Reform of the salary system, reform of e-government of the public and local self-government and support to municipalities and cities through the budget fund and partnership with them, are three priorities of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, said today Lady Minister Marija Obradović.
Part of the great reform of administration and local self-government is the Central Population Register, which contains data from 13 Official Records, including birth and death certificates, citizenship certificates, various tax administration certificates, and every other document making a citizen visit the counters.
Obradović expects that in March-April the Central Population Register will be activated and that all institutions will be able to withdraw data, which means that going to the counters will no longer exist.
For example, if you are applying for a job vacancy or have any administrative procedure, there is no need to collect numerous documents, but you will simply request a document through the e-portal and the Central Population Register, which the state will send to the e-mail box.
„Citizens should be aware that we are becoming a modern public administration and local self-government, and the main task of this Ministry is to be the best possible service to citizens and the economy,” says Obradović in the interview in Tanjug.
Lady Minister has recently invited citizens to check their data in the database of the Central Population Register, and in 45 days as it has been active, so far it has been accessed by 2,500 citizens. Of the total number of applicants, she said, 330 of them have requested that the data should be changed, and 20 percent were not recorded anywhere, so now they are registered for the first time.
“We asked the citizens to check their data, because the data from 13 Official Records have to be matched. It is still a complicated procedure due to data protection, because it would be unserious to allow access only on the basis of a username and password,” explained Obradović.
Therefore, Lady Minister once again asked the citizens to go to the post office and the tax administration counters to get the parameters on the basis of which they will connect, and continue communication with the state, via electronic mailbox.
She underlined that information security is in the first place and that the whole process is carried out according to high European and world standards.
Speaking about the Budget Fund for Local Self-Governments, Obradović stated that every Thursday she talks to municipal presidents and town mayors, in order to make them ready for competition.
“At the beginning of January, we will send a Call for Applications so that municipalities can apply, and now we are preparing them for that moment, because if they want us to finance a serious project, they must have prepared documentation,” she said.
According to her words, the Budget Fund for Local Self-Governments of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, according to the Draft Budget for 2021, amounts to 460 million dinars, while the realization of the last budget was 260 million dinars. Here, too, the Plan was bigger, she says, but Covid disrupted it.
Obradović notes that it could happen that in the next year Corona virus might disrupt the plans, that the money cannot be accessed, because if you have to choose between lighting and the fight against Covid, it is clear where the money must go.
„The question is how the budget will be filled next year, no one in the world can say that. It is not just a question of the Serbian economy,” said Obradović, and explained that money from the budget fund is used to finance various things, from the completion of kindergartens, schools, health centers, cinemas, arranging squares, setting up lighting, and helping various events that are currently not a priority, due to the ban on gatherings.
„We have local self-governments like Belgrade that have a bigger budget than the Ministry, and we can hardly help Belgrade. Niš can also function without us, but there are smaller municipalities and cities where our help is important.
Obradović says that inter-municipal cooperation and realization of projects such as water supply and sewerage network are encouraged, indicating that these are projects that can serve several municipalities.
„Our financial assistance cannot be compared to the funds of the Ministry of Economy or the Ministry of Construction or Energy, but the essence is to encourage and help self-governments to solve problems,” stated Obradović.
In addition to projects related to infrastructure, says Obradović, the Ministry is also committed to improving the reform of local self-government, and it is working on “one-stop shop”.
It is a counter in the municipality where citizens or the economy report the problem, and the administrative employees should classify it. We have been working on all those things for several years, but I will continue to work strongly with my associates on all these projects,” said Obradović.
Lady Minister, regarding the Reform of the Salary System, recalls that the implementation of pay scale was supposed to start in January 2021, but that it is not essential to start implementing them without the institutions being ready, i.e. notes that determining the financial effects of the start of pay scale have not yet been specified in detail.
„It may not be politically wise to say, but it is more important to me that the citizens understand it. The application of pay scale requires political will and money. Political will is not in question at the moment, but our budget does not allow it now,” says Obradović.
She pointed out that in the previous year, the process of preparation for implementation, which includes talks with trade unions and other important actors, has not been stopped, and it has been noticed that there are points that need to be changed. It is better, she said, to correct that now, because the state is not able to start with the application of pay scale in the Covid situation.
„In a few days, we will enter the Parliament where we will postpone the application of pay scales for a year, i.e. the implementation will not start in January 2021, but in January 2022, and in this year we will see what we can change with Trade Unions and key actors,” said Obradović. As she pointed out, in addition to e-government reform and support for local self-governments, pay scale represents something they are working on day and night. The Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government does not have enough facts at this moment, on the basis of which it could determine who the representative of the Democratic Party is, states Lady Minister Marija Obradović, adding that it is Zoran Lutovac’s turn to submit the supplement to the documentation.
„The process has been precisely defined and all interested parties are regularly informed and participate in the process with various amendments to the documentation,” said Obradović for Tanjug.
She added that everything was going within the given deadlines, and that the deadlines that appeared in the media were more or less arbitrary.
„Anyone who would say that we did not follow the procedures in this process, as in any other, would be frivolous. At this moment, I think that Lutovac is on the move and that he should submit certain documentation,” pointed out Obradović.
She noted that neither side had ever said that the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government was late in the process, stating that it was important for her as the Minister to absolutely follow the procedure.
“My membership in the party shall not influence the final outcome in any way,” said Lady Minister and Vice President of the SNS.
When asked what are the deadlines and when it can be expected that the Ministry will make a decision, Obradović notes that she cannot say it precisely at this moment, because they are waiting for the date when the documentation’s supplementation from Zoran Lutovac will be received.
Obradović stated, in commenting on the current political situation and the announced inter-party dialogue with the mediation of European Parliament MPs, that the dialogue should be conducted in the Parliament and that she does not see another place for it, and regarding demands of a part of opposition for formation of the so-called “Transitional Government”, she answered that the government is something to be discussed after the elections.
„Parliament is a place where we can have an inter-party dialogue. The street is not that place. This is something that is not the face of Serbia in the 21st century, and the opposition… Well, when you get in the circle, you rely on your feet… They have to be serious,” said Obradović.
Asked what she expects in the dialogue, whether the election conditions will change and whether she thinks they should be changed, Obradovic stated that at this moment she is committed to the executive power and that, as she said, she can only wait to see what the actors from the Parliament will say.