At the sitting held on 8 November, the members of the Committee on Science and Technological Development considered the Information on the upcoming 2011 census of population, households and dwellings.

Addressing the Committee, Dragan Vukmirovic, Director of the Republican Statistical Office, stressed that the Office had prepared all the activities (organisational and methodological) in line with the Census Law. However, the Office came against two problems i.e. lack of funds for the 2010 activities the census in Kosovo-Metohija. Even though the Law envisaged the financing of census activities in 2010, the Office received no funds as that they had not been planned by the budget drafted in 2009. The Ministry of Finance assured the Office that the funds necessary for the 2011 census would be planned by next year’s budget. Vukmirovic added that due to the lack of funds the Office had to forego the ancillary census material. Also, the Office urgently needs funds by the end of the year to commence a marketing campaign and the Office would do all in its power to overcome these problems so that Serbia would not be the only European country without a census. The second problem the Office has to tackle is the issue of census on the territory of Kosovo-Metohija. Under the Law the issue does not fall into the purview of the Office but the Ministry on Kosovo-Metohija which has so far not responded to any of the Office’s memos on the issue. Vukmirovic added that all the census trials have been carried out so far and everything is methodologically ready. A special trial census of the Roma population has also been carried out. In addition, the census cost per capita is about 5 USD, which would make the census in Serbia one of the least expensive in the region.

Debating the item on the agenda, the Committee members remarked on the funds necessary to carry out the census, asked questions about the census of the population on the territory of Kosovo-Metohija, applauded the census of the Roma population and showed interest in the census of refugees and internally displaced persons. It was also mentioned that the Office has no information on whether this year’s budget rebalance plans the allocation of funds for census activities implemented this year, or if UNMIK would carry out a census in Kosovo-Metohija in 2011. It was added that displaced persons would also be covered by the census and that the fact would not affect their loss of rights in the countries of origin considering that personal data acquired through a census are confidential and used solely for the purpose of the census.

Following the debate, the Committee members agreed to hold a Committee sitting to which they would invite representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Science and Technological Development, as well as representatives of the Republican Statistical Office to discuss this year’s budget rebalance and next year’s budget so as to increase the funds allocated to the scientific sector and Statistical Office for the purpose of the 2011 census.

The sitting was chaired by Srboljub Zivanovic, Committee Chairman.