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Committee for Anticorruption: Cure or Placebo?

Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Montenegro, made in May 2012, have envisaged the establishment of the Committee for Anticorruption, as a permanent working body. The competences of the new Committee include the monitoring and analysis of the work of state authorities, institutions, organizations and bodies engaged in the fight against corruption and organized crime, as well as the consideration of issues and problems arising from the implementation of laws, strategies and action plans in the field and proposing the measures for their improvement. Furthermore, the Committee is also in charge of considering petitions and its referral to the competent authorities.

Strengthening the Parliament’s role and more efficient fight against corruption and organized crime are among the key challenges that Montenegro has been confronted with in the accession process into the EU. Thus, the establishment of the Committee represents a chance for making a comprehensive progress in the required reforms. However, in order for it to efficiently use its competences and to overcome the challenges that may arise in its work, the Committee for Anticorruption needs to define the directions of its work and the relationship with other Committees and anticorruption bodies.

The objective of this paper is to pinpoint possible dilemmas in the work of the new Committee, as well as to present desirable interpretation of its competences aimed at strengthening the parliamentary role in the fight against corruption and organized crime.

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Press release: The Parliament Should Provide Access to Draft Negotiating Positions to all Interested Committees

The Parliament of Montenegro won’t be able to fundamentally contribute to progress in the negotiations with consideration of the draft negotiating positions solely on the sessions of the Committee for European Integration, closed for the public.

The Committee for European Integration will meet on 19 February, on session closed for the public, to consider a draft negotiating position on Chapter 26 – Education and Culture. It will be the first draft negotiating position discussed in the Parliament. Due to post-election dynamics, Chapter 25 – Science and Research was opened and provisionally closed without involvement of the Parliament during the preparation of the negotiating position.

The Government, following the practice of countries that have been so far negotiating for membership in the European Union, will not disclosed for the public and interested parties the content of the negotiating positions. However, the Parliament, opting for a more functional model for consideration of these documents, can itself provide a more active role and, thus, better control of the negotiation process. Specifically, the Committee for European Integration is excluded from the review process of harmonization of legislation. The parliamentary working bodies that are specialized in those specific areas of the negotiating chapters check compliance of the draft laws with EU acquis. Therefore, discussion on the draft negotiating positions in the Committee for European Integration will be deprived of the debate on substantive issues relevant to the course of negotiations. Nevertheless, it appears as the optimal model according to which the negotiating positions will be discussed at the joint sessions of the “parent” committees and the Committee for European Integration. To establish this model there are no formal obstacles in the Rules of the Procedure of the Parliament. Such model should improve the quality of the negotiation process, and the role of the Parliament in the process.

Jovana Marović
Research Coordinator

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Second Year Of Implementation Of The Law On Parliamentary Oversight In Security And Defense Sector

Institute Alternative organized a roundtable entitled “The second year of implementation of the Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the field of security and defense”, with the support of the Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces Geneva (DCAF).

We managed to gather all relevant stakeholders of parliamentary oversight of the security and defense sector and to hold a detailed discussion about the implementation of the Law on Parliamentary oversight in the field of security and defense in 2012.

For the purposes of this paper, we have prepared a monitoring report on the activities of the Security and Defence Committee in 2012 in aimed at meeting its legal responsibilities.

Here are some findings from the monitoring report on the implementation of the Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the field of security and defense in 2012:

Partly due to the parliamentary elections, the 2012 represents a step backwards when it comes to fulfilling responsibilities and measures envisaged by the Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the field of security and defense. A significant number of activities from the Oversight Plan is not carried out.

Last year was marked by the passivity of MPs of the ruling majority and opposition MPs in terms of initiating Parliamentary Oversight Mechanisms. There were only two initiatives for holding control hearings and none for a consultative hearing. By failing to review the annual work reports of the Police and the National Agency of Security, the Committee didn’t fulfill one of its most important commitments.

In 2012, the Committee didn’t use any of the numerous mechanisms available for the control of the implementation of the secret surveillance measures. This is particularly problematic if we consider that the parliamentary oversight in this area had not been carried out at all in 2011.

The Parliament is excluded from the decision to send members of civil protection, police and employees of the state administration to the peacekeeping missions abroad; It was not informed about their activities. Cooperation with civil society is significantly lower than in 2011, primarily due to failures to hold planned consultative hearings.

The mechanism of the visit is imprecisely defined, and the Committee does not adopt reports on completed visits. The Parliament on the plenum does not discuss reports on the parliamentary oversight submitted by the Committee during the respective year (and in 2012, there were nine reports). Regarding gender equality, situation in the Committee was not improved altough its structure changed following the 2012 general elections

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IA became a member of the regional network ”Southeast European Initiative in Social Policy”

IA signed a statement on the establishment of a regional network for the promotion of social policy reform in Southeast Europe In Zagreb on 8 February 2013.

Department of Social Policy at the University of Zagreb, Magazine of Social Policy and NGO CERANEO (Center for development of non-profit organizations) sent an initiative for the representatives of programs of study for social policy and think tank organizations for the establishment of a regional network for the promotion of social policy reform in Southeast Europe.

The first meeting was held on 8 February in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zagreb. The representatives of faculties presented teaching programs in the field of social policy, research projects and forms of cooperation with national and international actors. Representatives of think tanks were saying about topics of research project, established cooperation with the state, meetings organized, achieved international cooperation, as well as the donors who support their work.

Beside the IA, the initiative for regional cooperation was accepted from: Ugljesa Jankovic, MA (Associate of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Podgorica), Professor Gordana Matkovic, PhD (a professor at the Faculty of Economics, Finance and Administration and the Director of Social Policy Studies at the Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies, Belgrade), Professor, Ana Cekerevac, PhD (professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade), Professor Maya Gerovska Mitev, PhD (a professor at the Institute of Social Work and Social Policy at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of St. Cyril and Methodius, University in Skopje), Professor Lulzim Dragidella, PhD (Head of Department of Social Work at the Faculty of Philosophy, the University of Pristina), Professor Suada Buljubašić, PhD (professor at the Department of Social Work at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University in Sarajevo), PhD Zarko Papic, director of the NGO “Initiative for Better and Humane Inclusion” in Sarajevo. In front of the IA, the initiative was signed by public policy researcher, Dragana Radovic.

On the meeting was agreed a framework for future cooperation, which was formalized by signing a statement on the establishment of the network, “Southeast European initiative in social policy”.

This statement was also signed by the Professor Sinisa Zrinscak, PhD (Professor of Social Policy at the Department of Social Work, University of Zagreb), Professor Zoran Sucur, PhD (editor of the journal “Journal of Social Policy”) and Professor Gojko Bezovan, PhD (President of CERANEO).

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Call for participants – II generation of the Public Policy School

Institute alternative

In collaboration with the Centre for Research and Monitoring (CEMI)

announces:

The call for the second generation of the Public Policy School

The aim of the school is to give students theoretical and practical knowledge on policy- making and improving their design. Through the School’ program participants will achieve better comprehension of the public policy concept, actors and processes in policy-making.

The school will help you in better: policy exploring and analyzing, planning and conducting researches, analytical text/ policy paper writing, and formulating recommendations for decision makers as well as in communicating / representing conclusions and recommendations.

School consists of 5 modules made up of a series of lectures and practical work. Our lecturers are university professors, state institutions, think tanks representatives, and public policy experts from the region.

Potential candidates may submit their application with short biography on the e-mail address: info@institut-alternativa.org, not later than February 20, 2013.

The school is primarily intended for future stakeholders in policy-making, active professionals in: public administration, NGO’s, trade unions, the media, and the best final-year students of the social sciences.

Public Policy school Project is supported by the Commission for the allocation of revenue from the games of chance.

More information about the project and the previous school’s generation can be found here.

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Press release: Fight against corruption in sports must be moved from a standstill

Although it is not known that any case of corruption in Montenegrin sports has ever been prosecuted, IA’s research shows the high susceptibility of this phenomenon, especially in terms of the sports organizations co-financing, sports facilities construction and match-fixing.

Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism has been checking the four cases of suspicious transactions connected to the betting business since 2008, according to the data we have collected during the research on the IA’s new analysis “Risks of corruption in Montenegrin sports”.

In one case, the notification about suspicious transactions was forwarded to the Police Directorate, while the other case revealed significant tax avoidance.

On the other hand, special departments for corruption, organized crime, war crimes and terrorism of the Higher Courts in Bijelo Polje and Podgorica didn’t pass any decision or initiated any proceedings of the offenses of corruption and organized crime in sports.

However, the fact that it is not known whether any case was prosecuted should not be treated as a proof that these crimes are absent.

On the contrary, by reviewing the deficiencies of the institutional and legal frameworks , the IA’s research indicates that the co-financing of sports organizations, construction of sports facilities and match-fixing are areas particularly susceptible to corruption.

While match-fixing is taking pace in more developed countries, as the current investigation of Europol suggests, the danger of this phenomenon in Montenegro is ignored. In order to prevent such fraud, it is necessary to strengthen the capacities of relevant state bodies as wll as their coordination.

In this regard, it is needed to ensure preservation of betting deposits and withdrawals in a separate on-line monitoring system and its connection with the information system of the Administration for games of chance. Although provided by the Law on Games of Chance, this system has not been established yet.

Co-financing of sports organizations from the state and local budget also leaves room for abuse of the public interest. Co-financing the sport organizations from the local budgets is especially un-transparent and worrying. Therefore, all local governments should commit to providing insight into the precise amount of funds allocated for co-financing of sports organizations as well as into the criteria by which the money is distributed.

Construction and reconstruction of sports facilities is another area susceptible to corruption, given the strategic commitment of the Government to the concept of public-private partnerships in the implementation of major infrastructure projects. For the successful implementation of this concept, a special law on public-private partnerships, which would clearly define the requirement for publishing the details and implementation of the contracts on Public-Private Partnerships, should be adopted.

You can download research report here (only in Montenegrin).

Milena Milošević
Policy Analyst