"For the Working Team to Start Work on the Encyclopedia, "From February 7, 2023 to September 1, 2024, 113,664.32 euros were spent, of which 104,044.52 euros were spent on fees for this body, and 9,619.79 euros on additional costs," Čabarkapa said.
The CANU work program for 2023, she points out, planned the beginning of the implementation of this project, and on January 30, 2023, the CANU Presidency decided that preparatory activities would begin on February 1, with the formation of a Working Team, to which they appointed themselves and three CANU employees. The task of this body was to carry out preparations until the formation of the Editorial Board. Encyclopedias.
"According to the 2023 CANU Yearbook, which is not yet publicly available, the Working Team met 21 times during that year, and for each of these sessions, the members of this team were paid, i.e. they were paid a total of 64,297.45 euros. In 2024, an additional 12 sessions were held, for which another 39,747.08 euros were spent. The fee per member per session was 261.36 euros, and at the last, 33rd session, as many as 22 people participated, which amounted to 5,749.92 euros for that session alone," says Čabarkapa.
Čabarkapa points out that the 2023 Yearbook states that the Working Team listed the materials of the former Lexicographic Institute of Montenegro, as well as earlier materials from CANU on attempts to create Encyclopedias of Montenegro, and that in addition to the General Alphabet of CANU, a total of 2,355 lexicographic articles were found and listed in the CANU materials. The AlfabetaraAzbučnik/Abecedar and earlier working materials were also digitized, a visit was organized to the Lexicographic Institute "Miroslav Krleža" in Zagreb, and meetings were held with individual experts in order to develop a structure and form an organizational structure for the work. Encyclopedias of Montenegro, a review of encyclopedias in the region was created and software support for the project was started. CANU also participated in the work of the European Encyclopedia Network. However, the same activities, with less detail, are repeated in the Yearbook for 2024, which is also not publicly available, which is why it remains unclear when certain activities were actually implemented.
"Although preparatory activities for such an important project are undoubtedly necessary, the question arises as to whether they took more than a year and a half, and why, during that period, clear internal criteria were not developed to ensure a meritorious selection of those who would write for the Encyclopedia of Montenegro", said Čabarkapa.
Čabarkapa states that the citizens of Montenegro paid for as many as 33 sessions of this working body whose mandate was only to enable the start of work on this project. CCE also reminds that CANU does not have the information of biographies of external collaborators, among whom is Milan Stojovic, known for his warmongering rhetoric in the 90s.
"The Working Team included the then president of CANU, Dragan Vukcevic, who is today the editor-in-chief Encyclopedias of Montenegro, as well as the head of the Lexicographic Center. Based on these two functions alone, he earned 21,024 euros last year, while he received a total of 40,446 euros from CANU, and that amount will be even higher this year," she said.
CCE reminds that almost one million euros have been planned for this project for the period from 1 September 2024 to the end of 2026. When the costs from the preparatory phase are added to this, it is clear that the total expenditure will exceed that figure, while the public still has no insight into the deadlines or the stage of implementation of the project. At the same time, CANU continuously requests and receives additional money from various ministries, which also raises the question of whether the costs are being duplicated or are so poorly planned, even though they are this high. At the same time, CANU does not justify these costs to the ministries in the contractual documentation prescribed.
"CCE once again calls on CANU to use the money of citizens of Montenegro transparently and responsibly, and to regularly inform the public about all phases of work on Encyclopedia of Montenegro", concludes Čabarkap in a statement.
Sara Cabarkapa, project coordinator Active citizenship
