The Ministry of Culture will pay for two publishing years at the rate of one

The Ministry of Culture of Serbia announced two days ago the Competition for the purchase of publications for libraries for the year 2025, with different conditions than before. There are two of them:

The budget is the same, the Cyrillic alphabet is new

The competition was not announced for editions published in one year, in the last year, as it has always been and as is the practice of all other competitions announced by the Ministry, but refers to two years: to 2024 and to 2025. Why and from where, it is not known.

The second concerns restrictions. for publishers who publish books in the Serbian language: the competition committee will evaluate only those books of theirs that are printed in Cyrillic. This means that it is not important for the Ministry and its commission to buy quality and important books for libraries, but Cyrillic ones. It also further means that, in the opinion of the Ministry, the Latin alphabet is not desirable in libraries, and that, under the pretext of the struggle for a national script, books become another tool for strengthening nationalism.

This second change in the latest Tender for redemption has been expected ever since it was announced Minister Nikola Selaković announced in September at the Vukovi Sabor in Tršić as one of the three corals to save the Cyrillic alphabet, This second one, about combining two years into one book purchase - it is not.

ENROLLMENT

The Association of Professional Publishers of Serbia (UPIS) was the first to react. In a statement signed by the Management Board, they announce that they "will not accept this kind of competition" and that they will "submit a request to the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of the competition provisions".

They state that the competition conditions have "deteriorated significantly", which primarily refers to the Ministry's decision to combine the two publishing years.

"It is not clear why they did that, unless they wanted to pay for two of our annual productions with the budget intended for one year," Zoran Hamović, president of UPIS and director of the Clio publishing house, told the "Vremena" portal.

He reminds that before the Book Fair, all the publishers had a meeting with Minister Selaković regarding the improvement of the conditions of the competition, that their objections then mainly related to the non-transparency and conditions of the competition for the purchase of books, as well as the amount of the budget that the Ministry determines for this purpose, but that "they were not even informed whether their requests were adopted".

"Instead of notification of improvements, the practice of non-transparent work continued, and tender conditions significantly worsened," says Hamović.

Discrimination

In addition, the latest competition "unconstitutionally limits the level of civil liberties and equality reached by the Constitution the use of the Latin alphabet, which we consider a serious violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia", reads the press release of UPIS.

"The Constitution states that the Cyrillic alphabet is the official alphabet, and that the Latin alphabet can also be used," explains Hamović.

"This competition makes it impossible for us and that's why it's discriminatory." No publisher has anything against the Ministry's intention to preserve and promote the Cyrillic alphabet, but not by taking away someone's right to use the alphabet they want."

Hamović announces that at the extraordinary session of UPIS, he will decide on further steps, that is, on the boycott of this competition.

Bora Babić, director and editor-in-chief of "Academic Book" from Novi Sad, believes that "the boycott would make sense" regardless of the fact that those who don't mind the new conditions of the competition "maybe more". He also recalls the Government's decision from February 6 to reduce the "already small budget" in order to have more money "in a reserve for which it is not known what it will be used for". After this contest, "everything seems as if the state is slowly shutting down its publishing," he says.

Humiliating competition

"Booka" will not compete for the latest purchase of books either. Ivan Bevc, the director of this publisher, tells the "Vremena" portal that "years ago, this competition was humiliating", and that now, by combining two years into one purchase, "it is a direct humiliation".

He states that "the budget for the purchase has been the same since 2010, although the cost of producing the book has increased by 80 to 90 percent in the meantime."

"The money that 'Booka' receives from the Ministry of Culture based on the purchase of books is only one percent of our annual turnover. That amount of money, which we will give up, will not endanger our business". He also adds that "publishers who say that they should participate in the competition for the sake of libraries so as not to jeopardize the restoration of their fund, are wrong." In this case, the libraries are not endangered by the publishers, but by the Ministry".

UPIS calls on the "Ministry of Culture to urgently suspend the competition, change the conditions and ensure a more transparent process of selecting books for purchase, which will be in accordance with the required changes that have been exhaustively stated and repeatedly submitted to the minister and his associates".

As we learn, other publishing associations will join them next week.