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IA presents its Analysis on Employment at the Local Level

At the press conference held today, Institute Alternative presented its new analysis “Employment in Montenegrin Municipalities – Merit or Party Based Recruitment?”.

Boris Marić, Senior Legal Advisor at Centre for Civic Education (CCE), reminded that the analysis was prepared within the framework of the project “Corruption at the Local Level – Zero Tolerance”, which aims to strengthen the role of civil society organizations, the local self-governments and the competent state authorities in policy development, as well as in monitoring and implementation of the campaigns for reduction of corruption in local communities in Montenegro. He also emphasized that 6 policy studies dealing with the key risks for corruption at the local level in the areas of public procurement, employment, public-private partnerships, urban planning, political corruption, and performance and abilities of local parliaments, emerged as a result of implementation of this project. “Today’s topic – employment, with special emphasis on surplus of employees in the local self-governments, needs to be connected with the political influence on the employment system and the emergence of political corruption aiming to maintain the position of power at the local level.”

Research Coordinator at Institute Alternative (IA), Jovana Marović, pointed out to the problems identified at the local level, namely the surplus of employees, inadequate planning of human resources, lack of skilled and qualified personnel, lack of motivation of employees, party-influenced recruitment, lack of transparency with regard to recruitment procedures, as well as lack of formal prerequisites for implementation of the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees at the local level. Marović stated that determining the actual number of employees in the local self-governments is problematic, but also that it is certain that employment at the local level intensifies in the pre-election period, regardless of the surplus of employees which already exists.

“By guaranteeing job positions votes are “bought”, and electoral victory and social peace secured. This has a negative impact on financial stability of the local self-governments. The system of local finances in Montenegro is continuously burdened with numerous problems, the most significant ones being the decrease in current income, growth of overdue obligations and credit loans, as well as high budget deficit.” In addition to the local self-governments, Marović called attention to the problem of public enterprises and institutions with twice as many employees, as in the case of Bar, Budva, Kotor, Podgorica, Pljevlja and Tivat.

According to the data of the Ministry of Finance, at the end of the first quarter of 2014, the total debt of the local self-governments amounted to 171.05 million or 4.86% of the estimated GDP for 2014, while the total overdue obligations of the municipalities, March 2014 inclusive, added up to 108.61 million. The projected savings after rationalization of the number of employees in all municipalities, in accordance with the Plan of Internal Reorganization, should amount to 9,388,476.33 Euros by the end of 2016.

The analysis further indicates to the inability of determining the optimum number of employees in the municipalities, which is directly related to poor human resources planning. The Plan of Internal Reorganization of the Public Sector, which envisioned drafting the necessary analyses on the optimal number of employees a year after the adoption of the document which offers projection of rationalization, does not contribute to the improvement of the planning process.

The analysis “Employment in Montenegrin Municipalities – Merit Based or Party Recruitment?” was prepared within the framework of the project “Corruption at the Local Level – Zero Tolerance”, implemented by Centre for Civic Education (CCE), in cooperation with Institute Alternative (IA), NGO Nada, and NGO Bonum. The project is supported by the European Union through the EU Delegation to Montenegro and IPA 2011, and co-financed by the Royal Norwegian Embassy.

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Presentation of the analysis “Employment in Montenegrin municipalities – merit based or party recruitment?”

Institute Alternative will present an analysis “Employment in Montenegrin Municipalities – Merit Based or Party Recruitment?” at the press conference which will be held at the premises of Centre for Civic Education (Njegoševa 36/I, Podgorica), on Wednesday, 30 July 2014, at 11 a.m.

The analysis is prepared within the framework of the project “Corruption at the Local Level – Zero Tolerance”, which is implemented by Centre for Civic Education (CCE), in cooperation with Institute Alternative (IA), NGO Nada, and NGO Bonum. The project is supported by the European Union through the EU Delegation to Montenegro and IPA 2011, and co-financed by the Royal Norwegian Embassy.

With this analysis, Institute Alternative continues to monitor the implementation of the public administration reform in Montenegro focusing on the local level, after producing several publications and monitoring reports dealing with the reform processes within state administration bodies.

Speakers at the press conference will be:

  • Boris MARIĆ, Senior Legal Advisor at Centre for Civic Education (CCE);
  • Jovana MAROVIĆ, Research Coordinator at Institute Alterantive (IA).

For any further information, please contact us at 020 268 686 or at info@institut-alternativa.org.

We will be expecting you,
Institute Alternative

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Press Release: Cost of Action Plans for Chapter 23 and 24 must be in the Budget

Bearing in mind that the process of next year’s budget planning is ongoing, we urge competent authorities to take into account the resources needed to implement measures planned to be realized in 2015, as envisaged by the Action Plans for Chapters 23 and 24. This is especially important if we take into account that the most significant portion of the funds from both Action Plans is planned to be spent in the following year.

According to the Conclusion of the Government, all consumer units shall submit their budget plans for 2015 to the Ministry of Finance by July 31, 2014. These budget plans must be in conformity with the approved guidelines for macroeconomic and fiscal policy. The aforementioned requirements will be the basis for the 2015 state budget.

It is of great importance to pay special attention to the Action Plans for Chapters 23 and 24 during the budget drafting and to provide the funds needed for implementation of envisaged measures.

In particular, we refer to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, which are marked as the ones implementing majority of measures from the Action Plans.

Action Plans for Chapters 23 and 24 contain estimates of how much the implementation of measures will cost. According to calculations of Institute Alternative, the amount needed for implementation of Action Plans for Chapters 23 and 24 is the most significant in the following year and adds up to nearly 12 million Euros.

At the aggregate level, throughout the period between 2013-2018, the implementation cost of the Action Plans amount to around 47 million Euros. In addition to this sum, there are costs of construction of infrastructure facilities. These costs for the period 2013-2018 come to more than 36 million, of which over 70% are donations.

Action Plans should serve as an essential indicator for planning next year’s budget. In particular, it is necessary to bear in mind that timely publication of decisions on revision of deadlines for implementation of certain measures, whose realization is behind the schedule, is crucial for proper budget planning.

Marko SOŠIĆ

Policy Analyst

Our calculation of Action Plan costs

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Letter of the Chapter 23 Working Group Members

Letter of the representatives of Institute Alternative (IA), Centre for Civic Education (CGO) and Centre for Development of NGOs (CDNGO) addressed to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration

Podgorica, 28.07.2014.

We address you in the capacity of the members of the Working Group for the Preparation of Negotiations on Chapter 23 with the intent to inform the public in more detail about the difficulties we, as representatives of the non-governmental sector, face while participating in the work of this body. The rationale behind our appeal is the fact that the Government of Montenegro adopted the Third Report on the Implementation of the Action Plan for Chapter 23, at the meeting held on July 10, 2014, whereas, we, the members of the Working Group, were not given insight into this document prior to its formal referral for adoption. We consider this action to be unacceptable and that it inevitably brings into question our status in the Working Group.

From the very beginning of functioning of the Working Group, we, representatives of the non-governmental sector, did not have an equal status with other members appointed by the state authorities. Still, during the last year, this inequality has started to seriously jeopardize the purpose of our membership in this body and to bring into question the possibility of our contribution to the functioning of the Working Group. From these very concrete problems and obstacles depended and still depends on our work in this body.

Let us remind that, according to our abilities and capacities, we gave a wholehearted contribution to the drafting process of the Action Plan for Chapter 23. Following the adoption of this document, the Working Group was tasked to regularly monitor the implementation of the Action Plan and to report on a quarterly basis on its implementation. We are not able to participate in the realization of this task due to the following reasons:

  1. NGO representatives are being denied access to the website where all members of the Working Group store information about the implementation of the Action Plan. The website is made available to every government representative in the Working Group
  2. So far, NGO representatives have only once had access to the segments of the Second Report on the Implementation of the Action Plan, and not its integral version. We have provided comments to the submitted segments, but none of the comments were included in the final version of the Report
  3. NGO representatives had no insight into the Third Report on the implementation of the Action Plan, prior to its adoption by the Government.

All of the above listed problems are easily solvable. However, despite presenting initiatives similar to this one at meetings of the Working Group, we have not received any feedback from the competent authorities. Therefore, we can rightly conclude that there is a clear reason for these problems not to be solved, as well as the intention to withhold information on the work of the state authorities in the implementation of the Action Plan from the non-governmental sector. Namely, we refer to the information on the implementation of reforms in the undoubtedly most sensitive areas, such as judicial reform, anti-corruption policy, and human rights.

Our continued participation in the work of the Working Group will depend on overcoming the aforementioned problems. Otherwise, we do not recognize the manner in which we could contribute to the work of the Working Group nor justify our participation in this body to the organizations we represent or to the general public.

Unfortunately, these actions render of any meaning a very brave and, in our opinion, mature and correct decision made by the Montenegrin Government to include the non-governmental sector in this process. When compared to the previous practices of the EU accession procedure, this decision represents a qualitative step forward. With the hope to continue with such progressive practice, we once again request the following:

  1. In order to be able to provide quality contribution to the process of report drafting, NGO representatives shall gain unrestricted access to the website where all members of the Working Group store information about the implementation of the Action Plan
  2. Quarterly and semi-annual reports on the implementation of the Action Plan shall be submitted at least 7 days prior to the meeting of the Working Group
  3. The Working Group shall hold meetings twice a month, in order to achieve better coordination of the process of briefing and informing the representatives of the NGO sector
  4. NGO representatives shall have access to the final version of the Report, after the concluding changes are made, and just before its submission for approval to the Government.

In addition, we will inform the Montenegrin public on our future engagement in the work of this Working Group in a timely manner, and after receiving feedback upon our requests.

Yours Faithfully,

Ana Novaković, Centre for Development of NGOs

Boris Marić, Centre for Civic Education

Jovana Marović, Institute Alternative

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The Impact of Political Corruption on the Municipal Decision-Making Process

Centre for Civic Education (CCE) organized a panel discussion today, entitled “The Impact of Political Corruption on the Municipal Decision-Making Process”. The event was part of the project “Corruption at the Local Level – Zero Tolerance”. Opening remarks and keynote speeches were delivered by Daliborka Uljarević, Executive Director of Centre for Civic Education (CCE), and Stevo Muk, President of the Managing Board of Institute Alternative (IA).

Stevo Muk emphasized that political corruption is not only limited to abuses related to the election process (voting for MPs and councilors) or the ones related to the appointment of other officials by the elected representatives (in the parliaments). In spite of being most recognizable in the aforementioned processes, positions that are in fact most susceptible to corruption are those implying broad range of authorities, such as positions of mayors and persons in charge of public companies and institutions, especially municipal agencies for construction and development. In addition, he pointed out to the lack of proactive prosecutions. Muk also spoke about the impact of political corruption in the areas of employment, public procurement and public-private partnerships. It is reflected in the surplus of employees in all municipalities as a result of misuse of the possibilities of limitless and irrational employment, followed by the violations of legal procedures in the public procurement and avoidance of the usage of transparent procedures, as well as the lack of clear regulations, professional capacities, transparency, competition, and risk sharing methodology. Everything listed above represents breeding ground for corruption in the area of public-private partnerships.

A more detailed report from the panel discussion is available at the website of Centre for Civic Education (in Montenegrin)

The panel brought together about 30 representatives of municipal governments covered by the project, competent state authorities, political parties, NGOs, the media, diplomatic core, etc.

Objective of the project “Corruption at the Local Level – Zero Tolerance” is to strengthen the role of civil society organizations, municipal governments and competent authorities in policy development, as well as to monitor and campaign for the decrease of corruption in Montenegrin local communities. More specifically, the project aims to strengthen the implementation of anti-corruption policies at the local level, as well as to raise citizens’ awareness on the importance of effective anti-corruption mechanisms and procedures in 14 Montenegrin municipalities: Podgorica, Cetinje, Nikšić, Danilovgrad, Herceg Novi, Kotor, Tivat, Budva, Bar, Rožaje, Pljevlja, Mojkovac, Kolašin, and Plužine. Within the framework of this project, consultative trainings and panel discussions were organized, followed by the implementation of local action plans and creation of policy studies on topics recognized as the most risky for the emergence and development of corruption at the local level.

The project “Corruption at the Local Level – Zero Tolerance” is implemented by Centre for Civic Education (CCE), in cooperation with Institute Alternative (IA), NGO Nada, and NGO Bonum. It is supported by the European Union through the EU Delegation to Montenegro and IPA 2011, and co-financed by the Royal Norwegian Embassy.

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Reaction to the press release of the Ministry of finance

The Ministry of Finance has reacted to our press relase “Forgotten Conclusion of the Parliament” from the 21 July, among other things, qualifying our claims as “malicious and inaccurate.” In the press release, we state that an important conclusion of the Parliament, on mid-year reporting on budget execution, has not been fulfilled although the deadline has passed.

Usage of the aforementioned qualifications by the Ministry is inappropriate and unsubstantiated. In its press release, the Ministry did not contest the facts we had presented. Everything we had written is true and this was confirmed by the Ministry itself: 1) The Conclusion of the Parliament was not complied with; 2) The Government is behind the schedule with submitting the report on the implementation of revenue; 3) The Law on Budget and Fiscal Responsibility does not stipulate the obligation of semi-annual reporting to the Parliament on the budget execution.

Let us remind that in our press release we had pointed out to the fact that reporting to the Parliament on the budget execution is not stipulated within the legal framework. Introducing such obligation was one of the proposals we advocated for during the public hearing on the Draft Law on Budget and Fiscal Responsibility, as well as during parliamentary debate on the Bill on Budget and Fiscal Responsibility. The Ministry of Finance, the Government, and the parliamentary majority did not support our proposal.

In addition to advocating for greater transparency of the budget process, Institute Alternative wishes to present to the public the manner in which the Government behaves towards the conclusions of the Parliament. In this particular case, we have provided evidence that an important Conclusion of the Parliament, adopted accompanying the 2014 Budget Law, was not complied with, even though the deadline has passed.

We will continue to monitor implementation of conclusions of the Parliament, especially those referring to the budget process, seeing that we consider them particularly important. Likewise, we wish to express our hope that the Ministry of Finance will make an effort towards not ignoring or forgetting about the parliamentary initiatives aiming at strengthening the transparency of the budget.

Finally, we express our hope that the communication of the Ministry of Finance with the public and non-governmental organizations will be based on arguments corroborated by facts, and that the response to our press release will be the last example of usage of offensive qualifications in public relations.