see themselves as very responsible for the accession process," added Đukanović. .
A significant majority of citizens believe that NGOs have expertise/knowledge in the field of European integration (44%), but also the majority (40.4%) state that the authorities do not listen to the views of NGOs regarding the process of European integration and Montenegro's obligations on that path.
The dominant majority of Montenegrin citizens (52%) consider that the social dialogue of trade unions, employers and authorities on development, wages, employment and dignified work and labor and social rights as basic, democratic values and conditions for EU integration in Montenegro mainly or in general not developed.
The CGO said that the data collection was carried out by the DAMAR agency, from November 18 to 24, 2021, on a three-stage stratified random sample of 1020 adult citizens of Montenegro from nine Montenegrin municipalities using the CAPI method.
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