Transparency of State Budget (ME0072)

What public problem does the measure address? This measure responds to the problem of insufficiently clear, simple and easy-to-understand communication with citizens about the content and execution of the state budget. According to the report on the realization of the NAP for the OGP 2018-2020, the visualization of the state budget by the institutions was not done, and the link http://budzet.sntcg.com/ , which was supposed to regularly update such a database, is not functional. A pdf presentation of the Citizens' Budget for 2022 has been published on the Government's website. Also, the pdf Guide to the budget of Montenegro for 2021 was published on the website of the Parliament of Montenegro. The first visualization of the state budget was done by the NGO sector in 2017, within the project "Promoting financial responsibility in Montenegro" implemented by the NGO Alternative Institute. The website http://mojnovac.me/web/home contains a visualization of the state budget from 2011 to 2021 and provides insight into how the budget is collected and spent - economic classification of the budget to the most detailed publicly available level, with a comparison by year , then a presentation of what institutions spend money on and an overview of the projects that make up the capital budget. The government does not prepare similar complete budget presentations for citizens, on the online platform of income and expenditure by organizational, economic and program classification. Also, although the introduction of the so-called of gender-responsive budgeting, through the recognition of gender-responsive indicators in budget programs, the gender-responsive component of the budget, with financial and non-financial indicators, is not proactively reported.

What does this measure entail? The measure includes the activities of announcing the budget for citizens for 2023 and 2024 In what way does the measure contribute to the solution of the identified public problem? It is expected that through the publication of the budget for citizens, the understanding of the budget as a key document for the implementation of public policies will increase, and that it will encourage citizens and the general public to reconsider the way the state budget is executed and strengthen institutional responsibility.

Why is this measure relevant in relation to the values promoted through the OGP initiative? This measure is directly relevant to the values of transparency and openness of public administration, as well as the responsibilities of public institutions.

Additional information This measure is complementary to the objectives and activities of the Public Administration Reform Strategy of Montenegro 2022-2026. especially in relation to activity 4.2.11 Development of high- quality fiscal transparency for authorities, where by the end of 2023 it is planned to prepare a plan to strengthen budget transparency in accordance with international and European standards, but also to apply a pilot plan in at least 20 authorities of different groups. The implementation of this measure contributes to the realization of sustainable development goals, especially goal 16: 'Peace, justice and strong institutions', and tasks 16.10. Provide public access to information and protection of basic freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements, 16.6 - Develop efficient, responsible and transparent institutions at all levels.

Budget 10.000 EUR

Activities

10.1. Create a budget for citizens Holder: Ministry of Finance Indicator: - Published budgets for citizens with a simple presentation of the public finance cycle in 2023 and 2024 Required financial resources: EUR 10,000 Source of funding: Budget of Montenegro, donor funds February 2023 - December 2024

Action Plan Review

Commitment 10. Increase the transparency of data on the content and execution of the state budget

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● This commitment has been clustered as: Budget transparency (Commitments 10 and 14 of the action plan)

● Potential for results (cluster): Modest

Commitments 10 and 14 will improve budget transparency at the national and local levels. Commitment 10 will publish a “citizens’ budget" of the national budget: an easy-to-understand visualization on its content and execution. Although the action plan only mentions the fiscal years of 2023 and 2024, the Ministry of Finance confirmed that this will become a permanent obligation. [80] The Ministry of Finance publishes information on budget transactions on its website, but according to Institut Alternativa, this information is difficult to find and is not machine readable. [81] The Ministry of Finance believes this commitment could help the public better understand the contents of the budget, where there is often misinformation of government activities. [82] NDI noted that the MPA is interested in amending this commitment, as they are still negotiating with potential donors to support the work. [83]

The IRM recommends the Ministry of Finance provide information on every item of spending, in machine-readable format, and on a regular basis. Institut Alternativa recommends developing gender-responsive budget programs. [84] The Ministry of Finance could learn from North Macedonia’s database on budgetary expenditure, launched during its 2018-2020 action plan. [85] The database is updated every 15 days and contains information on the spending of state-funded institutions administered through the Treasury and national and local-level data from 2010 onwards. [86]

Commitment 14 focuses on budget transparency at the local level. It involves creating guidelines and conducting training for publishing data on local budgets in open format and as simple visual presentations (citizens’ budgets). There is a database on the website of the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro showing the total budget, revenues, expenditures, and debts of all LSGUs. However, the data is only available in web format and in aggregate (not by individual LSGU). [87] The impact of this commitment will depend on the increase in the number of municipalities that publish their budget information as open data and publish citizens’ budgets. The IRM recommends supporting LSGUs in adopting a unified format for citizens’ budgets, possibly by using the guidelines from this commitment.