The review shall provide answers on the manner of administrating the State Archives in the past period
On 22 December 2024, Aleksandar Simonov from the political party "Levica" held a press conference regarding the situation in the State Archives and the building that houses three institutions, the State Archives, the Archaeological Museum and the Constitutional Court. In the interest of the truth, we are reacting because Simonov tendentiously withheld information, that is to say, he shaped them in favor of daily political needs.
The current administration of the State Archives has been at the head of the institution for four months and has inherited challenges, and, in partnership with the Government, it is trying to find opportunities for immediate resolution of the encountered situations. Steps are currently being taken that the public will be informed about.
Secondly, immediately after the appointment of the new management, a request was sent to the State Institute for Revision, for conducting a full revision of the work in the institution during the past period, in the context of the information for the activities taken in 2019. The press-conference used a tactics of overstating, and it was stated that "documents and books are kept at the parking lot, and destroyed at several locations inside", which we would like to deny. This manipulation is aimed at humiliating the skilled Archives professionals, who know the best that the documents should not be kept on a parking lot. The footage show a place for temporary storing the paper waste from the ongoing activities, and it is a space which is not used only by the State Archives.
Regarding the allegations about the printing house selected for printing materials for the needs of the State Archives, we inform you that the new management with the competent Department for Public Procurement conducted a tender procedure in accordance with the law, respecting all criteria. The State Audit Office will give its opinion about the tender procedures carried out before August 2024. For proper information of Aleksandar Simonov and the public, the State Archives is not printing "documents" in a printshop, but orders printing of publications, advertising materials and everything that is necessary for proper functioning just as many other institutions. Namely, the archival practice according to the Archives Act does not foresee printing services. Neither the Rulebook on Systematization nor the Rulebook on Internal Organization do not foresee an independent organizational unit - printshop.
Hence, it is our opinion that the the press-conference stated unsupported claims, half-truths and scattered information in the form of "flying feathers", at the same time withholding the fact that the institution has a new management, which is not a continuance of the previous ones. The competent institutions will give their opinion regarding the lawfulness of the management of the State Archives in the past years. If Simonov wanted to wanted to get informed about the things he was talking about, and the information which he receives, there are appropriate procedures.
The respect towards the citizens results from the correct informing and appropriate knowledge of the archival practice regarding the State Archives.