Minister of Public Administration Maraš Dukaj claims that party recruitment is still the biggest problem in society.
His data on the number of employees in the public sector differs drastically from the data recently presented on public service by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, who claims that from November 2023 to November 2024, the number of employees in the public sector decreased by almost 400, and in local governments by around 150, and that such a trend is also being recorded in state-owned enterprises.
Spajić also said at the time that the European Commission had twice rejected a solution that his government had sent with the intention of reducing the number of employees in the state apparatus by 20 percent.
Dukaj, however, knows nothing about this, while his colleague in charge of the agriculture department, Vladimir Joković, claims that the state and its economy develop with a larger number of employees in the public sector.
"If the Prime Minister visits his government's website, he will find that the data he said is not correct, that in the period November 2023 - November 2024, the number of employees increased by 617. Not only is that not true, but it is not true about public enterprises or local governments," said Marko Sošić from the Institute Alternative.
Vuk Maraš from BIRN said that "what Mr. Spajić is talking about is science fiction."
"In the 2025 budget, gross salaries and contributions increased by 19 million euros. You don't do that if you intend to rationalize public administration. Especially not if you intend to rationalize it by 20 percent. The story is that Brussels did not allow the most bureaucratic public administration to be rationalized and it won't say why, we won't talk about that. Well, that's exactly what I would like to talk about," said Maraš.
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