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Press Release: Ignoring the conclusions of the parliamentary committee is alarming

Institute alternative refers praise to the Anti – Corruption Committee for preparing a Report on the implementation of conclusions of this Committee. Unfortunately, the report points out an alarming disregard of the conclusions by state authorities. We invite other parliamentary working bodies to introduce this good practice and prepare their reports in order to contribute to a more consistent implementation of the conclusions.

One of the key instruments for additional control of the Government and a contribution to solving problems in the work of state bodies identified by the working bodies of the Parliament are the conclusions of these working bodies, which often serve as a corrective of the Government. However, neither the Rules of Procedures, nor the other laws specifically define the status of the conclusions, which means that they are not legally binding on the institutions. Taking into account the constitutionally prescribed role of the Parliament, a certain level of political culture was expected in order to consider these conclusions even in principle binding for all state authorities and to be applied in bona fide.

The Anti – Corruption Committee’s report on the implementation of the conclusions – which were adopted unanimously – clearly shows that the thesis that the Government and state authorities acknowledge the role of the Parliament is unfounded. The Anti – Corruption Committee has requested 12 information, but only 4 of them were submitted by the state authorities, which has affected the further work of the Committee.

An additional 10 conclusions did not impose a special obligation of submitting information, so their implementation is more difficult to evaluate. Also, the worrisome problem is the quality of the information submitted by the state authorities, which are, as stated in the Committee’s report, “quite limited”.

If the implementation of the conclusions of the working bodies and the Parliament does not urgently improve, the Parliament will remain “a chat room”, whose discussions have no effect or influence on improving the state authorities’ work and implementation of public policies, which is one of its most important tasks.

This report also best illustrates how arbitrary the comments about “parliamentary dictatorship” in Montenegro are. It also shows that such comments are based on the incidental discord between the executive and the legislature, and not on the separation of power of two branches of government.

Dina BAJRAMSPAHIĆ
Public Policy Researcher

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Infographic: Debt of Our Municipalities

The best indicator of the state of our local finances, in addition to many others, is the debt of municipalities.

The total debt of our municipalities at the end of 2014 amounted to 166.94 million euro. The most indebted municipality is Budva, with the total debt of over 65 million euro (more than the sum of total budgets of all municipalities in the northern region), followed by the Capital city Podgorica, Nikšić, Herceg Novi, Bijelo Polje, Pljevlja…

Overall, the debt of municipalities has decreased in comparison to 2013, but only for 2,6%. Some municipalities, however, have additionally increased debt during 2014 (Herceg Novi, Bar, Kolašin…).

The total amount of outstanding liabilities related to expenditures that are contracted, but not paid, is 119.19 million euro.

The municipalities with the highest amount of outstanding liabilities for the salaries and wages of their employees are Municipality of Berane, Bijelo Polje, Budva… Outstanding commitments for capital expenditures amount 24.61 million euro. The only local governments without outstanding obligations are Municipality of Podgorica and Rožaje.

Bearing in mind that these are the data delivered to the Ministry of Finance by the municipalities themselves, they should be considered with a pinch of salt. State Audit Institution’s reports on budgets of local governments show that the official municipal data cannot always be trusted.

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Municipalities Are Breaking The Law While Contracting Goods

Irrational planning and frequent changes of plans, violations of provisions of the law, contracting goods and services without public insight, remain central problems of procurement at the local level.

In 2014, Montenegrin local governments have spent more than 10 million euro on public procurement. This amount doesn’t include data for Municipality of Bijelo Polje, considering the fact that this local government has not responded to the Institute alternative’s request for free access to information, sent three mounts ago.

A total of 13 municipalities have violated the legal norm for the use of direct agreement, especially Municipality of Andrijevica 90.98%, Municipality of Nikšić 46.24%, Municipality od Žabljak 31.88% and Municipality of Cetinje 22.61%. Even though this practice of overuse of direct agreement as the least transparent procedure is being repeated year after year and classified as a misdemeanor punishable by fine, Public Procurement Administration fails to keep records about it. It is not clear whether the municipality employees are taking responsibility for these violations. Public procurement officers we surveyed earlier this year warned that often they don’t have immediate access to all the direct contracts concluded, so they can’t keep records about it.
There was no progress towards a more realistic budget planning for public procurement in 2014. Municipalities, with the exception of Municipality of Kotor and Municipality of Podgorica, have been changing their plans during the year. The Municipality of Bijelo Polje has changed the public procurement plan most often, sixteen times, and Municipality of Bar has prepared seven amendments to the originally approved plan. All local governments had significant deviations between completed and planed budget for public procurement in 2014.
Public Procurement report, as we were informed by the municipalities, is publicly available and published exclusively on the website of the Capital City. In order to achieve higher level of transparency and prevent frequent violations of The Law on Public Procurement, it is necessary to publish direct agreements on the web sites of the contract authorities, in accordance with Article 138 of the Law on Local Self – Government. Furthermore, direct agreements should be published on the website of the Public Procurement Administration in electronically readable form, to enable grouping data.

Jovana MAROVIĆ
Research Coordinator

Full information about public procurement at the local level can be found here. (in Montenegrin only)

The research is conducted within the project “Civil Society and Citizens against Corruption in Public Procurement”, which is implemented by the Institute Alternative with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands. The activities aim at strengthening the cooperation between state and non-state actors in the joint efforts in identifying irregularities in public procurement and formulating the recommendations for improvement.

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Reaction: Senior Managers Are Not Ministers’ “Personal Entourage”

Recent re-appointments of Director Generals and Secretaries from one Ministry to another, which followed the latest government reconstruction, pose a great danger to the professionalization of the Montenegrin civil service system.

Appointments of new government ministers and reappointment of the old ones were followed by turn-overs on the positions of Director Generals and Secretaries in the Ministries. This once again confirms findings of Insititute Alternative’s that neither expert and professional qualities and competences nor skills are considered to be the main recommendation during the appointment of the senior managerial staff in our administration.

For example, during the Government’s session, held on April 2nd, the decision on termination of the mandate of the Director General of the Directorate of Labour in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare was brought, based on personal request. At the same session, the same person was re-appointed to the position of Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Education.

During the same meeting, the similar case was repeated because one more person was “moved” from the position of the Director General of the Directorate for Labour Market and Employment within the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to the position of Acting Director General of the Directorate for Primary and Preschool Education and Education of Persons with Special Education Needs within the Ministry of Education.

We remind that, in the same period, Predrag Bošković, previously serving as the Minister of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, was appointed to the position of the Minister of Education.

These cases indicate that Montenegro lacks awareness on the need for specialized organizational units within each state body to be lead by experts in the field, and not necessarily by people who enjoy political confidence of ministers, who are primarily political appointees.

In particular, the previously described abuse of institute of resignation “on personal request” and of the institute of “Acting official” in our state administration, points out to the danger to completely render senseless the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, which stipulates clear procedures for filling vacancies of senior managerial personnel – Directors General and Secretary in the ministries.

These procedures include announcement of an open call and qualification assessment by the special commission established by the Human Resources Management Authority, precisely because the Secretaries and Director Generals in ministries or, colloquially known as assistant ministers, are civil servants who should serve the public interest and not the interests certain political parties or political figures.

SIGMA, the joint initiative of the European Commission and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned, in its Principles of Public Administration, that these positions should represent the dividing line which separates the political appointees and professionalized civil servants.

IA has warned in its study “Professionalisation of Senior Civil Service in Montenegro: Between State and Politics” from December 2014 with the support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), that “by the book” professionalized senior managerial staff and heads of state authorities are practically exposed to the political influence.

Milena MILOŠEVIĆ

Public Policy Researcher

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IA and consumer protection

Institute alternative is participating in the project “Strengthening Consumer Protection Organisations for better Municipal Services in SEE” in cooperation with the members of the Think for Europe Network in South Eastern Europe, under the auspices of the German organisation for international cooperation (The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit)– GIZ.

IA i zaštita potrošačaProject activities are aimed at strengthening consumer organisations in Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Albania, in order to achieve higher quality of consumer services at the local level in these countries.

The focus of the work of consumer organisations from Serbia (National Consumers Protection Organisation of Serbia – NOPS), Montenegro (The Consumers Protection Center of Montenegro – CEZAP) and Macedonia (The Consumers Protection Organisation of Macedonia – OPM) in cooperation with research centers, the European Policy Center from Serbia – CEP , The European Policy Institute from Macedonia – EPI and the institute alternative, will be the development of action plans and recommendations for policymakers and providers of local services, in order to strengthen mechanisms for consumer protection and quality of services.

One of the goals of the project is also the development of a strategy for raising awareness of consumer protection as well as the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for establishing a regional consumer organisations network in Southeast Europe – CONWeb.

In accordance with the above, the project provides a set of events, including workshops that represent the initial steps in strengthening consumer organisations. One such workshop, attended by representatives of IA, has been organised on 30 and 31 March 2015.

Za-radionicuThe workshop brought together the above-mentioned research centers and consumer organisations, in order to determine the mechanisms of data collection and analytical framework in the protection of consumer services and strengthening the capacity of consumer organisations in Southeast Europe.

Before the interactive sessions, the organisations had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the development of public policy and advocacy. The focus of the study was to acquire new knowledge and skills in developing a joint regional study, which will provide a detailed insight into the challenges that consumer organisations are facing, as well as the development of new or impact on existing public policy in the field of consumer protection.

This workshop is one in a series of events that will be organised by members of Think for Europe Network. Institute Alternative’s workshop will be organised in June, and consumer organisations will have the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills in the field of fundraising, in order to strengthen their capacities in the field of writing projects in the future work of CONWeb.