Candidates are unsatisfied with the testing procedures and violation of the rankings

Testing procedures and violation of the rank lists for appointing civil servants and state employees are the most common causes of dissatisfaction of the candidates for the job in state authorities, according to the complaints submitted on our website “Moja uprava”.

On the website mojauprava.me, launched by the Institute alternative (IA) within the project “State Administration in Montenegro – Equal for All!” and financially supported by the U.S. Embassy in Podgorica, 14 complaints have been submitted so far.

The candidates often express their dissatisfaction for not being appointed for the position even though they were top – ranked candidate after testing procedure. Also, the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees stipulates that only the top – ranked candidate can be appointed for the position. Only exceptionally and with special explanation, the head of authority is allowed to decide to appoint another candidate after the interviews have been conducted.

However, the cases of the candidates that have submitted a complaint on mojauprava.me show that the explanations of the elders are not convincing enough.

Namely, the elders’ explanations often refer to applying criteria reserved for skills assessment and forming rank lists as oral interview criteria, favouring candidates who have already worked at the state authority or have made a better impression.

These cases correspond with the findings of our Monitoring report Recruitment and Promotion in State Authorities, which points to too broad interpretation of the elder’s discretionary right not to select the top – ranked candidate.

Other complaints addressed to our organization mostly refer to irregularities during the testing procedures, or incorrectly scored tests, the overage grade during studies and professional and working skills of the candidates.

Candidates also warn of privileging some of the candidates by the officials who prepare practical tests for testing competences for performing a given job.

“You can do the general part of the testing procedure perfectly, but when it comes to special part, it is very difficult to pass, because you don’t know what to study or what literature you should use (the state authority won’t provide that information), but the one for whom the position is being kept (and 98% of public announcements are “setup”), knows questions, and even answers, in advance, considering that the officers for personnel affairs are preparing the questions”, states in one of the complaints.

IA has prepared a guide for the candidates for the job in state authorities, 2 000 copies, which will be distributed to all interested candidates, with the assistance of the Human Resources Management Authority.

The finding and results of our one – year long project “State Authority in Montenegro: Equal for All” will serve as a basis for advocating amendments to the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, which were planned for the last quarter of this year.

Conference: “The NGOs’ experiences in the European integration process of Montenegro: Achievements and Challenges”

Jovana Marović, the research coordinator at the Institute alternative (IA) has participated today at the conference“The NGOs’ experiences in the European integration process of Montenegro: Achievements and Challenges”, organised by the Center for Development of NGOs.

Jovana was the speaker at the first panel “Experience of the NGOs in the working groups for the preparation of the negotiations”. Stating that NGO representatives in working groups have selective access to information, she assessed that they have an unequal position because of a lack of transparency, and that they encounter a numerous obstacles when trying to inform themselves on the implementation of the Action Plans. Sessions of the Rule of Law Council are closed, while the sessions of the Working Groups discuss only technical details of the reporting process, and not the real issues. Another problem, she said, is that the comments from the European Commission (EC) on key draft laws and proposals, the reports of the expert missions of the EC and changes in the negotiating structure are not being published.

“The Government still has something to hide, i.e. channels of communication now enable the Government to hide some important information related to the integration process from the NGO members of the Working Group, as well as from other interested and expert public” said Jovana, alleging that some of the comments on legislation are not available, not only to NGOs, but also to MPs.

The part of Jovana’s speech can be seen in the video below:

Besides Jovana, the panelist were Boris Marić from the NGO Center for Civic Education, Nataša Kovačević, NGO Green Home, Miodrag Radović, Secretary of the Negotiating structure and the panel was moderated by Ana Novaković, Executive Director of the Center for Development of NGOs.

The Center for Development of NGOs organised the conference in cooperation with the Association of human rights and media freedoms – Censorship Plus.

 

The institutional position of the European Parliament – between weak competences and voter apathy

The research paper authored by our research coordinator Jovana Marović “The institutional position of the European Parliament – between weak competences and voter apathy“ was published in the Yearbook of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade. The article explains to what extent the weakness of this directly elected body contributes to the low turnout at the elections, alongside with the ubiquitous democratic deficit within the Union. It explains the key attributes and competencies of the European Parliament, and provides an overview of its strengthening during the integration process. The special focus is on the Treaty of Lisbon and to what extent this reform attempt strengthens the autonomy of the Parliament. The main thesis is that the power and position of the European Parliament have not improved significantly: weakness and, still, limited visibility of EP, are important reasons that citizens identify the elections for the European Parliament as a „second – rate national competition“, and as such they are not interesting to them.

The article can be downloaded here (only in Montenegrin).

Meeting: Towards recruitment based on merits

On Friday, 24 of July, the representatives of the Institute alternative (IA) held the meeting with interested stakeholders, within the project ”State Administration in Montenegro – Equal for All”, financially supported by the U.S. Embassy in Podgorica.

The event brought together stakeholders that are crucial for recruitment and promotion in state authorities, i.e. the consistent implementation of the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees: representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the Administrative Inspectorate, Human Resources Management Authority, the Appeals Commission and the Ethics Committee for monitoring the implementation of the Code of Ethics of Civil Servants and the State Employees.

At the meeting, we discussed the key challenges in establishing a merit based system in state authorities, identified in the IA’s monitoring report Recruitment and promotion in state authorities“, but also in official Government’s reports and reports submitted through the IA website My Administration“.

The result of the events is a draft of the recommendations, which will be further discussed in the framework of the amendments to the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, which is expected to be adopted by the end of the year.

What do we want from Europe?

Šta mi želimo od Evrope?In the preface of the book written by the philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Srećko Horvat What does Europe want?, it is depicted how Croatia has become the EU member after midnight and has arrived at the party when all guests were already drunk. Other countries, primarily those from Western Balkans, therefore have no other choice but to come to the after-party, and they know very well all the bad sides of this get-together event. Does this feel as undesirable scenario already? The collection of articles by Žižek and Horvat represents a scan of the negative consequences of EU membership and impact that policies defined at EU level make on the economy and democracy in the member states. The eurozone crisis and the deterioration of the living conditions of European citizens have led to deeper dissatisfaction and again, stronger than ever, questioning the purposefulness of integration. It is exactly these internal problems in member states which show us at least two things.

The membership in the European Union does not annul wrong choices of the ruling elites. That does not necessarily mean that those elites would be accountable for the omissions, unjust enrichment, endless borrowing but it is more probable, according to the interpretations of Greeks, that the mentors will unleash the anger towards their citizens. Or, if we use the “tsiprasism”: What kind of system is that where uncontrolled banking speculation lead to bankruptcy of a country, while the austerity measures do not affect the stabilization, but the complete collapse of the economy? The truth is somewhere in-between, since the collapse of the system was caused by years-long bad governing of Greek political elites, while the appeal to their accountability is, however, the question of the internal procedures. The need to preserve the workers’ rights, insurance system and the welfare state on the one side should not exclude the interest of the banks and creditor on the other side. However, this is not the case in Greece. The newly developed post referendum state of affairs could have become a win-win situation. On the one hand, for Greeks, because the sudden decision to organize a referendum shifted the attention from the fact that due to the unpleasant debt crisis they actually do not hold the destiny of their own country in their hands and they have also recalled the bright moments of their history. On the other hand, for EU, the new negotiating circumstances could have created conditions to demonstrate the democratic capacities of finding a solution that would make it closer to its citizens. Nevertheless, this did not happen, which leads us to another problem within the Union.

Supranational Union which dictates the conditions to the countries in transition and to the member states suffers from the same diseases itself. The lack of legitimacy which had become a burden to the EU since the pre-Maastricht period is reflected in the continuous strengthening of the executive through the activities of the European Council and the Council, but also through the lack of legitimacy of the European Commission’s appointment and its way of work, as well as the limited scope of powers and influence of the European Parliament. Member states who are the initiators of the European integration process have the final say in these conditions, which is why Jürgen Habermas says that “German dictatorship” is in power. The consequence is deepening the gap between the citizens and the Union, as well as the lack of democracy in the member states. Adequate articulation of what member states and their citizens want, of course, involves transforming the organization of the Union, and the provision of new, more powerful, mechanisms for citizens’ representation. All previous attempts to democratize the Union were marginally strengthening the competence of the European Parliament and symbolic legitimisation of the Commission’s work, with further protection of most powerful EU member states’ interests.

Just as the Union and its member states are in a political trap, the candidate countries for membership in this community are struggling with their own traps, which can also be defined as the lack of democracy and accountability. In the context of Montenegro – the slow pace of reforms, unsuccessful privatizations, all-present corruption and nepotism show us that the minority’s interests are still more important than the interests of majority. At the same time, each improvement – legal, institutional, in practice, it is only the result of EU conditionality policy and pressure exerted on the candidate countries. Therefore, what we want from the EU/Europe is to continue to exert pressure on the authorities, and in parallel with the fulfillment of membership criteria, influence the improvement of the quality of life of Montenegrin citizens. EU pressure is, therefore, depending on different conditions (un)productive in different ways. However, as much as we need the Union to fulfill its mission, which could at least by the book be called a guarantor of the establishment of “high standards”, so it is needed that the EU and its driving forces regain the lost confidence its member states. That is the only sustainable modus of deepening integration.

Dr. Jovana MAROVIĆ
Research coordinator at Institute alternative and the member of the working group for Chapter 23

Text originally published in section ,,Forum” of daily Vijesti

Results of a public opinion survey on perception of citizens on police integrity in Montenegro and in the region

Yesterday, on Wednesday 22 July, in four capitals in the region, Podgorica, Belgrade, Sarajevo and Pristina, were presented the results of a survey on the integrity of police, made according to the same methodology in order to be comparable.

The Surveys, for purposes of our network POINTPULSE, was conducted by Ipsos Strategic Marketing, according to the same methodology for all countries.

This activity is part of our three – year regional project, which aims to contribute to the transformation of the police in the Balkans into the professional police service that enjoys the trust and respect of its citizens. Public opinion survey should serve only as one of the indicators of the state in the police – the map of visible problems from the perspective of the citizens – and we hope it will be a good basis for further discussion.

In the following period, the Institute alternative will continue to illuminate the other aspects of police integrity, in cooperation with our regional partners, but also with the stakeholders in our country, especially when it comes to the quality of the oversight of the police, financial management in the police, human resources management, police management and transparency.

We are also interested in analysing the causes of undermined integrity of a certain number of police officers and how they are being manifested, but also how to facilitate the implementation of the highest professional standards and to encourage the police to significant results.

Bearing in mind the importance of further reform of the police, with four partner organizations from the region we have formed a network and started, at the beginning of the year, a new project Western Balkans Pulse For Police Integrity and Trust (POINTPULSE), funded by the European Union.

The leading organization in the regional network is The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP), while the other partners are: BIRN Serbia, the Centre for Security Studies from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the Kosovo Center for Security Studies.

The results of the research can be downloaded on the following links:

Presentation of research results for Montenegro

Presentation of research results for the region

Here you can find the presentation of research results from yesterday’s press conference: