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Establish the Fund in order to stimulate media pluralism

Non-governmental organisations Centre for Civic Education (CCE), Centre for the development of NGOs (CDNGOs), Institute Alternative (IA) and Goran Đurović, member of working group for drafting of Proposal of Law on the amendments of law on electronic media, expressed their satisfaction due to the continuation of work of TV “Vijesti”.

Upon the payment of its tax debts in line with the law, only Montenegrin private television with national frequency secured the conditions to continue with operation and provide its further contribution to better informing of citizens on issues of utmost importance for their lives.

Government of Montenegro is obliged to ensure the conditions for the development of media pluralism and quality informing of Montenegrin citizens on all issues of public interest. Account blockade of independent TV Vijesti, due to tax debts, is a consequence of inconsistent application of legal regulations in the sphere of media. Government had to act timely in order to prevent years-long unfair competition at the modest marketing-media market in Montenegro. TV Vijesti is competing at the market with televisions that produce almost their entire programme in Serbia, and broadcast it in Montenegro, as well as with RTCG, which is financed by tax payers’ money, even when it makes enormous losses. Additionally, televisions with headquarters located in Serbia have been failing to meet legally prescribed obligations within their own production for years, which determine the minimum of quotas, and have not been reprimanded by anyone or banned to operate according to law.

In addition, TV Vijesti, as well as all other electronic media established in Montenegro, found themselves in a unenviable situation due to the fact that Government of Montenegro has been refusing for years to put in function resources allocated for the stimulation of media pluralism. Group of NGOs recently proposed solutions which lay down the conditions for the functioning of Fund for the stimulation of media pluralism. Solutions elaborate on the procedure of allocating the resources to broadcasters for the production of content of public interest. Fund resources can be used by electronic media which have the approval for work from Agency, that cover certain local, regional territory or operate on the territory of state and that have significant production (more than 25% of its own in total production). This ensures that electronic media, which actually produce programme in Montenegro, have the possibility of improving their content in order to better inform the public. Council of AEM makes the final decision on the allocation of resources, but based on the proposal of independent experts. Fund should be financed with compensation paid by the providers of AVM services on the request (cable operators), that have about 170,000 users, which in the proposed percentage should ensure about 800,000 EUR on annual level. From another source, budget of Montenegro with fix allocation of 0,005% of GDP, it is possible to ensure approximately 200,000 EUR on annually. This amount would not burden the budget of Montenegro additionally, and it could significantly contribute to better informing of citizens when it comes to questions of public interest.

Fund for the support to radio stations, financed based on tax paid when registering vehicle, was recently established with the Agency for electronic media. In that manner, TV stations are discriminated compared to radio stations. It is necessary to secure resources that would be allocated for TV stations as well.

Had the Government and Agency for electronic media earlier applied laws equally for everyone, great number of media would not even function today, and those that are significant for the informing of citizens on issues of public interest, would be in a better financial situation. Because of the inaction of state institutions and failure to apply the law equally, those from whom Montenegro could benefit suffered the most.

On behalf of non-governmental organisations Centre for Civic Education (CCE), Centre for Development of Non-governmental organisations (CDNGOs) and Institute Alternative (IA)

Goran Đurović, member of the Working group for the drafting the Proposal of Law on the Amendments to the Law on Electronic Media.

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Press Release: Concessionaires without a control

Concession policy in Montenegro is not controlled, non-transparent, and brings multimillion damage to the both national and local budgets, but Government does not do anything to improve such situation in the area for years, since it does not publish neither data on contract nor the data on the concessionaires’ debt, and furthermore, does not improve the legal regulations.

The State Audit Institution (SAI) has given the negative opinion on the compliance of the register of the contracts on the concession with the provisions of the Law on concessions, pointing out that the register is neither available, nor complete, nor available in the electronic format. Moreover, SAI points out to the frequent failure to submit the data, contracts on awarded concessions, and changes of the basic contracts, by the Ministries, national and local bodies, which should be defined as a violation of the Law on concessions.

This additionally contributes to the non-transparency, since the Government does not inform the public about the situation in this area for years. Since January 2013, the report on the implementation of the concession policy has not been prepared, while the Commission for Concession still has not published the report for the last year. Although the legal mandate of the Commission has expired in September, the Government has appointed new Commission not before April this year. Since the termination of the mandate of the previous Commission, it was not possible to get the details about the concession contracts, since the website of this body still does not work.

Beside the fact that the register on concessions is not being regularly updated, the current amount of information included is exceptionally limited. This problem was repeatedly pointed out by Institute alternative in its reports, emphasizing the need to publish the plans of the repayment of the concessions and other details of the basic contract.

The draft law on public-private partnership (PPP), which was at the agenda for the public hearing in March and April this year, does not improve this issue, since it does not extend the scope of information which should be published, nor it prescribes the obligation of submitting the information on quarterly basis about the state of collection of concession fees and implemented oversight by a public authority. In relation to this, it is necessary that the law stipulates that the register of contracts on PPP and concessions contains the information about collected resources, delays, as well as the plans of the financial repays, which is extremely important when it comes to allocation for the local self-governments.

Jovana MAROVIĆ
Research coordinator

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Monitoring Report: Recruitment and Promotion In State Authorities In 2014

Two years into its implementation, the contribution of the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees towards establishing a merit-based employment system in state administration has been limited due to inconsistent application of new rules and poor competition for vacancies.

The fact that very few candidates successfully pass the mandatory testing procedures for any given job position, on the one hand, and the broad interpretation of the head of state authority’s discretionary right to select from among the top five candidates, on the other hand, hardly contribute to the efforts at establishing a recruitment system that would be based on objective criteria.

Promotion of civil servants and state employees is virtually non-existent. According to available data, during the reporting period not a single decision on promotion has been passed. The legal provision that stipulates excellent results are a basis for promotion but only into a higher pay-grade is clearly not the right solution for motivating and keeping the best skilled employees.

In 2014, the number of complaints against heads of authorities’ decisions has more than doubled compared to 2013. A big portion of the complaints is against the decisions on selection of candidates, decisions on reassignment, and performance appraisal. Out of the 322 complaints and decisions that Institute Alternative has analysed, as many as 222 have been upheld, meaning more than two thirds. Most complaints were adopted due to formal mistakes by state authorities.

Transparency of the skills testing is at high level. The Human Resources Management Authority (HRMA) regularly publishes ranking lists on its website. However, it is more difficult to obtain data from state authorities, due to the high costs of accessing the information (over 500 EUR for obtaining the data required for this year’s monitoring). Of the 18 state authorities that we contacted requesting more detailed information on recruitment and promotion, only the Ministry of Defence refused to supply us with names of civil servants who were appointed to positions at this institution in the second half of 2014.

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Corruption in public procurement is all-present but difficult to prove

Shortcomings of the Law on Public Procurement, weak anti-corruption mechanisms, inadequate transparency, violation of legal norms without data on misdemeanor responsibility, and poor law enforcement capacities are key issues that create space for the corruption in public procurement.

This is the conclusion of the consultative meeting held today, which gathered the representatives of the business sector and civil society organizations to talk on the topic Mapping key risks in the area of public procurement, organized by the Institute alternative. The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Working group for development of methodology for early detection of acts of corruption in public procurement. The participant agreed that all stages of the process and all procurement of the high value are subjected to the corruption. The special part of the discussion was dedicated to the issues in the implementation of public procurement in the health services.

Participants also pointed out the weak capacities of the Inspection Directorate, the body that controls, according to new legal provisions, both procedures and public procurement contracts. Other institutions competent for this area have poor capacities, while the contract authorities usually employ only one public procurement official.

The lack of transparency is present because the Public procurement portal does not offer reliable information, while the register of the contracting authorities who violate the Law on public procurement is not publicly available. Furthermore, it is possible to monitor the area of public procurement only on annual level, since the Public procurement report is published in the end of May, while the Action plan does not define clear the indicators of the results and impact for the Chapter 23.

As pointed out, the additional problem is the unrealistic planning which can be seen in the big difference between the contracted and realized value of procurement at all enforcers of the law, as well as frequent changes to public procurement plans during one year.

They agreed that it is necessary to continue to work on strengthening the oversight role of Parliament in this area. Although the Assembly last year was intensively engaged in the area of public procurement and organized several hearings as well, their effects are poorly visible in practice.

Jovana MAROVIĆ
Research Coordinator