The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine refuses to continue developing the draft Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On Approval of the Procedure for Conducting a Competition to Determine Programs, Projects (Measures) Developed by Public Organizations, for the Implementation of Which State Financial Support Will Be Provided."
The ministry claims that the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine does not find in the Budget Code of Ukraine the right of the CMU to adopt this kind of act.
The Ministry of Justice does not agree with the right of the Cabinet of Ministers to organize the effective use of budget funds and eliminate conflicts of interest among fund managers during the distribution of finances.
Let us recall that in 2010, the State Budget of Ukraine provided 187.5 million UAH for financial support of certain civil society organizations. Only one third of these funds was distributed on transparent competitive principles. The rest of the amount was distributed non-transparently among a narrow circle of organizations. As a result, about 20 of the same public organizations of persons with disabilities receive state financial support year after year in the amount of 30 million 897.5 thousand UAH through the Ministry of Social Policy. The rest of the organizations of persons with disabilities effectively have no access to state support.
Until now, the Ministry of Justice has never once stated that the Cabinet of Ministers does not have the right to approve this draft Resolution. Although work on the document has been underway for almost a year. The first instruction on developing effective and transparent mechanisms of state support for public organizations was signed by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov back on April 3, 2010 (No. 17406/1/1-10).
According to experts of the Ukrainian Independent Center for Political Research, the Budget Code of Ukraine provides for the authority of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to approve both the procedure for distributing funds managed by other executive bodies and the criteria for determining the recipients of these funds.
The Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine, as well as the Ministry of Finance, agreed to support transparent mechanisms for supporting public organizations. Although they had previously expressed remarks on some important provisions of the draft Resolution.
It is important that the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is committed to continuing work on the draft Resolution.
We call on all active public organizations to defend their right to receive fair state grants! To do this, we ask you to send letters to the Cabinet of Ministers with a request to support the draft Resolution of the CMU on competitions of projects for public organizations.
Letters must be sent by March 9, 2011 by fax to the number (044) 254 05 84 or to the address of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (01008, Kyiv, Hrushevskoho St., 12/2).