The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection believes that the currently available budget projections for 2016 relating to the provision of funds for functioning of the institution of the Commissioner express obvious intent to make operations of this institution significantly difficult and to make them impossible for quite some time.

This is undoubtedly and best evidenced by the fact that the planned fund for salaries of employees at the Commissioner's Office is almost by 30% lower than the fund which was available to the Commissioner in 2015.

It is not quite clear who is behind this, since the Commissioner's associates received information that "the limit has been determined by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government" in their communication with the Ministry of Finance. But even if we leave aside the question whether either of these ministries has the right to radically worsen operating conditions of an independent institution without any consultations with the Commissioner, one thing is obvious – the planned funds are not sufficient even to cover salaries of the existing number of employees in the Commissioner's Office, which means that budget "makers" plan dismissals in the Office.

Such concept by the budget "makers" absolutely contradicts the reality. It is well known that the Commissioner's Office has anyway constantly had far less employees than planned (59%) and that it faces a vast, increasing number of requests for the protection of rights, which requires hiring of a certain number of associates instead of cutting down of the existing number.

Such concept by the budget "makers" absolutely contradicts a number of strategic documents passed by the Government and the Assembly (National Anti-Corruption Strategy, Public Administration Reform Strategy, Action Plan for Chapter 23 etc.), all of which without exception envisage strengthening of human resource capacities of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection.

The Commissioner believes that it is obvious that such budget planning is driven by dishonest motivation, to put it mildly. Regardless of that, he emphasizes that in addition to the fact that such planning seriously obstructs functioning of the institution of the Commissioner, the budget "makers" should also take into account that the purpose of the said and similar "fundamental" documents is certainly not, or at least should not be, (self)delusion.