Govt. has budget back-up plan

The debate on the budget has finally begun, though the government has not discounted the possibility of temporary financing, as parliament is pushed for time. Speaking to B92, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said that adoption of the 2009 budget depended on MPs. Govt. has budget back-up plan However, he did not rule out the possibility of resorting to temporary financing, though adding that it would not be of a long-term nature. “I want to believe that we’re heading in the right direction and I just hope that MPs will focus on the job at hand—and I’m talking about all MPs, I’m not singling out MP clubs, the ruling coalition or the opposition. Should we still fail to carry it off, then we’ll automatically shift to so-called temporary financing, so that’s not something that we expressly want, rather it’s something that happens automatically. That means, when you enter a year where you don’t have a budget, you stay in line with the previous year,“ he said. In such an event, he was quick to point out, temporary financing would only apply for a few days or weeks, at the most. In parliament meanwhile, as the budget debate enters its second day, MPs are once again straying from the agenda. Serb Radical Party MPs called on the speaker to schedule a date for the vote of no confidence, that has already been the subject of a parliamentary debate. Opposition MPs are accusing the governing coalition of deliberately postponing the adoption of the 2009 budget in order to apply temporary financing. On the first day of the debate that ran late into the night, MPs spent their time citing breaches of the Code of Procedure despite the fact that 500 amendment are awaiting discussion. By law the budget should have been adopted a week ago, though it was actually the government, as opposed to parliament, that overshot this deadline. However, Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic stresses that the government does have a back-up plan if the worst comes to the worst. “The temporary financing budget has been prepared so that we have two draft budgets at the moment for every eventuality. Because temporary financing is meant to cover the first quarter or just a month, depending on when the budget is adopted, it’s not a time for any major capital outlays,“ said Dragutinovic. “In any case, the only difference is that there’ll be fewer subsidies and less capital outlays than envisaged by this budget. Everything else guaranteed by law will remain unchanged,“ she said. Mirko Cvetkovic (FoNet, archive)

Govt. has budget back-up plan

However, he did not rule out the possibility of resorting to temporary financing, though adding that it would not be of a long-term nature.

“I want to believe that we’re heading in the right direction and I just hope that MPs will focus on the job at hand—and I’m talking about all MPs, I’m not singling out MP clubs, the ruling coalition or the opposition. Should we still fail to carry it off, then we’ll automatically shift to so-called temporary financing, so that’s not something that we expressly want, rather it’s something that happens automatically. That means, when you enter a year where you don’t have a budget, you stay in line with the previous year,“ he said.

In such an event, he was quick to point out, temporary financing would only apply for a few days or weeks, at the most.

In parliament meanwhile, as the budget debate enters its second day, MPs are once again straying from the agenda.

Serb Radical Party MPs called on the speaker to schedule a date for the vote of no confidence, that has already been the subject of a parliamentary debate. Opposition MPs are accusing the governing coalition of deliberately postponing the adoption of the 2009 budget in order to apply temporary financing.

On the first day of the debate that ran late into the night, MPs spent their time citing breaches of the Code of Procedure despite the fact that 500 amendment are awaiting discussion.

By law the budget should have been adopted a week ago, though it was actually the government, as opposed to parliament, that overshot this deadline.

However, Finance Minister Diana Dragutinović stresses that the government does have a back-up plan if the worst comes to the worst.

“The temporary financing budget has been prepared so that we have two draft budgets at the moment for every eventuality. Because temporary financing is meant to cover the first quarter or just a month, depending on when the budget is adopted, it’s not a time for any major capital outlays,“ said Dragutinović.

“In any case, the only difference is that there’ll be fewer subsidies and less capital outlays than envisaged by this budget. Everything else guaranteed by law will remain unchanged,“ she said.