Parliamentary committee approves pay raise for president and MPs

The Committee of the Parliament of Serbia for Administrative-Budget and Mandate-Immunity Affairs has adopted a decision on increasing the base for the calculation and payment of salaries for the president of the republic, MPs and appointed persons in the services of the president of the republic and the parliament by 12.5 percent.

This was done in accordance with the previously provided funds in the state budget for increasing the salary base for public administration as of January.

Previously, the members of the Committee, also by majority vote, responded positively to the request of Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, Jelena Begovic, to obtain an opinion on the performance of another job, i.e. a scientific advisor at the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Belgrade.

MP of the opposition parliamentary group United Janko Veselinovic said that a minister should not perform another function, and asked if a minister would be a minister in the afternoon or on weekends or if he/she would do something else.

He said that the Begovic case „is neither the first nor the most drastic“, and he recalled that other ministers were also allowed to do additional jobs.

He stated that ministers in Serbia, compared to the region and Europe, had low salaries, and he criticized such practices and expressed doubt that „ministers do not live on their salaries“.

MP from the Socialist Movement Djordje Komlenski called Veselinovic’s views demagogy, and he pointed out that the parliamentary administrative committee was not a place for „curing frustrations“.

MP of the People’s Party Miroslav Aleksic warned that the directors of companies and various agencies and independent bodies had two or three times higher salaries than ministers, MPs and the president of Serbia, and he called that demagogy.

Izvor: Beta

Foto: BIZLife