Insight view

THE COUNTRY: PUBLIC GOODS
FINANCING OF NGOs FROM THE BUDGET
Abuse and ignoring of court decisions
Financing of the civil sector from public funds has been followed by controversies and irregularities.
All of this was confirmed in a number of reports from different addresses but also by court decisions,
which were obviously insufficient for competent institutions to start solving this problem and responsible
ones to respond to the law. The abuse of budget means planned activities and development
of NGOs still stays the constant and the key problem that does not allow adequate awakening
of citizens’ awareness and the requirement of more responsible, efficient, and transparent administration.
All these claims are best confirmed by the facts of the Audit Report on Financing of Nongovernmental
Organizations, which was published a few days ago by the National Audit Institution.
A major problem in the financing of NGOs is clear: disrespect of the Law on Nongovernmental Organizations
that was adopted in 2011. This law clearly and efficiently defines the area of financing
of nongovernmental organizations through solutions such as the establishment of a unique, centralized,
and professional commission that will objectively and without external impact allocate money,
and evaluation of implemented activities and financial reports. After the adoption of the Law on
NGOs, three more laws were planned to harmonize with it: the Law on Human and Minority Rights
(not harmonized), the Law on Lottery (not harmonized), the Law on Culture (harmonized). During
2013, the government obliged the Ministry of Finances to send normative and legal framework that
defined this area to the government and to propose measures for the resolution of open questions.
The fact that the Administrative Court annulled three decisions on allocation of funds (for 2011,
2012, and 2013) best describes allocation of funds in previous years. The last verdict of the Administrative
Court, which annulled the Decision on Allocation of Funds from the Lottery, of almost
two million euros, is the only confirmation of intensive illegal work of the competent Commission,
and on the other side, confirmation of its and the Ministry of Finances’ readiness to continue
with this practice in the future. Unfortunately, despite a number of promises, competent ministers
did not show an understanding for such decisions of the court, so it appears that such a standpoint
recommends the revocation of court instances, so that anyone can do what they want to
do fully and without responsibility.
During 2013, the Proposal of Decision on Allocation was anonymously supported at the session
of the commission that took place in 2013. On the next page, and a month later, when a decision
was already published and money allocated, all members of the commission were obliged to
“urgently submit to a Secretary of the Commission prepared and signed score sheets of remain-
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