No. 07-00-143/2015-02 date: 24 July 2015

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure regarding the complaint lodged by a political party, its Municipal Committee in S, against D.S, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy. The complaint was lodged in connection with the statements made by D.S. on … 2015 during his appearance on the RTV Vranje show “The Eye of the South”. In the course of the procedure it was established that, when asked by the journalist whether the employees in the area of P. District were employed on the basis of “join the … Party” principle, D.S, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy, said, inter alia: “If you are asking me whether in the previous period we have employed several people or a dozen, fifteen or twenty people who are members of the … Party, yes, we have. And now I am telling you openly, we have and we will. And we will do so this year as well, because those same people in the past seven or eight years didn’t have a chance to raise their heads. Well, we are now in a position to change things up a bit and that’s what we’re going to do”. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality determined that the statement about future employments of members of the … Party, who had been unable to find a job in the past years due to their party affiliation, represents undue favouring of members of the ruling party and causes a sense of fear and anxiety among other citizens who are members of other political parties or do not belong to any party. For this reason the opinion was issued that the statement made by D.S, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy, to the RTV Vranje about the party-membership-based employment during his appearance on the show “The Eye of the South” broadcast on … 2015 represents a violation of the provisions of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. D.S. was recommended not to favour the members of his political party in his statements and public appearances, but to act in a manner which contributes to respecting the principles of equality and prohibition of discrimination in all spheres of social life, and to ensure that he does not violate anti-discrimination legal provisions in the course of his regular affairs and activities.