A proposal to abolish party subsidies in Serbia has triggered a fierce political dispute. The idea was put forward by Dr. Dragan Milić, chairman of the Movement for the Decentralization of Serbia (PODES), who proposes redirecting funding for political parties toward the treatment of seriously ill children.
Milić claims that Serbian MPs receive between €6,000 and €7,000 a month. According to him, this means that one member of parliament brings their party around €100,000 a year.
“And these funds—more than €20 million a year, which used to go to political parties—should be redirected toward treating children suffering from the most serious illnesses, so that children no longer have to be treated through SMS donations. Serbia must be a state of its citizens, not a party state,” Milić says.He called on the student movement to use its parliamentary majority and abolish state funding for political parties. According to his calculations, the students' party and the Serbian Progressive Party would receive around €1 million a month, or more than €10 million a year.
Opposition Sees Risk to Political Pluralism
The proposal drew negative reactions from opposition representatives. Some of them described it as “death for the political system.”
Pavle Grbović, leader of the Movement of Free Citizens, called the idea “bad populism.” According to him, abolishing public funding would mean that mainly the wealthy, or parties defending the interests of affluent groups, could participate in politics.
“The idea of abolishing public funding for parliamentary parties and other participants is downright populist. This would mean that politics could be pursued only by the wealthy or by those who represent the interests of the rich well enough,” Grbović says.He also warned that in a country with proven authoritarian tendencies, such a change could facilitate the establishment of a one-party system. In his words, the state subsidy is one of the mechanisms that enable various political forces to participate in public life.
Possible Compromise Under Discussion
According to independent analysts quoted by Blic, the proposal should not be automatically rejected. They believe it may be possible to find a balanced model under which some of the funds would remain available for the parties' operations, while another portion would be used for activities in the public interest.
For now, the idea is a political call rather than an announced decision to change the funding rules. The dispute raises the question of whether budget funds for political parties should be abolished entirely or redistributed in a new way, including toward the treatment of children with serious illnesses.
Sources: blic.rs