Insider: Still no control over funds allocated for Kosovo

BELGRADE The Serbian government spends about EUR 500mn from the state budget every year on Kosovo, according to a Policy Center’s research. The latest data show it is necessary to inform citizens about ways their money is spent, it was said at a debate dubbed Kosovo and Media. Insider: Still no control over funds allocated for Kosovo Participants of the debate agreed that criticism of B92’s investigative program Insider and its latest series dubbed Patriotic Pillage came down to accusations of lack of patriotism but that nobody had denied any information revealed in the series. Field research, informal talks with several dozens of people, numerous interviews, analyses and review of numerous documents obtained in accordance with the Law on Availability of Information and other preparations for the Insider series took an entire year. The whole Insider team worked on the latest series. One of Insider reporters Ivan Angelovski said at the debate that nobody could deny anything since every piece of information was backed by serious evidence. According to him, charges that were announced by some individuals have never been filed. On the other hand, the Insider team has filed charges over articles in which B92 reporters are called traitors and George Soros and Hashim Thaci’s mercenaries. “We still have not received an answer to the question we have been asking everyone who mention us in a negative context. We have not received an answer to the question what is being defended by questioning Insider, are they defending the pillage we proved, are they defending the uncontrolled spending of the money that has been going on for 12 years now or are they defending individuals we named in our series,” Angelovski pointed out. Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) representatives agree that there is a “systematic dishonesty of the state” when it comes to the issue of Kosovo, that there is no social dialogue and that Serbian citizens do not know enough. According to NUNS representatives, one of the examples for this is the fact that there are fewer Serbs living in northern Kosovo than south of the Ibar River but that nobody really knows that is going on in the south. “The spending of money represents spending of the truth, so to speak because the truth about Kosovo is not northern Kosovo,” NUNS President Vukasin Obradovic stressed. NUNS Deputy President Dragan Janjic said that real information about the spending of funds in Kosovo was being kept from the public. “The thing is that we have a situation here in which the state is not being honest with the public when it comes to Kosovo. We have a systematic dishonesty, this is not just one moment, it has lasted for very long,” he noted. Other participants of the debate pointed out that media should pay more attention to reports about sensitive Kosovo issues because it was the only way to make the authorities act more responsibly, both when it comes to the Kosovo Serbs and the money of all citizens. “Then we come to the essential thing, we come to dysfunctionality of the state which is not functional and rational. And when we talk about national interests, and we are not talking about those pathetic, theatrical interests here, we come to the point that the state does not know what to do so the people, Serbs they official and unofficially care about, and I believe they do, would stay in Kosovo, how to keep them there,” Velimir Curgus stressed. Insider revealed numerous evidence about the lack of control of the budget funds intended for Serbs in Kosovo in the first five episodes of the Patriotic Pillage series. According to Insider’s information, large numbers of the poorest Serbs still live in difficult conditions despite the fact that Serbia has allocated EUR 2.8bn from the state budget in the last 12 years, which is about EUR 650,000 a day. The last Patriotic Pillage episode will be aired at 21:00 CET on Monday on B92 TV. Participants of the Kosovo and Media debate are seen at Belgrade's Media Center B92

Insider: Still no control over funds allocated for Kosovo

Participants of the debate agreed that criticism of B92’s investigative program Insider and its latest series dubbed Patriotic Pillage came down to accusations of lack of patriotism but that nobody had denied any information revealed in the series.

Field research, informal talks with several dozens of people, numerous interviews, analyses and review of numerous documents obtained in accordance with the Law on Availability of Information and other preparations for the Insider series took an entire year. The whole Insider team worked on the latest series.

One of Insider reporters Ivan Angelovski said at the debate that nobody could deny anything since every piece of information was backed by serious evidence. According to him, charges that were announced by some individuals have never been filed.

On the other hand, the Insider team has filed charges over articles in which B92 reporters are called traitors and George Soros and Hashim Thaci’s mercenaries.

“We still have not received an answer to the question we have been asking everyone who mention us in a negative context. We have not received an answer to the question what is being defended by questioning Insider, are they defending the pillage we proved, are they defending the uncontrolled spending of the money that has been going on for 12 years now or are they defending individuals we named in our series,” Angelovski pointed out.

Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) representatives agree that there is a “systematic dishonesty of the state” when it comes to the issue of Kosovo, that there is no social dialogue and that Serbian citizens do not know enough.

According to NUNS representatives, one of the examples for this is the fact that there are fewer Serbs living in northern Kosovo than south of the Ibar River but that nobody really knows that is going on in the south.

“The spending of money represents spending of the truth, so to speak because the truth about Kosovo is not northern Kosovo,” NUNS President Vukašin Obradović stressed.

NUNS Deputy President Dragan Janjić said that real information about the spending of funds in Kosovo was being kept from the public.

“The thing is that we have a situation here in which the state is not being honest with the public when it comes to Kosovo. We have a systematic dishonesty, this is not just one moment, it has lasted for very long,” he noted.

Other participants of the debate pointed out that media should pay more attention to reports about sensitive Kosovo issues because it was the only way to make the authorities act more responsibly, both when it comes to the Kosovo Serbs and the money of all citizens.

“Then we come to the essential thing, we come to dysfunctionality of the state which is not functional and rational. And when we talk about national interests, and we are not talking about those pathetic, theatrical interests here, we come to the point that the state does not know what to do so the people, Serbs they official and unofficially care about, and I believe they do, would stay in Kosovo, how to keep them there,” Velimir Ćurgus stressed.

Insider revealed numerous evidence about the lack of control of the budget funds intended for Serbs in Kosovo in the first five episodes of the Patriotic Pillage series.

According to Insider’s information, large numbers of the poorest Serbs still live in difficult conditions despite the fact that Serbia has allocated EUR 2.8bn from the state budget in the last 12 years, which is about EUR 650,000 a day. The last Patriotic Pillage episode will be aired at 21:00 CET on Monday on B92 TV.