As the elections are approaching, it seems that the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, is becoming increasingly generous in handing out taxpayers’ money left and right, even though according to the Constitution and the relevant laws, he is not allowed to do so.
After it was announced that on November 30, all pensioners in Serbia would receive 20,000 dinars as one-time financial aid from the state budget, Vučić has confirmed that the financial aid will be given to people on welfare with each welfare recipient getting 10,000 dinars as of December 1st.
Vučić told TV Prva that there are 170,000 welfare recipients and announced that another 51,000 people will receive 10,000 dinars each, including “blind people, demented people and elderly people with incurable diseases”, as well as that students will have a 20 percent discount on train tickets and a 10 percent discount on plane tickets.
The announcement of financial aid to the most vulnerable society groups, accidentally or intentionally, comes after the CRTA organization recently published its research titled “Network of Political Pressures in Social Care Institutions”.
“Electoral corruption and clientelism are also affecting institutions that at first glance, seem less lucrative for political parties, such as the social protection system, which, despite the scarce resources at their disposal, are fertile ground for political parties. By “buying” the votes of the most existentially jeopardized citizens, political parties are abusing the situation where half a million people in Serbia live in absolute poverty, 700,000 are in the social care system and 176,000 of them are social welfare recipients,” the research says and adds:
“Political pressures, which have been commonplace for many years, intensify in the pre-election period and are especially unscrupulous towards citizens who depend the most on state aid.”
According to the research, in an environment in which state institutions are collapsing and state and public resources are recklessly used to promote political interests, the most vulnerable categories of the population are treated as an obedient army of voters.
CRTA’s research shows that social welfare institutions have a clientelistic hierarchy where several key actors play specific roles.
“Directors of social care institutions are the main link between a political party and the institution and they develop their own clientelistic network, exert pressure on employees and enable the misuse of public resources,” said Marija Stefanović, qualitative research manager at CRTA, who, along with Danilo Vuković, a law professor, has authored the report.
(Vreme, 29.10.2023)
https://www.vreme.com/vesti/vucic-obecao-novac-onima-koje-ucenjuju-za-glasove/