The Trustee for the information of public importance Mr. Rodoljub Sabic estimates that the current events, related to enormous encrease in the naturl gas price as well as to the problems concerning the organisation of Universiade in Belgrade, are another confirmation of the chronically inadequate attitude of the authorities towards public. According to the Trustee the unpreparadeness to make the work of the authorities at all levels as transparent as possible, to provide the maximum visibility of operations, especiallly when it comes to managing material and financial resoources, leaves the society without a control mechanism which has proved as very efficient in the democratic societies, thus causing the damage, not only of financial nature but it reflects at the reputation of the institutions and the state. Concerning all afore said the Trustee Rodoljub Sabic pointed out:
„It is obvious that the majority of information on the price and procurement model of natural gas facing now the public are not from yesterday, quite opposite, they have been present for a very long time now. However, our public has been, till recently, completely ignorant of them. Such attitude is completely unacceptable. It must be undeniable right of Serbian citizens to not only know what they are paying, to know what and why constitutes the price of natural gas, but get the right information which will disperse, or with appropriate consequences, confirm the doubts about the existence of missuses or corruption, occuring in relation to this. The more the subject of these operations is available for the public, the possibilities for such doubts to appear at all, and even more to be justifiable, are less.
The organization of the Belgrade Universiade is not a novelty either; it has lasted for three years now. Even though, there were some sporadic, excess news saying that the organization is not progressing as it should, the public was practically completely denied the information on cost of organization, on the budget for the Universiade. Then, suddenly, in order to prevent the scandal of international proportion to happen, the Government suspended the authorities of the management and took over the organization. Now the public is being informed that all suspicious contracts are under revision and the models have been found for spending much less money on certain things than originally planned, and that the final, considerably reduced budget will be known in two to three weeks. Numerous things are still unclear, much information is missing and we are yet to see whether anyone will bear the consequences for what has happened. Anyhow, I think that at least the budget, whose definition is announced by the government working group, and certainly the report on its commissioning later on, limitations and delays, must be available for the public without any conditions.
The problems concerning the availability of the two mentioned phenomena, are not some special exceptions, they are just a good illustration of the current situation. That is why the Government, at all its levels and in order to confirm the proclaimed orientation for struggle against misuses and corruption, must before all raise the securing of higher and ever increasing availability of information of public importance at the level of a principle. This principle must be valid in all cases, and especially when it comes to information on the conditions important for the life conditions of citizens or manifestations which are in the end financed by the money of the citizens. “
