Street event “Make your own city budget” was held in celebration of the European Week of Local Democracy in front of Usce Shopping Center, and was organized by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and Pro concept, in cooperation with the city agency for European integration and cooperation with associations.
People who were involved in action believe that the most money from the city budget should be placed for the Secretary for Child Protection some 11.91 per cent of the total city budget, followed by the Health Secretary 9.8 per cent, Secretary for Education 9.6 per cent, the Youth Office 7.76 per cent and the Culture Secretary 7.63 per cent.
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At the bottom of their priority list were the Department of Informatics and Statistics, 1.74 per cent, Government Secretary 1.34per cent, Commercial Space Agency 0.75per cent, Secretary of Finance 0.75per cent, and the Public Procurement Agency 0.53per cent of the total city budget.
The Director of the Agency for European integration and cooperation with associations Danko Runic pointed that today we have the opportunity to show to the people how they can participate in decision making at the local level.
“This is an example of how people should influence the decision makers and how they would allocate the funds from the budgetary resources of the city. The main principle of the European Charter of Local Self-Government is the financial independence of local governments and this action shows that there is a need for financial decentralization and active participation of citizens in it.
The City of Belgrade for the first time this year is participating in celebrations of the European Week of Local Democracy, which is an event that marked the Member States of the Council of Europe in 47 countries “- said Runić.
According to him, the Council of Europe this year awarded Belgrade the “City with 12 stars” title, based on a program that is nominated to mark the European Week of Local Democracy.
“People now have the opportunity to send a clear message to the authorities what are their priorities in spending the budget. This action is only part of the project, which includes participatory budgeting of local municipalities and prominence of trasnparentnosti budget process. “- said Danko Cosic, director of Pro Concept.
Cosic said that the results of todays action will be presented to competent institutions dealing with the formation of the budget.