While the citizens of Montenegro are financing as many as 58 political parties and movements with more than 15 million euros from the state and local budgets this year, the Europe Movement Now, after a citizens ' petition, receives a proposal to divert some of these funds for children's allowance.
That this is a populist political move, says Vuk Maraš from Birn for our radio.
"This is, I would say, a political game between URA and PES, which is also populism, because a serious state should not make such changes in the sense that it is over the knee deciding where it will be reduced, where it will be added. Certainly considering that the financing of parties has drastically increased, looking at the rational level, whether it is better to go to children or political subjects, of course it is better to go to children in that sense, let them agree, I strongly doubt that they will have the support of everyone in the parliament,“ Maras said.
Maraš says that it is no longer looking at who is the government and who is the opposition, but their own interests.
"So, it will be very interesting to see how many political parties will actually vote for this proposal, but it is good to problematize the fact that the parties are over-financed by the state budget, especially bearing in mind the culture of political dialogue that we have in Montenegro, the ways in which campaigns are conducted, etc. and the fact that essentially we in Montenegro do not have any prosecution of illegal financing by KAS or any other institution, and this has been happening for years,“ Maras said.
Political scientist Božidar Denda believes that even if politicians agreed, this amount would not be enough for a more serious increase in the monthly amount of children's allowance.
"So again, the story eventually ended in this ping-pong game where power is transferred to the opposition, the opposition returns the ball of power in the sense where opposition MPs are now waiting for the government to provide several million more so that the final amount of the increase and the total amount that will be determined when that increase is validated, so that it is not only 40 or 45, but maybe over 50 euros," denda said.
This can be seen as populism, but not necessarily, denda States.
"The essence of the story is that all these are ad hoc measures by which no one, not this current government, can repair to the desired extent the current situation and purchasing power of this population, because the consequences, not the causes, are treated," denda said.
The state allocates about 55 million euros per year for children's allowances. If all political parties agreed to direct half of their funds to child allowance, the calculation says that it would be about 5 euros per child per month, or 35 euros per month.
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