President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic penned an open letter to mothers of three and more children who are on hunger strike due to decrease in their reimbursements. He asked them to stop the hunger strike and start cooperating with the Government so that an urgent solution of a just and sustainable solution for their reimbursements can be found.
Vujanovic also invited the Government to pick up the pace and find a solution, and the Constitutional Court should make a statement on legality and compliance with Constitution of the Law on reimbursements and its amendments.
“I have said, many times, that reimbursements for mothers have been defined by law without prior study of their financial sustainability. This reimbursements was ment for over 21 000 users with a total budget of over 72 million EUR. That amount endangers these and other users of the budget. I have also said that there needs to be an adequate form of social protection so the mothers of three and more children do not become victims of this law”, Vujanovic said.
He said that after the Law was adopted he could not have influenced the process, because his only authority is to check for internal collisions of normative. The Parliament is solely responsible for the content of laws.
“I would like to invite the Government to pick up the pace and find a solution as soon as possible, in cooperation with mothers’ representatives and experts they assign. I also invite Constitutional Court to determine the legality of law and amendments pertaining to mothers of three and more children. Finally, I plead with mothers to stop the hunger strike for the sake of their health, and to seek solutions for their problems in the institutions”, the letter of the President reads.
Mothers have been protesting for 19 days in front of the Parliament of Montenegro because their reimbursements were decreased from 336 to 264 EUR, and 192 to 144 EUR.
