Source: Blic
Good news is that the Government has included the right of free access to information in the skills upgrading program for civil servants in 2007. Namely, problems in the exercise of freedom of information are not caused only by the illegitimate interests and needs of groups and individuals to have “discretion', but, to a no lesser extent, by the lack of awareness of their new rights among the citizens and their unfamiliarity with the procedure, all of which should urge the government to take a more responsible approach to the public. It is now almost two years since the Commissioner for Information launched an initiative to include the right of free access to information in the staff training programs of public authorities. The Commissioner emphasized this problem in all three reports presented to the Parliament. However, all these efforts have been futile until now.That the Government has adopted such a program is certainly commendable. But the damage caused by two and a half years of lost opportunities is not easy to make up for. Information on public affairs is still being denied to the public in inadmissible ways and for inadmissible reasons. It is therefore necessary, without further delays, to enhance the skills of civil servants in implementing the Law on Free Access to Information. Not because this is required by the EU, IMF, World Bank, GRECO..., but because these steps are indispensable if transition is to have a normal course and if corruption is to be combated in a consistent manner.
Mr. Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance
