President of the Court of Audit Jana Ahčin in the letter of protest signed by both Deputy Presidents and all Supreme State Auditors as well as Secretary of the Court of Audit pointed out inadmissible interference of legislative and executive branches with independence and autonomy of the Court of Audit. The management of the institution strongly opposes to the manner of ranking the functionaries of the Court of Audit into the amended payment act, since new payment grades are not comparable to similar independent state bodies and institutions. Such an improper arrangement can again cause inappropriate evaluation of work of all other employees at the Court of Audit.
Above all, the Court of Audit drew attention to the recent unannounced cuts of budgetary funds that were carried out on Wednesday, 20 November 2024, by the Government through coalition in the National Assembly without prior consultations. The Government informed the Court of Audit about the budgetary cuts in the amount of EUR 3.86 million on the same day when the Deputies approved the budgets for 2025 and 2026. The management of the Court of Audit emphasises that the first budget was agreed with the Ministry of Finance and later, without any negotiations, 30 per cents of the budgetary funds were withdrawn from the Court of Audit.
The Court of Audit is financially independent body according to the Constitution, thus it believes that such actions of the Government and governmental coalition are inadmissible and a serious interference with the independence and autonomy of the Court of Audit as supreme audit institution.
The Court of Audit in its letter of protest calls on the Government and the National Assembly to consider constitutional and legal position as well as the independence of the Court of Audit when adopting decisions.