Posted on

Panel discussion announcement “The Ethics of the MPs: From the standard to the practice”

Institute Alternative, supported by the Open Society foundation – Think Tank Fund, organizes panel discussion “The Ethics of the MPs: From the standard to the practice” in PR Center, on Friday, April 17th, starting from 11h.

The panelists will be:

  • Dr Halil Duković, the President of the Committee on Human rights and Freedoms, MP Group of Democratic Party of Socialists
  • Ljiljana Đurašković, MP Group of Democratic Front
  • Aleksandar Damjanović, the President of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget, MP Group of Socialist People’s Party
  • Borislav Banović, MP Group of Social Democratic Party
  • Goran Tuponja, MP Group of Positive Montenegro
  • Andrija Popović, Group of Albanian parties (FORCA, AA), HGI and LPCG
  • Branka Tanasijević, MP Group of Democratic Party of Socialists
  • Mladen Bojanić, Group of Independent MPs
    The representative of the Group of Bosniak Party

The moderator of the discussion will be Jovana Marović, research coordinator at the Institute Alternative.

The panel discussion is the part of the project „Analytical Monitoring of the Oversight Function of the Montenegrin Parliament“ conducted by Institute Alternative and supported by Open Society Foundation – Think Thank Fund from Budapest

Posted on

Press Release: We Proposed Measures for the Open Government Action Plan

At the moment, there is ongoing work on the preparation of the second Action Plan of Montenegro within the global initiative Open Government Partnership. The working group in charge of preparation of this document is actively considering the large number of ideas submitted by members of the working group, consisted of the representatives of the Government and NGOs. Institute alternative is one of, currently, four NGOs which are part of this team. Three others are CCE (Center for Civic Education), CDT (Center for Democratic Transition) and MANS (Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector).

IA has submitted ten key recommendations with the aim of reforms in the field of increasing public integrity, efficient management of the public resources and responsible Government work.

When it comes to transparency of public finances, we have recommended the establishing of the public register containing all projects financed from the capital budget of Montenegro. It would contain the data on invested resources and current stage of the project. We have proposed that each project was presented with its full documentation and simplified description, the amount of resources invested for each year and the current stage of realization of the project. The register would be public, easy to use, search and retrieve data.

Bearing in mind that significant resources of citizens are being spent through public procurement procedures, we have proposed an urgent improvement of the situation on the Public Procurement website. In order to improve transparency, the amendments to the Law on Public Procurement are urgently needed:

  • obligation to publish reports on the public procurement portal and standardized form (in any of the formats that are machine-readable – CSV, XML, JSON and Excel) filled by the purchaser to disclose information on public procurement portal;
  • the obligation of uniformed way of naming the documents in order to have the automatic classification with the aim of giving access of data to the interested parties
  • introduce the visual classification of data by the type o documents and automatic data processing from the Public procurement reports – A, B and C forms
  • the obligation of publishing direct agreements

We have also suggested the improvement of the implementation of the Data Secrecy Law. We believe that it is necessary that the Directorate for Protection of Classified Information prepares a report on the implementation of the Data Secrecy Act in the last 3 years, which would include an analysis of the implementation of all the provisions, in particular the following information:

  • list of data whose secrecy has expired, within the legally prescribed time limit (with a brief description)
  • the list of the state bodies which established the commission to periodically review the confidentiality of the data with the number of data whose confidentiality is considered,
  • the number of information with reduced level of confidentiality
  • list of data (information or document with brief description), from which the designation of confidentiality is removed
  • information on the implementation of penal provisions, particularly the list of legal entities convicted on the basis of each point of Article 82 (individually).

It is also necessary that all state bodies have the special section on their websites publishing of data, information, documents, from which the designation of secrecy has been removed or has expired within the legally specified period, as well as the decision on the establishing of the commission to periodically review as well as short information about their work and results.

One of our proposals relates to the improvement of the work of the Ethics Committee to monitor the application of the Code of Ethics of state employees. It is necessary to introduce the amendments to the Code of Ethics to proscribe an obligation to publish a public call for all officers, employees and representatives of civil society organizations to apply for membership of the Ethics Committee. The procedures for the election of members of the Board should be made on the basis of consultations between the heads of state bodies, taking into account the professional and working quality of the applicants when talking about civil servants and employees, and with respect to the expertise of civil society organizations. It is also important to establish the site of the Ethics Committee which would publish all the relevant information about its work, and also provide the citizens with the opportunity to submit complaints online.

In order to improve the implementation of public policies in the field of public administration reform, it is necessary to include representatives of NGOs in working bodies for the public administration reform, as well in monitoring of implementation of the Public Sector Internal Reorganisation Plan and local government reform.

When it comes to improving the transparency of the Government’s work, our proposal is to provide a live stream broadcast sessions on the Government website. Also, it is needed amend the Decision on publishing materials from Government sessions in order to modify the practice of publishing drafts, not only the adopted version of documents. We have also suggested introducing the practice of publishing the minutes of the session of the Government, or at least parts related to expert discussions and decision making of systemic solutions; and reconsider the need for the adoption of the Law on the Government.

We have proposed measures for improving keeping track of statistics in the field of criminal law and judiciary: to form a working group which will consist of representatives of the Police, the State Prosecutor’s Office, Supreme Court, Ministry of Justice, etc., which will prepare the analysis of the current situation and differences in the statistical reports of the Police, the Prosecution Office and of the Courts, and to propose measures for the gradual harmonization of statistics, with a deadlines for the implementation of the conclusions and recommendations.

Finally, it is necessary to amend the Law on Public procurement in way that it will proscribe, apart from the obligation of the publishing the direct agreements:

  • publishing the amount of collected funds and financial repayment plans on a quarterly basis;
  • delivering the monitoring reports on the implementation of contracts of public-private partnerships and concessions on a quarterly basis to the competent authority for updating the register (with information on delays, termination of contract and other relevant information for the realization of the contract);
  • include the information from the previous register on concessions in the newly established one;
  • delivering all data in any of the formats that are machine-readable.

Dina Bajramspahić

Public policy researcher and representative of IA in the OGP Operational Team

Posted on

Personal Responsibility for Human Rights Violation to be Determined

The joint letter addressed to Ivica Stanković, the Chief State Prosecutor, was sent by 9 NGOs, including ours, appealing to determine personal responsibility of the police officers and officials from the Prosecutor’s office who violated the human right to privacy of the employees of NGO MANS.

The occasion was the final verdict of the Basic Court in Podgorica, which found that the employees of the Police and Prosecution, have abuse the authority and violated the several laws and several provisions of the Constitution of Montenegro and therefore, violated the civil rights of employees in MANS with unlawful interrogations, illegal surveillance of electronic communication and disclosure of IP addresses from which the video recording of the weddings of Safet Kalic, the narcotrafficker was posted, although criminal proceedings were never initiated against any of the employees in MANS in this regard.

We have requested from the Chief State Prosecutor to, without any delay, determine the personal responsibility of all individuals who have committed these unlawful acts, those who have ordered them and those who have not sanctioned aforementioned individuals although they had to be aware of these acts.

Our joint letter in its entirety can be found here.

Posted on

Call for Papers: Improving Performance of Public Administration – Current Experiences and Future Perspectives

Interested researchers and practitioners are invited to submit papers for presentation at the conference Improving Performance of Public Administration: Current Experiences and Future Perspectives to be held in Belgrade, Serbia 9-10 September 2015. The Conference is organised by the Think for Europe Network (comprising the European Policy Centre, Belgrade, European Policy Institute, Skopje and Institute Alternative, Podgorica).

Conference Themes

The conference addresses the experiences and future perspectives in improving performance in the public administration in the European context. Suggested guiding topics for papers include:

  • Evidence-Based Policy Making as a Precondition for Performance of PA
    Using evidence in policy formulation, policy monitoring and evaluation, result based approaches in policy making, evaluation as a tool for organisational learning, etc.
  • Public Administration, Performance and Accountability
    Performance measurement and budgeting, linking performance with accountability, managerial accountability, ’Europeanisation’ of public administration in the context of PA performance, etc.
  • Performance Audit and Policy Evaluation
    Effectiveness of government spending and/or policies, impact of performance audit on policy cycle, correlations/links between performance audit and policy evaluation, etc.

We especially welcome submissions dealing with processes of performance audit and policy evaluation as important pillars of public administration and policy making reform in the context of the EU integration. The conference will include practical, empirical as well as theoretical approaches to these topics in order to bridge policy and academia worlds and incite peer learning. While we are foremost interested in contributions in relation to the Western Balkans, we encourage submissions dealing with the EU member states as well.

Eligible Candidates

Researchers working on performance in the public administration, including various aspects of the policy cycle

Practitioners dealing with policy making and evaluation, as well as performance audit in the European context

Scholars and PhD candidates active in the fields of public administration, public management and related fields

The selected candidates will be able to share and discuss their work in practitioner/researcher panels. The Conference is being organised within the project Performance Audit and Policy Evaluation: On the Same or Parallel Tracks supported by the Regional Research Promotion Programme in the Western Balkans (RRPP).

Submission

All interested candidates should submit a single file containing a short Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages) and an abstract of the proposed conference paper (max. 500 words) by 30 April 2015 at the latest, using online application form on the official conference website (see Guidelines for Registration and Applying).

NB: Receipt of abstracts will be confirmed via email, in case there is no confirmation within 24 hours from sending your application, please contact us back at conference.ten@europeanpolicy.org.

Selection Process

The selection process for abstracts will be completed by 15 May 2015. After initial approval of abstracts, selected candidates will be invited to submit a full research paper (up to 6000 words) by 15 July 2015. Please note that the submitted papers will be peer-reviewed and potentially invited for publication in a joint volume. If invited for publication, the final versions of the papers will need to be submitted by 31st August 2015.

Costs

Costs of accommodation in Belgrade and travel costs will be covered for up to 15 participants, based on available funding.

Programme and Practical Information

Participants will be informed about the programme and specific panels of the conference as well as all relevant practical information in due course.

The conference website will be updated on regular basis.

The organisers reserve the right to limit the number of applicants accepted to participate at the conference.

We are looking forward to your proposals! Should you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact conference.ten@europeanpolicy.org.

About Regional Research Promotion Programme (RRPP)

The RRPP is aimed at fostering and promoting social science research in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia). Social science research aids in the understanding of the specific needs for reform and in identifying the long-term implications of potential policy choices. Researchers receive support through research grants, methodological and thematic trainings, as well as opportunities for regional and international exchange and networking. The RRPP is coordinated and operated by the Interfaculty Institute for Central and Eastern Europe (IICEE) at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). The programme is fully funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Posted on

Talk Show: Rationalization of the Number of Employees in Municipalities

Jovana Marović, research coordinator at the Institute, was a guest on a talk show „Balkan Ekspres“ hosted by Duška Pejović at Atlas TV. The topic of the talk show was the rationalization of the number of employees in Montenegrin municipalities. Jovana has presented key findings from the analysis conducted by Institute Alternative „Employment in Montenegrin municipalities – merit or party based?“ and from the research being conducted at the moment about how local governments are fulfilling their obligations stipulated by the Plan of reorganization of the public sector.
The other guests were Dragana Ranitović, Director General of the Directorate for the state administration and local self-government from the Ministry of Interior, Zdenka Popović, the MP at the local government as the representative of Socialist People’s Party in Podgorica and Perunika Popović, Head of administration of the Kolašin municipality.

The talk show in its entirety can be found here:

Posted on

POINTPULSE Network: depolitizaction is the key for building the police integrity

Clear Government’ policies for depolitizaction of the police and sharp internal control mechanisms are the key precondition for fighting the police corruption.

Dina Bajramspahić and Marko Sošić have taken part at the second capacity building workshop of the POINTPULSE Network, that took place in Sofia, 31 March – 2 April. It was discussed about the negativity of political influence on police integrity and on police anticorruption policy.

Why is it important to raise the capacities of internal control mechanisms?

Seven years after the joining the EU, the European Commission initiated the process of depolitizaction of Bulgarian police. Philip Gounev, advisor to the Bulgarian Minister of Interior shared their experience.

“Up to the 2014 and the ‘purge’ of the police, when 300 police officers were fired, the Bulgarian police were heavily influenced either by the political parties or local businessman connected to the political parties”, said Gounev.

This process was initiated by the European Commission in 2014, which Report noted the problem of the influence of the politics on the Bulgarian police for the first time. However, the Report did not provide any recommendations on how to resolve this issue, so it was up to the new Government to develop new policies and mechanisms.

One of the main issues that arose was the lack of capacities of internal control mechanism. Bulgarian Police Inspectorate has 20 civil servants employed, while there are 50 000 people working in the Ministry of Interior. While, for example in the Belgian Police (it has around 12 000 employees) there are 150 people working in the internal affairs unit and in the UK around 400.

“Statistical chance for some local police department to be target of investigation is once in 15 years, unless deliberately targeted”, says Gounev. It is therefore important to raise the human capacities of internal affairs unit, provide them with appropriate tools for investigations.

It also very important to provide them with greater independence from the Minister of Interior, in order to be able to investigate the people that the Minister appoints.

How to develop a tool for monitoring the police corruption?

One of the main role of civil society in building police integrity is to develop innovative tools to monitor anticorruption policy. Alexander Stoyanov, Director of Research at the Bulgarian think-tank Centre for Study of Democracy (CSD) gave a presentation on CSD’s methodology instrument for monitoring anticorruption policy enforcement in the Bulgarian police.

“This instrument allows assessing whether anticorruption policies can be implemented properly. It assesses the anticorruption policies and corruption risk in recruitment, promotion, and procurement”, said Stoyanov.

Important fact for anticorruption policies is that it “should be well described, easy to follow and employees should be familiarized with them”, Stoyanov explained.

Anticorruption policies address perceived corruption risks which includes two things: “(1) internal pressure – high level of bureaucracy for a particular activity, pressure from above (from management) to break the rules and (2) external pressure – motivation of “clients” of the institution to avoid rules (e.g. “clients” of tax officials are motivated to evade taxes)”, Stoyanov explained.

Sharing knowledge among the POINTPULSE Network

Members of the POINTPULSE Network also shared their experiences in researching topics related for police corruption.

In 2014 Centre for Security Studies (CSS) conducted research on the quality of the statistical data on police corruption in BiH (16 police agencies). This was the first evidence-based research on police corruption.

“Having good quality statistics on police corruption allows for getting the exact numbers of police officers involved in the corruption, numbers of what police does on corruption, lastly trends and comparisons”, pointed Alma Kovacevic, Project Coordinator from CSS (BiH).

In Montenegro, more than 80% of the Ministry’s budget goes to salaries and other incomes, and there are problems with overtime pay due to lack of clear procedures.

“Because of the sheer magnitude of funds allocated to the Ministry of Interior, it is necessary to have a control over procurement in the police”, said Marko Sosic, Researcher at Institute Alternativa (IA) from Montenegro.

In Kosovo, a lot of police officers failed the vetting process (security clearance). The problem with vetting is that it is being done by the Department of Vetting that is working under the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA).

“Chief of the vetting unit was accused for forging documents. That is why the KCSS suggested that the body should be removed from KIA and become a part of some other body”, said Skender Perteshi, Researcher at the Kosovo Centre for Security Studies (KCSS).

The main role of police control is to ensure that police service is operating as intended, and to promote the integrity. Police officers in Serbia do not trust enough in the work of police internal control.

“29% of the police officers in Serbia think that internal control should fight police corruption, but they believe that is not capable of doing it, because of lack of capacities and political influence”, said Sasa Djordjevic, Researcher at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP).

Slobodan Georgiev from the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN Serbia) in discussion regarding writing good quality policy papers which produce impact on decision-makers emphasized that “it is important to provide not only recommendations, but also solutions – what should be done in order to bring a change”.

The event is organized within the project Western Balkans Pulse for Police Integrity and Trust – POINTPULSE which is supported by the European Union through Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) programme Civil Society Facility (CSF) EuropeAid/136-034/C/ACT/Multi. Content of the project is the sole responsibility of the BCSP and the views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views of the EU.

Project activities can be also followed via Twitter hashtags #BalkanCops and #POINTPULSE.