Despite the establishment of new anti-corruption institutions and intensive legislative activity, Montenegro has not significantly advanced towards meeting the EU’s political criteria and rule of law standards.
Reform of the judiciary is ongoing, but problems identified at the outset, including accountability, independence and impartiality, remain a challenge. The key issues, such as the recruitment and promotion of prosecutors and judges, the transparency of how their performance is evaluated, ethical and disciplinary accountability, criminal liability and the rationalisation of the judiciary network, have still not been adequately addressed.
This report delivers these and other findings from the monitoring of rule of law in Montenegro, including the work of the Agency for Anti-Corruption, fight against organised crime, implementation of prosecutorial investigation, work of the Special Prosecution in the cases of misuse of public resources, vote buying and other breaches of the law.
This national study is produced within the framework of the Monitoring and Evaluation of the Rule of Law in Western Balkans (MERLIN WB) project, supported through the Think and Link Regional Policy Programme of the European Fund for the Balkans. The project is implemented by the European Policy Institute in Skopje, with Institute Alternative in Podgorica and the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy as regional partners.
