Source: Blic
Comments
Rodoljub Šabic, Commissioner for Information
The media have recently given much coverage to the criticism of the Energy Observer , a web site specialized for energy issues, addressed to the Energy Agency and the Energy Efficiency Agency. Claiming that the Agencies did not justify their existence, that no new generation plants had been built for decades, that there was a threat of crisis and restrictions, the Energy Observer called on the management of the two Agencies to resign. The attention of the media was attracted by the criticisms (which are yet to be verified by experts in the field) and the calls for resigns, but the least attention was given to what deserved to be criticized most - the calls for the Agencies to inform the public how much money they have spent since their foundation, i.e. what is their annual cost.This call deserves attention because it warns about something much more important than the energy case . It warns against the fact that accountability to the public is nothing to marvel at, but a normal thing. Even under our country's Law on Free Access to Information, information on disposal of public resources should, even without a request, be made public and published on the Internet. And yet, many seem to fail to understand this. This needs to be changed.
In every regulated society, the duty of those who spend public money to present their accounts to those who provide this money is undisputed. It has to become undisputed in our country as well. And data on the budget deficit and the depletion of available resources which could be sold to recover the damage seem to indicate it is the high time for that.
