Money for staying (wasn't) wasted: Government and opposition in Pljevlja differ on measures to retain young people

Allocating almost two million euros in direct financial support to citizens is a huge burden on the budget, but also one way to try to stop the poor demographic picture in the northernmost Montenegrin municipality.

This was told to "Vijesti" by the mayor of Pljevlja. Dario Vranes.

The opposition, however, believes that the measures have limited effect and are financially unsustainable in the long term.

The city's first mayor believes that the birth rate in Pljevlja is a serious problem and that the biological survival of the area is at stake.

"This is serious money, but the decline in the birth rate is also a serious problem. The birth rate has been decimated, in a few years there will be a problem with the surplus of teachers in Pljevlja," said Vraneš, citing the example of the "Boško Buha" Elementary School, which 20 years ago had 1.200 students, and today has 370.

He said that the municipality of Pljevlja is facing a real demographic cataclysm and that only 72 babies have been born so far this year, which was a monthly number just 20 years ago.

The local government, claims Vraneš, is trying to increase the birth rate through a series of measures and that the strategy is taking place in three directions: through employment and the creation of new jobs, the construction of infrastructure for a quality standard of living, as well as through a series of financial support measures.

He expects that the effect of the measures they are taking will increase over time.

Vraneš says that the migration of the population to other areas and the long-standing problem of negative birth rate, along with unemployment and pollution, are one of the three biggest problems facing the Pljevlja municipality.

As one of the measures to increase the birth rate, the Municipal Assembly recently adopted a decision that every unemployed pregnant woman and woman who has given birth will receive 450 euros per month from the municipal budget, for which 500.000 to 600.0000 euros will be allocated annually from the budget. The opposition believes that this amount will range up to a million euros in the coming years.

Unemployed pregnant women and mothers in Pljevlja will start receiving benefits from October 1st, and they will be paid as long as there are financial resources in the municipal budget.

Independent councilor Saša Ječmenica believes that the measures adopted by the municipality regarding the increase in the birth rate are populist and have limited effect.

"I think these measures will have a limited effect, and municipal finances will be significantly jeopardized because the budget payments exceed two million euros, which is a huge amount of money. This environment and its citizens cannot depend only on social benefits, and I do not justify the municipality entering the sphere of state social policy. I believe that it would be better if the municipality had decided to provide subsidies for employers who would open new jobs, where Pljevlja residents could be employed, rather than allocating this much money for something that has a limited effect and burdens the municipal budget in the long term. Subsidies should give space to the local economy to strengthen and start new employment," Ječmenica told "Vijesti".

Ječmenica believes that with this decision, the local government is demotivating the economic growth of the municipality and that it is permanently bad for the municipality and introduces it into a financing problem.

"This is a waste of money. The recipe was to support employers and employ women. We failed to think of how to encourage entrepreneurs and businessmen in Pljevlja, but instead we rushed in with money to spend it thoughtlessly, thinking that populism would bring you some votes," said Ječmenica.

Ječmenica called for this compensation to be paid from a special fund that would be filled from the funds of the Coal Mine, EPCG, CEDIS and, as he said, from the contributions of every member of the Democrats employed in the public sector. Democratic Montenegro is the proponent of this decision.

Member of DPS Haris Alavac believes that such decisions cannot have short-term effects.

"The decision is not fair and is not feasible in the long term and is costing us dearly," said Alavać.

Bozidar Bajic from the Movement for Pljevlja said that the introduction and expansion of the circle of new users in the parallel state-municipality system must be stopped, and the councilor of Nova Bozidar Jelovac He believes that the decision will burden the budget, but that this is the best way to increase the birth rate.

In order to influence the increase in the birth rate in Pljevlja, the Pljevlja Municipal Assembly adopted a decision in 2023 according to which children under the age of 18 receive a monthly allowance of 30 euros from the municipality, and beneficiaries of family financial support and disability benefits receive 50 euros each.

Last year, 1,2 million euros were paid from the municipal budget, and this year 1,27 million euros are planned for these purposes.

Ječmenica believes that child allowance should be abolished for children aged 16 to 18, and that children should be directed towards work, not betting shops.

Ječmenica believes that it would have been better to use the money allocated for subsidies aimed at increasing the birth rate to build some facilities in Pljevlja, such as a swimming pool, so that children would not have to go to other cities to learn to swim.

"A little additional content needs to be added. It's not all about handing out money," said Ječmenica.

In order to keep young families in Pljevlja, the Municipality also subsidizes the interest on housing loans for young married couples who do not have a resolved housing issue.

The municipality finances a maximum of 100 euros of interest per month, for a period of up to 10 years.

In order to keep young people in the countryside, the local government in Pljevlja allocates part of the budget to help them make certain investments on their farms.

The municipality will support young farmers who intend to invest in the further development of agriculture with up to five thousand euros, and they can be eligible for support provided that they are between 18 and 30 years old and exclusively engaged in agriculture.