The INPO organization has assessed that the Assembly of the Municipality of Pristina and the mayor Përparim Rama have not fulfilled their obligations in the planning of the Budget Project for 2024.
According to INPO, the municipal bodies of the capital have neglected the implementation of legal obligations for the planning of fiscal and financial policies of the Municipality.
"The Assembly of the Municipality of Pristina, respectively of the capital tomorrow, on September 14, 2023, through an extraordinary meeting, called by the mayor of the capital, will review and approve one of the most important documents for the operation of the Municipality, the budget for the year 2024, despite the fact that it has not implemented its legal obligations regarding the budget planning process on the one hand, and on the other hand the process of drawing up, reviewing and approving the municipal budget is not an extraordinary issue", says INPO's reaction .
Further in the response it is stated that according to Article 61.2 of the Law on Financial Management and Responsibilities (LMFPP), "after the acceptance of the draft budget by the mayor of the municipality, the Municipal Assembly will hold public hearings in accordance with the applicable legal acts of the municipality. After these hearings, the Municipal Assembly, until the date specified in paragraph 3 of Article 20 of this law, must examine, change as it deems necessary or reasonable, as well as approve and submit the municipal budget proposal to the Minister" .
This article is said not to have been implemented. "The Assembly of the Municipality of Pristina, apart from not holding any public hearing about the draft budget, accepted it only 6 days before the extraordinary meeting called by the mayor. This negligence and unwillingness of the Municipal Assembly to implement its legal obligations regarding the process of drafting and approving the financial policies of the Municipality and reflecting the demands and priorities of the citizens in the draft budget, is in complete contradiction to its mandate as the most high decision-maker in the municipality and contrary to all the principles of good governance, transparency and accountability to the citizens", says the reaction.
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According to them, the approval of the budget and investment plans is the exclusive competence of the municipal assembly, which cannot be delegated to any other body.
In this regard, INPO has expressed doubts that the voting, respectively the approval of a document "whose content is unclear, not to mention unknown by the members of the Assembly, cannot have legitimacy".
It is further stated that according to Article 61.1 of the Law on Public Finances and Responsibilities, the Mayor of the Municipality had to submit the draft budget for the fiscal year 1 to the Municipal Assembly on September 2023, 2024, which according to the LMFPP should include "a) forecasts and economic and budgetary assumptions; b) general estimates of income from all sources, including (i) grants, in accordance with the amounts advised in the budget circular(s) issued by the Minister, (ii) aid from sources outside Kosovo, and (iii) the estimated own income of the municipality; c) a general goal of spending in all economic categories of spending; d) estimates of support expected from donors; and e) any other data of material importance for the budget which the CFO considers reasonable to include".
"INPO informs that, apart from the Mayor of the Municipality, he did not respect the legal deadlines for submitting the draft budget to the Assembly, he did not submit it with the content provided by law. Together with the invitation for an extraordinary meeting to review and approve the draft budget, the members of the Municipal Assembly have been provided with a table containing generalized information on the budget categories and their financing. In some cases, INPO has even found inconsistencies between the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MEF) and the draft budget in terms of investment planning for capital projects. 2024 EUR have been provided for the project "Construction of the City Ring" for the year 101,000.000, while in the proposed budget, there is no project with such a name. Also, 2024 EUR have been planned for the project "Construction of the school in the district of 'Calabria'" for the year 1,100,000, while 2024 EUR have been planned in the planned budget for the year 500,000", says the reaction.
According to them, during the drafting of the draft budget, the minimum standards of public consultation were not met. "The municipality of Pristina has never published the draft budget on its official website nor on the public consultation platform. The Executive of the Municipality has organized only 5 meetings with citizens, none of which was attended by the Mayor of the Municipality and in which there was very low participation of citizens. Likewise, the Municipality has not drawn up any report on the results of the public consultation, which in particular reflects the status of the requests, respectively the acceptance or rejection of the requests and recommendations received from the interested parties", says the reaction.
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According to INPO, the document, which is expected to be reviewed and approved at tomorrow's meeting of the Assembly, besides not meeting the criteria and legal obligations, is not comprehensive, transparent and accessible to everyone.
"INPO calls on the Municipal Assembly as the highest decision-making body to undertake all necessary actions within its powers to assure the citizens of Pristina that the municipal budget for 2024 meets all legal requirements and obligations and that it reflects their demands, priorities and needs and to ensure that in the future the process of drafting the budget is comprehensive, transparent and in accordance with legal standards and obligations", says the reaction.
