Oct 7, 2009. - Milan Marković, Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, informed the Civic Initaitives (Građanske inicijative) association that their initiative to harmonize the provisions in the Law on Lottery and Games of Chance and the Law on Associations,

to allow for activities of the civil sector to be funded from those sources was submitted to the Ministry of Finance for review and eventual adoption of proposed solutions.

The Law on Associations stipulates that programmes of public interest will be financed from the Budget and provides a detailed list of fields and activities eligible for funding from respective Budget lines. Having in mind that the draft-Law on Lottery and Games of Chance states that the money collected through organization of games of chance will be used, in part, to finance various social and humanitarian programmes, Civic Initiatives proposed that it copies the list of activities recognized as programmes of public interest from the Law on Associations.

The association believes that such harmonisation of legislation would contribute greatly to a systemic solution for the problem of public financing for civil society organisations, with the aim to provide better conditions for social engagement of the civil sector. They say they were extremely satisfied with the fact that the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government acted in support of a proposal coming from the civil society.

“A systemic solution for the financing of associations from the State Budget, i.e. public sources of financing, including the funds collected through organization of games of chance, would regulate this matter with a contemporary approach, similar to good practices in the region and EU. It would be a major contribution to the creation of stimulating climate for further development of civil society and cooperation of public and non-governmental sectors”, say Civic Initiatives.