Tag: Serbia

Since June this year the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network has been investigating the spending of Belgrade public companies and the city administration on marketing and other services provided by PR agencies. BIRN journalists have obtained some 300 business contracts over the course of the research and conducted dozens of interviews with representatives of the public administration and private companies, while two articles have been published.

When BIRN began its research into the work of the Stratkom PR Agency, which does business with several public companies and state institutions in Serbia, Selaković expressed his discontent on Facebook and Twitter. Selaković is the former director of the company, and was recently appointed spokesman of the United Regions of Serbia party. Writing on the social network websites, Selaković said he was unhappy that journalists were showing interest in Stratkom’s business operations.

“Over the past few days the so-called investigative journalists swooped down on the StratCom agency, where I worked until December 10. They called practically all StratCom clients (they didn’t meet with StratCom) and insisted on answers to all kinds of questions. They got the answers but refused to see the contracts. Also, they are not interested in other agencies but focus solely on StratCom. The digging up and checking of clients goes all the way to the level of the Rača municipality. They are calling clients’ managers, municipal heads, directors…The interviews are very unpleasant and conducted in a bitter tone of voice. Practically everyone’s been on StratCom’s back over the past few months – from the Tax Administration on-site inspection to tax police officers, etc, etc. Now that I am no longer there I feel it is my duty to put a stop to the abuse of people working at the company. As for me, I’m prepared to file a criminal complaint against myself. If it is established that StratCom or I personally did anything illegal, I am prepared to bear all the consequences. I’m just asking for the selective persecution and pursuit of people who are doing their jobs to stop once and for all. In whose interest is it for a healthy agency to be eliminated from the market?…

… Let’s get one thing straight here: I have always been and will be in favour of investigative journalism. I have never been and will never be in favour of selective investigative journalism…

… But I really don’t understand where they get the right to repeatedly call, day after day, EACH and EVERY StratCom client and over and over again ask absurd questions such as: “Did Selaković abuse his position as URS spokesman so StratCom would work with you?”; “Do you know how much money you are paying them?”; “Do the people know that you are giving them money?”; “What is it that they do for you for that kind of money?” and similar questions. In this process, the “investigative journalists” don’t want to talk to the people in charge of implementing the agreements but only with the management. And they call them over and over again, day after day. This creates tension in the agency’s relations with clients because the clients feel very uncomfortable. My question is: how can I abuse a position that I have held for 15 days (and I ended my employment the minute I took on this political position) and StratCom has been around for years? But no, this question isn’t heard.”

The draft budget for 2013 in ‘citizen’s budget’ format and a opinion poll results were presented at the Forum as a part of ‘’Participatory Budgeting’’ project organized by BIRN Serbia and municipal officials. 

Over 25 representatives of local community, NGO organizations and media were involved in the debate.

Around 340 people from Medvedja filled in the poll called ‘’Your money, our responsibility’’, conducted at the municipality service center. Respondents were offered a list of municipal priorities for the next year in the field of capital investments and were asked to choose three projects they think are the most important to be implemented in 2013.

Marina Radenkovic, head of the budget department in Medvedja, stressed that the poll showed that the citizens are familiar with the local government’s plans for the next year.

“The Results show that the most important project is ‘’Building children’s playground at Construction Directorate’’ with 108 votes. Second place is the ‘’Winter road maintenance’’ project with 93 votes and ‘’Building minaret of the mosque in Sijarinska banja’’ is the third on the list of priorities’’, she said.    

Dragan Andrejevic, head of the local urbanization department, spoke about the problems budget users encounter during the budgeting process. He commended the administration for organizing the public debate as an innovative approach.  He said he hoped it will become a practice that will include a greater number of citizens in the future.

Jadranka Bozovic, head of the local municipal administration, said she hoped the debate is only a beginning and that next year the government will organize more discussions, as a valuable tool for communication with the public.

The questionnaire ‘’Your money, our responsibility’’ and Local Budget Forum are part of a local government initiative to involve people in the budgeting process and recognize the needs of communities in accordance with principles of good governance.

The project of implementing the practice of participatory budgeting at the local level through the European Partnership Programme with EU PROGRES municipalities in 25 municipalities in the south and southwest Serbia is supported by the European Union, the Swiss and the Serbian government.

As part of its “Participatory Budgeting” project, BIRN Serbia and local municipal officials held budget forums last week in Raška and Kuršumlija, where they presented the 2013 budget for each municipality and received input from residents.

Prior to the Forums, those municipalities conducted citizens’ survey on priorities to be funded out from 2013 Budget.  Among proposed, citizens could pick 3 projects of highest priority, by their opinion.

The forums allowed local residents to comment on the draft 2013 budgets and get answers from top local government officials about administration’s plans for the coming year.

More than 20 local residents took part in the debate in Raška, and Mayor Jovan Čorbić stressed the importance of their participation. He told those gathered that it is important for all citizens to show initiative when it comes to examining the budget because it affects the life of the community.

“Let’s determine together what is the most important and find out how to achieve it. It is useless to promise that it is possible to do everything in one year. Therefore, it is necessary to set priorities,” said Čorbić.

Zagorka Šumarac, who heads the budget department in Raška, presented the draft 2013 budget in a “citizen budget” format, which gives residents a comprehensive look at the projects and plans that have been funded.

Zorica Nišavić from the NGO Women Raška said she was pleased that for the first time residents  had an opportunity to be informed about the budget.

“I hope that in the coming years we will again have a chance to talk about the budget and give our suggestions,” she said. Nišavić’s thoughts on the process were echoed by several other participants.

Meanwhile in Kuršumlija, more than 40 residents and local community representatives participated in the budget debate. Mayor Radoljub Vidić expressed his satisfaction with the large turnout for the debate and the questionnaire “Your money, our responsibility”.

Local participation is crucial, Vidic said, because municipal officials can use the feedback from residents as an instrument to ensure the allocation of resources in accordance with local needs.

“The suggestions and complaints of residents push the local authorities to work on creating quality living conditions for all residents of our municipality,” said Vidić.

The draft budget for 2013 was presented by Deputy Mayor Nebojša Jović, who stressed that this budget put forward 100 million dinars more than was planned in 2012.

“In 2013 we focused on priorities related to agricultural development and entrepreneurship, and some resources will be allocated for scholarships for high school and university students. The plan is to improve the living conditions of the citizens by reducing public spending and putting more funds into investments,” said Jović.

Milivoje Perović, a local beekeeper, told the forum participants that Kuršumlija has the potential to be a substantial producer of organic honey, which would create new jobs, and suggested that this be considered in the next budget cycle.

The conclusions reached during the local budget forums will be presented to members of the Raška and Kuršumlija municipal councils, and BIRN signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the mayors that confirms further cooperation in this field in the future.

The project of implementing the practice of participatory budgeting at the local level through the European Partnership Programme with EU PROGRES municipalities in 25 municipalities in the south and southwest Serbia is supported by the European Union, the Swiss and the Serbian government.