The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has estimated the manner of the preparation of the budget revision by the Ministry of Finance as totally inappropriate.

Stressing that this is doubly counterproductive since, on one side, not only does it practically constitute a caricature of the legally guaranteed independent position of the Commissioner and some other monitoring and regulatory state authorities, but, on the other side, it also constitutes a missed opportunity to achieve more quality results in fixing of the budget deficit, the Commissioner, Rodoljub Sabic, has stated the following:

‘’It is absolutely inappropriate that the part of the Proposal of the Budget Revision relating to independent institutions has been prepared without any prior consultation with them and that it has been submitted for their approval on Friday evening after working hours, with the requirement to send an opinion until Monday.

I stress that this is about principles and beneficial effects, and not about the reduction of allocated funds. The Commissioner’s institution has always been one of the most rational and economical. And it would continue to be so this year, regardless of the budget revision.

However, based on this Budget Revision Proposal it seems that the Ministry of Finance is guided by the ‘’idea’’ that the frugal should be even more so, and that those who have not been frugal should not be frugal.

The Commissioner’s budget has been reduced by RSD 21, 977, 000.00 or by about 17.43%. Had the Commissioner been consulted, due to the opportunities created by the rational attitude of the Commissioner and his associates towards the spending of the allocated budget, even greater savings could certainly have been planned

However, the Ministry of Finance has planned the ‘’savings’’ without consultations, based on unknown subjective criteria, and thus instead of reducing the budget lines where it would be realistic (e.g. budget lines in connection with salaries, since due to objective circumstances, the Commissioner is working with a number of associates which is significantly smaller than the one forecasted and required), it is reducing the budget lines which are needed and essential for carrying out basic functions of the Commissioner – e.g. material costs for the supervision over several thousands of economic operators at the territory of Serbia.

Perhaps in the process of final adoption of the revised budget, after the opinion that the Commissioner has nevertheless submitted to the Ministry of Finance, the omissions of the material and financial nature shall be remedied, but this can hardly remedy the adverse effects of the act with which the Ministry of Finance has, consciously or not, confirmed that it considers the independence of the monitoring, regulatory and control authorities as fictitious, cosmetic. “