With the recommendation of the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption and subsequently a decision made by the director of the MKC, Arben Shaqiri, the 30 individuals regularly employed under a work contract find themselves unemployed, hindering the continued operation of the Youth Cultural Center Skopje. The Union of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia (SKRM) has responded to this situation.

According to the union representatives, certain legal provisions have either been overlooked or misinterpreted, leading to a recommendation that diverges from what they believe is the correct interpretation.

“According to the Law on budgets, the budget of individual users comprises a basic budget, a budget of donations, a budget of loans, and a budget of self-financing activities. As per the Law on accounting for budgets and budget users, the recognition of income and other inflows, expenditures and other outflows contained in the general ledger of budgets and budget users is carried out according to the accounting principle of monetary expression. According to Article 18, paragraph 4 of the aforementioned law, revenues from Article 18, paragraph 1 of the Law on accounting for budgets and budget users consist of revenues realized by types and sources in accordance with the Law on budgets and the Rulebook on the classification of revenues, as well as revenues from self-financing activities (own income), income from rents and leases, income from donations, income from credits and loans, and non-tax income,” announced SKRM.

They argue that these legal provisions make a clear distinction between allocated budget funds and revenues from self-financing activities (own revenues) that the institution can freely utilize for the purpose of conducting its activities and generating additional income, even after the decision to call for elections. They assert that this approach has also been adopted by the MCC, which hired individuals under work contracts for the functioning of the Millennium Cinema, the Planetarium, the Buffet, and similar facilities.

“Therefore, we believe that the prohibition on the payment of other expenses applies exclusively to budget funds and not to the utilization of funds designated as own income,” emphasizes the Syndicate.