The state, as the largest employer in Serbia, has for years applied an unfair, but also completely absurd, system of rewarding state officials, according to which, for example, an undersecretary-general of the Serbian government may have twice the salary than someone to help. This civil servant gains the rank of president of the state and by several tens of thousands of dinars “sews” both the prime minister and the president of the parliament, but also ministers and deputies.
Secretary as President
These illogics were the focus of the Serbian MPs, who discussed the postponement of the introduction of salary grades to January 1, 2022. The Speaker of the Parliament, Ivica Dacic, was especially forceful and convinced Minister Marija Obradovic that correct the unfair remuneration. Kurir’s research has shown that there are strange examples in almost every state institution.
photo: Ana Paunković
In the Serbian Government, this diversity of salaries is perhaps the most striking, because the Prime Minister, with 128,000, and the ministers, with about 100,000 dinars, are skipped by the Secretaries of State, whose salaries reach up to 136,000, and especially the deputy ministers, who receive up to 143,000 dinars. The situation in the General Secretariat of the Government is also absurd, since the Secretary General earns 85,000 dinars, his deputy 130,000 dinars and his assistants up to 155,000 dinars. The fact that the salary of this assistant is equal to the salary of the president of the state, who receives 157,262 dinars a month, shows how wrong the system is.
The highest paid independent agencies
The situation is similar in the Serbian Parliament, since the salary of the President of the Parliament is only the fifth consecutive within this institution. Dacic revealed to us that as the first man of the highest legislative body, he has a salary of 115,634 dinars, and that assistants to the General Secretary of the Assembly receive 147,534 dinars.
– I’m not asking for a higher salary, but it’s crazy. And why is this so? Because more than 10 years ago the issue and the dynamics of salary growth were separated for various categories, so the salaries of deputies, presidents and governments were frozen, and it reached the point that the chief of staff has a salary higher than the president, vice minister than minister. I am not in favor of increasing wages, but I believe that these illogical matters must be put in order. In addition to the salaries of the independent bodies elected by the Assembly, the President of Parliament explains.
By the way, the leaders of the independent and regulatory bodies have much higher salaries than the highest state officials. Thus, the commissioner for the protection of equality earns 205,000, the president of the Fiscal Council 214,091, the president of the State Audit Institution 267,394 and the protector of citizens up to 340,272 dinars.
Dragan Dobrašinović
Completely useless
photo: Beta / Milan Obradović
The chairman of the Coalition for the Supervision of Public Finance, Dragan Dobrašinović, believes that the salary system in the civil service is meaningless and that it should be changed as soon as possible:
– The president of the state should have by far the highest salary, considering the importance of the institution and the direct election. Why wouldn’t it have 500,000? According to the hierarchy, the Prime Minister, the ministers, the President of the Assembly and the deputies would follow. Their salaries must be within the range of those holding positions in independent bodies or judicial bodies. The secretary of state should not have even 70 percent of the deputy’s salary. It is utter absurdity and nonsense for a secretary, assistant, or deputy secretary of state to have a higher salary than the officials who have the most responsibility in the state.
Earnings in the neighborhood
Vucic has the lowest salary in the region
photo: print screen
At 1,342 euros, the president of Serbia has the lowest salary of all the heads of state in the region. The highest paid are the President of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, and his Croatian colleague, Zoran Milanović, who earn around 3,300 euros a month.
The members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina earn on average twice as much as Vučić, about 3,000 euros. Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic receives around 2,500 euros.
