Increase of spending of around 16 million euros that may have an impact on voters in the pre-election campaign for local elections is hidden in the Budget Rebalance.
The Government proposes the Budget Rebalance with the explanation that it corrects the effects of the Europe Now programme. However, it foresees additional employment worth over 2.7 million euros, payments to natural and legal persons of 4.5 million, as well as an increase in the budget reserve by nearly nine million euros, for which no explanation is given in the description of the rebalance.
There is no explanation in the budget rebalance for the increase in expenses which during the election campaign increased the number of employed or engaged persons in the total amount of over 2.7 million euros, i.e. net earnings of nearly 900 thousand euros, temporary employment contracts of over 700 thousand euros, other fees of around 600 thousand euros, as well as consulting services of over 500,000 euros.
Namely, based on reallocation within their budgets, there has been an increase in net earnings in several bodies, and there is no explanation for these changes in the budget rebalance. Those institutions include the Revenue and Customs Administration, where net earnings increased by nearly 300 thousand euros, the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism with an increase of over 160 thousand, the Ministry of the Interior with over 150 thousand, and the Forestry Administration with higher net earnings of 100 thousand euro.
There is a similar practice with temporary employment contracts, where the explanation of the budget rebalance does not show that the institutions reallocate their budgets and increase these expenses during the election campaign. Thus, the Ministry of Finance allocated over € 240,000 higher payments for temporary employment contracts than in the current budget, the Bureau for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions over 120,000 euros higher, and the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism over 73,000 euros higher payments. They are followed by the Ministry of Defence with an increase of over 52 thousand euros, the Ministry of Capital Investments and the Cabinet of the President of Montenegro with 50 thousand euros each, the Ministry of the Interior with 40 thousand euros, the Cabinet of the Prime Minister and the Secretariat-General of the Government of Montenegro with around 15 thousand euros each.
In addition, without any explanation, additional 487,000 euros was provided for other fees in the Ministry of Finance, additional 46,000 euros in the Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism, and 20,000 euros in the Ministry of the Interior.
The budget rebalance does not contain explanation for the increase in consulting services at the Directorate for Traffic of over 500 thousand euros i.e. 15% in relation to the current budget of that institution.
The budget of the Ministry of Defence for other transfers to natural persons has increased by nearly 250 thousand euros, and no explanation was given for this in the budget rebalance. This increase occurred on the basis of reallocation within the institution’s budget, but that increased this budget item by more than 20% compared to the current budget.
Only a short explanation was given in the budget rebalance for the significant increase in the budget of some institutions, although during the election campaign, subsidies to legal and natural persons significantly increase in this way.
Thus, the Employment Agency is requesting an increase of three million euros from the budget rebalance for subsidies to employers who employ persons with disabilities, i.e. by nearly 30%. In the explanation, it was stated that during the election campaign, these funds should be increased “due to the constant growth of requests for subsidies”.
By the budget rebalance, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management increased the subsidies for production and providing of services by 1.5 million euros. In the explanation, it is stated that these funds are intended for the purchase of machinery and cattle in order to increase milk production, as well as “for the development of chicken meat production”.
During the election campaign, the budget reserve has increased by a third, and no explanation was given for the increase of nearly nine million euros.
The current budget reserve is increased by 18.2 million euros, i.e. from 67 to 85 million euros. In the explanation, it is stated that seven million refers to the providing of missing funds for the needs of the Health Insurance Fund, and 2.5 million to the strengthening of the security information infrastructure”. However, in the budget rebalance, there is no explanation for the remaining increase in the budget reserve of 8.7 million euros.
We emphasize that funds from the budget reserve can be used for payments to natural persons, even though it is an election year, because the decision on the COVID epidemic is in force, otherwise, such practice would be prohibited by law.
MANS
