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Announcement: Workshop “Media, NGOs and Good Governance”

Institute Alternative, together with its partners – Centre for Investigative Journalism and NGOs Bonum, Natura and Novi horizont, is organising a workshop that will gather representatives of civil society and the media.

The workshop is organised within the project ”Civil Society for Good Governance: To Act and Account”, financed by the European Union within the programme of support to the local Civil Society Organisations.

We expect the workshop, that will be held on 25th and 26th of May in Podgorica, to familiarise the participants with the European Principles of Public Administration, to point out the comprehensive public administration reform implications for the lives of citizens and the necessities of investigative journalism development in this area, as well as the necessity of use of advanced technology and visualizations.

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First five months of work of Agency for Prevention of Corruption

Large number of preconditions for full functionality of the Agency was not fulfilled in time, and certain problems in its establishing, to which Institute Alternative (IA) has been pointing during last and early this year, have not been solved even five months after the Agency began to work. We presented first five months of its work based on administrative – technical capacities, human resources, transparency and efficiency of the Agency.

Administrative – technical capacities and human resources

Spatial capacities of the Agency were provided only on February 1, while the software for exchanging data of state authorities (Ministry of Interior, Customs Administration, Commission for Securities, Real Estate Administration and Taxes Administration) was not functional before March. For Agency’s budget for the first year of its work a legal minimum was proposed and allocated – 0.2 per cent of the current budget of Montenegro for 2016. Also, the budget was adopted before the Rulebook on Internal Organisation and Systematisation, so the number of employees was determined based on the allocated budget, instead vice versa.
Only 40 out of 55 systematised work places were filled so far. So, even five months after it began to work, the Agency does not have all the capacities that itself estimate necessary for conducting all its competencies. The Agency began to work with 32 employees, taken over from the Commission for Prevention of Conflict of Interest and the Directorate for Anti-corruption Initiative, so the dynamics of filling work positions is slow compared to the scope of Agency’s work – during these five months the Agency employed 17 servants – especially bearing in mind that this is an electoral year, and that the Agency has a wide scope of competencies in controlling political parties and election campaigns.
Therefore, as we have previously warned, full functionality of the Agency should have been provided until January 1 – full administrative – technical and human capacities, so it could have immediately started with the realization of its actual tasks.

Transparency

The transparency of Agency’s work is specifically problematic, and the Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Council of the Agency adopted last week represent a step backwards compared to the previous practice.
I would like to remind that the sessions of the Council were, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, open for representatives of NGOs and media until January 1 2016, when this good practice was suddenly terminated. The rationale for this was the “opinion of the Council” that representatives of NGOs by monitoring sessions do not contribute to the efficiency of this body’s work. Also, the Council considered that NGO representatives can only take part in sessions, with prior submission of the request and the topic they wanted to discuss within the session to the members of the Council, in a written form, based on which the Council shall decide upon the request, even though the Rules of Procedure prescribed that NGO representatives, based on the Council’s decision, can attend and take part in the session. However, even this “Council’s opinion” was not consistently applied in all cases, so for some sessions NGO representatives were allowed access.
Regarding the closing session for media representatives the explanation was that the Rulebook on Media Accreditation has not been yet adopted, and that sessions will be open when the Council adopts the Rulebook, which in the past five months did not happen.

Both issues were “resolved” last week by adopting Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Council. Amendments envisioned deleting the word “attend” in part that refers to NGO representatives, and the above mentioned “Council’s opinion” was incorporated into the Rules of Procedure, which made the Council’s session definitely closed for NGO representatives’ monitoring. The adopted Amendments allow media representatives to attend sessions based on the principle earlier applied to NGOs – individual submission of requests for each session and Council deciding upon the requests.

I believe that this is not a good way to solve the transparency issue and that the Council should have adopted, as originally planned, the Rulebook on Media Accreditation, which would prescribe the same conditions for accreditation of representatives of all media. Chosen solution leaves large space for discretion of the Council’s members on which media representatives will be allowed to cover the sessions.

During last five months, the only means for informing general public on the Agency’s work were press releases published on the Agency’s internet presentation, which contains only technical and selective information on what was discussed or adopted within the session, for fulfilling which legal obligation the deadline is expiring or has expired. Having in mind the sensitivity of the pervasive problem that the Agency needs to combat – corruption, this level of transparency is not good enough. Therefore, the Agency has to work more on improving the transparency of its work and informing citizens on results in preventing corruption.

Efficiency

Quarterly Performance Report of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption provides an overview of completed activities from the beginning of its work up to March 31 2016, in accordance with the Agency’s Annual Performance Plan for 2016. Implemented activities from the report are presented according to the indicators defined in the Annual Performance Plan, which are not fully defined in order to show the concrete measurable results of the Agency.

Agency has jurisdiction to conduct control in large number of areas on one side, but weak mechanisms for carrying out the given jurisdiction and prosecution of accountable persons when it finds irregularities, on the other. However, even when it identifies violations of the Law, the Agency often opts for “softer” measures of sanctions, which is evident from its Quarterly Report.

For example, in part of prevention of conflict of private and public interests in performing public functions, the defined indicators are the number of adopted opinions and decisions of the Agency on the existence of a conflict of interest. The result is, according to the Report, 95 opinions and 11 decisions and conclusions, as well as 22 submitted resignations of public officials when given Agency’s opinion that the public official performs incompatible functions, which, thus shown, indicates positive performance of the Agency.

However, it should be recalled that the Law on Prevention of Corruption prescribes misdemeanor liability of a public official for performing incompatible functions and a fine of 500 to 2 000 euro, but also that the Agency has jurisdiction to issue misdemeanor warrant and initiate misdemeanor proceedings for violation of provisions of the laws from its jurisdiction. From the Agency’s Report it is not clear which incompatible functions public officials were performing, for how long, whether the Agency has launched misdemeanor proceedings against officials for which it has found such a violation, whether they will pay a penalty, or a submission of 22 resignation is a measurable result for the Agency.

The Agency needs to be more transparent in this area and to further inform the public about these and similar results of its work, and the information on public officials which have been found violating the Law should be publicly available.

Integrity Plans

Another area of Agency’s work where there is already space for determining misdemeanor liability, but no visible results is integrity. Regarding Integrity Plans, the Report only reflects how many authorities in the reporting period appointed integrity managers – 358 and adopted and submitted to the Agency Integrity Plan – 303 out of 730, which is fine if we keep in mind that the deadline for compliance of this legal obligation is April 15 and that the reporting period does not include this term. However, even a month after the deadline there is no new, publicly available information on the authorities that have not fulfilled this obligation or which actions the Agency has undertaken on this matter. For authorities which do not adopt until March 31 and submit the Integrity Plan to the Agency until April 15, the Law on Prevention of Corruption stipulates a fine of 1.000 to 10.000 euro, and for the responsible person in the authority from 500 to 2.000 euro. However, there is no available data on which authorities and responsible persons in authorities, if any, will be held accountable for violating these legal provisions.

Reporting incomes and assets of public officials, protection of whistleblowers and misdemeanor liability

In part of control of income and assets, Quarterly Performance Report shows that only 4.638, out of 8.000 reports received until March 31, were registered in the archives of the Agency, i.e. slightly more than a half, and in the reporting period, there is no single report that, according to the Law should be publicly available, was not published on the Agency’s website.

Additionally, the accuracy of data from only 137 reports out of these more than 4 000 was verified, and the Agency determined inaccuracy of data in six of them. Against three public officials the Agency ran misdemeanor proceedings and adopted decisions determining that they have violated the Law, while the cases against three other public officials are still pending.

In the reporting period, there were no cases submitted to the competent prosecutor’s office. In the Department for Preventing Conflict of Interest of Public Officials nine work places were systematised, and only seven filled so far. Compared to the number of public officials and their reports on incomes and assets that shall be controlled, the Agency’s capacities are obviously too weak, according to the statistics from the Quarterly report.

Bearing in mind that the Agency has an obligation to keep records on violations of the laws in its jurisdiction, and towards greater transparency of its work, we consider that it should periodically and thoroughly inform the public about the course and outcome of all these proceedings.

When it comes to whistleblowers protection, according to the Report, the Agency received eight requirements for protection of whistleblowers, but it is still early to evaluate its work in this part of its jurisdiction because all the cases are in an early stage, and especially if we take into account the sensitivity of this issue.

Ana Đurnić

Public Policy Researcher

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First Regional Research Academy

Our public policy researcher, Milena Milošević, participated in the first RRPP Research Academy held from 11 to 18 April in Sarajevo.

Credtis: Analitika - Center for Social Research

35 young researchers from six countries of the region gained the opportunity to advance their knowledge in the field of social science research methodology. The Academy was organized by Center for Social Research Analitika from Sarajevo and funded by the Regional Research Promotion Programme (RRPP) Western Balkans.

Team of 13 trainers possessing extensive international experience shared their knowledge about the most relevant aspects of research methods in social sciences.

The programme consisted of 8 modules: Introduction to Social Science Research; Methodological Approaches; Qualitative vs. Quantitative Methods; Analyzing Qualitative Data; Analyzing Quantitative Data; Introduction to Academic Writing; Developing a Research Project; Communicating Research Findings in Verbal and Visual Forms.

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Postponement of implementation of the Law on Administrative Procedure: Administration still alienated from the citizens

New postponement of the start of implementation of the Law on Administrative Procedure is putting the citizens a step away from a service-oriented administration, while they are still exposed to tedious procedures, which impede exercise of their rights.

Firstly, the Law on Administrative Procedure was supposed to start with implementation in January this year. However, this has been postponed for six months. Another delay was suggested at the last Government session – for January 1, 2017.
This situation is indicative of the passivity of Montenegrin institutions, which were unable to ensure basic conditions for the implementation of the Law since December 2014, when it was adopted, and to mutually align the relevant legislation with this act.
As a reminder, the new Law is set to improve the administration’s service orientation, among other things, and to follow the postulate of actively helping those citizens that start the procedure against an administrative body, to improve electronic communication between citizens and administration, as well as to enhance legal protection in cases of administrative silence.

Even though it is necessary to ensure sound basis for implementation of systemic laws, the so far lack of coordination among institutions does not leave us with optimism that another six-months delay will essentially improve the state in this area. In addition to that, besides technical accordance of regulations, institutions have not done enough either to familiarise citizens with legal remedies or to establish a service aid for administrative service users.

One of the novelties of the Law is that the second instance body, if it is to decide on a second instance level, is encouraged to make a final merit-based decision on the very matter.

By doing so, a so called ping-pong effect would be pre-empted between administration, second instance bodies and Administrative court. So far, this effect has been demonstrated in endless returning of cases to the first instance bodies, namely due to the breaches of administrative procedure. On the other hand, citizens are deprived of the final decision on whether their rights were essentially or merely procedurally violated. Therefore, the mechanisms established to protect their rights are in fact alienating them from the administration, that is suppose to be at their service.

The Law on Administrative dispute is the other side of the coin when it comes to the ping pong effect, because it prescribes court protection of rights and legal interests of citizens regarding the administrative proceedings. However, this regulation is still ”on hold” at the Parliament of Montenegro.

A conclusion can be drawn that our institutions need overall 5 years to bring about a Law, particularly having in mind that the reform of administrative procedures has started in 2011, although only partially, with an excuse of “bridging” the earlier bad solutions.Therefore, it is logical to assume that the long awaited beginning of the implementation of the new Law will be efficient and that it will efficiently respond to the needs of citizens and protection of their rights, which is of particular importance.

Milena Milošević
Public Policy Researcher

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On reforms in security sector and Rule of law

What Montenegro gained, and what did it lose after achieving independence?

Dina BajramspahićWhen it comes to democratic and civic oversight of security sector and the rule of law, this decade was marked by major reform projects under the pressure of the Euro-Atlantic and European integration. It cannot be denied that a lot has been done at the legislative and institutional level. However, we still do not see the benefits of established mechanisms, nor the impact of new actors in charge to limit the power of repressive levers of government, primarily intelligence services and the police. An example is unique Law on Parliamentary Oversight of Security and Defence Sector which provides control mechanisms, but members of parliamentary Committee on Security and Defence have not uses them for five years since it was adopted. The Committee members have performed control visits to Montenegrin National Security Agency (NSA) in 2010, and to the Police in 2013. The Anti-Corruption Committee has almost completely given up its jurisdiction and it has held only one consultative hearing since July last year.

Independent institutions have also been provided with important mechanisms for the control of this sector, including the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Agency for Protection of Personal Data, which have access without restriction to all premises and documents of these services, but the control is performed rarely and reluctantly. These institutions still have not built themselves an image of the authority whose main task is confrontation with the executive branch as well as the improvement of accountability in public authorities. A similar situation is with the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and the Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering which insufficiently contribute to combating conflict of interest, corruption and money laundering due to their passivity.
One of the examples which confirms little progress in the transparency of security services’ work is the fact that, although contrary to the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights, the NSA is consistently refusing to disclose the number of persons who were under secret surveillance measures, arguing that by revealing that fact, national security could be compromised, while the police do not find it necessary to keep statistics of applied measures.
The past decade was marked by a tough fight for the establishment of a specialized Prosecutor’s Office for fighting corruption and organized crime and irresponsibility of prosecutors for lack of results and the cases that had been waiting in the drawers for years. Despite all the pressure from the European Commission, very little progress in transparency and objectification of appointment of judges and prosecutors as well as in measuring their impact has been achieved. A unique opportunity to fundamentally reform the personnel in Prosecution through the process of general re-election is missed, since they were all re-elected and stayed within the system, including those who did not show professional results for years.
Last October’s protests have shown that excessive use of force is still tolerated in Montenegrin police. Also, it became evident that conclusions and recommendations of authorities for police work oversight are powerless in forcing competent institutions to prosecute police officers who abused their power.
In the future, special attention should be paid to strengthening the institutions and sustainability of reforms, because the years behind us showed that even when we witness sporadic advancements and changes, they are very fragile and can easily be stopped.

Comment by Dina Bajramspahić, IA’s Public policy researcher, for Daily Vijesti about reforms on the occasion of first decade of Montenegrin independence

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Press release: Online services instead of waiting in lines

On the occasion of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, established by the United Nations and celebrated on May 17, we urge the Government to intensify its activities on the modernization of public administration and improvement of the quality of service delivery to citizens.

Declaring this date under the resolution of the United Nations aims to raise awareness of the importance of Internet and modern technologies for citizens and economies. A series of events in countries around the world are organized on this day in order to promote the advantages that ICT can bring to societies, especially when it comes to the provision of public services to citizens and businesses.

Although there are some initiatives of the Ministry of Information Society and Telecommunications towards establishing a functioning electronic government in Montenegro, obstacles in this process remain numerous, from civil servants not accepting changes in the workflow and refusing to start using electronic system of service delivery, to failure to respect legal deadlines for setting up services on the eGovernment portal by the government authorities.

Although the eGovernment portal started operating 5 years ago, today it provides 165 services, out of which only one one-stop-shop service, that is a service which allows obtaining all information and conducting all procedures in one place. 53 services on the portal are of informative type, which means that they allow for obtaining information and downloading forms, which then need to be submitted at the counters while 112 services are of electronic type. Furthermore, one of the obstacles for using available electronic services for citizens is the price of the digital certificate, which ranges from 25 to 110 EUR.

The benefits for citizens of modernization of public administration are plentiful: saving time and money, the possibility of submitting requests at any time of the day, obtaining a higher quality of services, increasing transparency of public administration, as well as ensuring greater opportunities for involvement in the decision-making process. Additionally, institutional barriers offer both incentives and opportunities for bribery and corruption as individuals and businesses may be willing to make illegal payments to circumvent these barriers.

Benefits for the state are also numerous. For instance, Estonia managed to save an estimated 2% of GDP or $ 500 million a year only by using digital certificates, which every citizen older than 15 years is given with an ID. When it comes to 20 most developed EU countries, the digital economy contributes with 8% of GDP.

Furthermore, it is of paramount importance to improve citizens’ participation in policy-making. 2015 Balkan Barometer survey shows that only 6% of citizens of Montenegro participated in the consultation process in the preparation of laws and regulations. ICTs have the potential to make the process of involving citizens simpler and more accessible since they would be able to obtain all the necessary information about the legal and strategic framework in a specific area and the requested manner for submission of comments and suggestions on the draft legislation with a single click.

We, therefore, urge the Government and public authorities to pay special attention to this area and take concrete steps in ensuring greater accessibility of public services to citizens, and also to provide mechanisms for effective citizens’ participation in policy-making.

Milica MILONJIĆ
Public Policy Researcher

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