The Coalition, composed of 20 environmental NGOs, accused the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism for obstructing the NGO sector due to the lack of Sectoral Analysis to identify proposals for priority areas of public interest and the necessary funding for non-governmental projects and programs.
The Ministry, however, said that they did not compete in the participation for "Life" because it would burden the budget and rejected claims of obstruction, stating that they will comply with the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations, which provides for the State to provide special funding for projects and programs in the areas of public interest realized by NGOs in the amount of at least 0.3 percent of the current annual budget.
"The Life program is an instrument of financial assistance in the field of environment and climate change, available to all Member States as well as to candidate countries based on a bilateral agreement. The Serbia-Montenegro State Union Agreement contained a provision for using the "Life" program, which is not the case today when Montenegro is an independent state. Only this year, EUR 400 million was invested in specific projects.
We appeal to the Ministry to initiate the procedure of eligibility for this program through the letter of interest in order to define the terms and financial obligations (full or partial participation) and finally conclude the agreement," it is stated in the letter from the Coalition to the Ministry.
The Ministry said that Montenegro did not participate in the European Commission program "Life" because the percentage of the financial contribution of the beneficiary country is between 25 and 45 percent of the project value. "It would be a great burden for our national budget, compared to, say, IPA funds, where our participation is 15%," said the Ministry. The Coalition also requested information on the activities undertaken by the Ministry in preparation of the Sectoral Analysis, in order to provide funds from the 2018 Budget for the purpose of funding NGOs operating in areas within the Ministry's competence.
"We use the opportunity to remind you that last year MORT was one of six ministries that did not prepare a Sector Analysis, which was a prerequisite for getting the opportunity to apply with project proposals from our area for 2018. At a meeting on April 3rd, it was agreed that the Ministry would initiate public discussions for the adoption of this document at the beginning of May," stated the letter. The Ministry believes there is no basis for accusations related to the "obstruction" of the NGO sector due to the lack of Sectoral Analysis. The Ministry of Public Administration as a coordinator of the process for identifying priority areas of public interest and the amount of funding for projects and programs of NGOs in them, in accordance with the Law initiated, in late June, the programming of priority areas and established amount for funding NGO projects and programs from the state budget to 2019. Therefore, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, as well as all other ministries, after analysis and consultations with the NGO sector, will submit a proposal for priority areas for financing NGO projects and programs in 2019 and propose the amount of funds for their realization, draft sectoral analyzes and a report on consultations with the NGO sector on sectoral analysis drafts," said the Ministry.
They also stated that there was a meeting to get to know the state officials who will be in charge of the sectoral analysis and conducting public tenders in 2019.
Text by Dejan Perunicic, on July 12th, 2018, read more at Vijesti
