Decision of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and Dismissal of Ćalović Marković – continuation of the fight against Government critics?
Ana Đurnić, Public Policy Researcher in IA, was a guest in the TV Vijesti Show “Reflector”. The topic was “APC decision and dismissal Ćalović Marković – continuation of the fight against those with opposing views?”.
Some of the issues discussed during the show were: why is the Anti-Corruption Committee rushed to dismiss Ćalović-Marković instead of waiting for the decision of the Administrative Court, what kind of messages do such decisions of the Anti-Corruption Agency (APC) and parliament committees send, have Montenegrin institutions been in “fighting mode” against the Government critics for almost a full year, etc.
One of the topics that we shed light on during the show is what kind of image of non-governmental organizations and their activities the Government tries to present to citizens, and how do the negative messages of the highest state officials about the Montenegrin media and non-governmental organizations affect the institutions. One of the issues discussed was whether these messages were the cause of the ongoing persecution of the Government critics by the Montenegrin institutions, primarily APC and parliament committees, since September 2017.
Besides Ana, guests in the studio were Vanja Ćalović Marković, Executive Director of NGO MANS and analyst, Boris Marić.
Montenegro’s public sector employs about 60 thousand people, and spends more than half a billion euro on salaries every year, a figure that continues to increase. The Government promised to reduce the number or employees in the public sector by 5% at the national level, and by 10% at the local level by 2020, i.e. to let go about 3200 employees from the public service.
This is not the first time the Government has made such promises. The promise of the 2013 Public Sector Reorganisation - to cut staff by 10% - remained empty words on paper. Sectoral initiatives launched since then, such as the rationalisation of the school network and reduction of employment levels in education also failed to yield results.
Employment in the public sector represents one of key political resources, one which is used (and abused) throughout the government’s term, but is especially linked to the election process, during which votes are bought with promises of employment in the public sector.
The current process of optimisation, instead of systematically addressing the problem of human resource planning in the public administration, wants to achieve the planned cuts through quick one-off fixes (early retirements, severance payments, abolishment of fixed-term contracts).
This analysis presents the current trends in the optimisation process and brings to attention the lessons we could learn from the previous attempts at downsizing, including some critical flaws that will doom the process to failure unless some fundamental changes are made in the way it is implemented.
Institute Alternative is organizing a panel discussion with the topic on “Police – Integrated Body, Yes or No?” which will take place in Hotel Podgorica, Montenegro, on 14 of June at 11 AM.
The topics of the discussion are following:
What are the key advantages and disadvantages of the concept of “integrated bodies”?
What are the effects of this model on accountability, efficiency, and optimization?
What is the experience of the Ministry of Interior and the Police in this matter
What arguments made the Ministry of Interior decide to keep the existing concept of integrated organs in the Draft Law on Internal Affairs?
On what basis has the Ministry of Public Administration proposed the abolition of integrated organs in the Draft Law on State Administration?
What are the conclusions of the Draft Analysis of the Functional and Financial Effects of introducing institute of “integrated administration bodies” into the Montenegrin system of administration?
These and other questions will be addressed by:
Danijela Nedjeljković-Vukčević, Director General in the Ministry of Public Administration,
Danilo Ćupić, Director General in the Ministry of Interior,
Branislav Radulović, member of the Senate of the State Audit Institution,
Radovan Ljumović, Head of the Department for Analysis, Improvement of Work and Development in the Police Directorate.
Moderator: Dina Bajramspahić, Public Policy Researcher in the Institute Alternative.
We invite you to attend the panel and, if motivated by the discussion, share your arguments in favor of solution you find the most appropriate. Contact us at: info@institut-alternativa.org
Please be informed that simultaneous translation will be provided.
The panel discussion is organized with the support of the European Union through the Civil Society Facility Program within the framework of the project “Western Balkans Pulse for Police Integrity and Trust – POINTPULSE”.
...or gaps in reporting on public administration reform in Montenegro
Reporting on the implementation of reforms is an important mechanism for timely prevention of the potential negative outcomes, improvement of the implementation, but also creation of the basis for a comprehensive impact assessment, which should precede the adoption of the new decisions in the provided area. In this regard, in the context of the public policy cycle, this “tool” refers to the implementation stage of certain policies and their monitoring, but it should also be an “introduction” to the process of impact assessment - evaluation.
Result-oriented and impact-oriented reporting in Montenegro is underdeveloped. SIGMA assessed that the first report on the implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy focuses exclusively on the implementation of activities. With regard to the fulfilment of the European public administration principles in Montenegro, the rating for reporting on the implementation of strategies has deteriorated, because the reports discussed by the Government in 2015 and 2016 focus exclusively on the implementation of activities and not on the outcomes achieved as a result of these activities. When it comes to reports on the work of institutions, it is especially highlighted that the annual reports on the work of the bodies subordinated to the ministries are “process-oriented” and overloaded with statistical data, which, however, are not linked to specific, measurable objectives or performance indicators.
Bearing in mind the aforementioned shortcomings of reporting on the implementation of strategies in Montenegro, the aim of the analysis is to demonstrate the gaps in the current system and data management, and indicate the ways to make improvements, by using concrete examples of (non)reporting on the key measures and outcomes of public administration reform. This could ensure that the reporting on the Strategy, but also on the work of the specific stakeholders, could ensure an informed decision-making and evidence-based discussion.
“Chapter 23 – Pandora’s Box or Key for Good Governance?”
Public Policy Researcher at the Institute Alternative, Ana Đurnić, spoke about the effects of the establishment of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption in Montenegro at the conference “Chapter 23 – Pandora’s Box or Key for Good Governance?”.
The conference was organized by the Institute for European Policies (EPI) and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Macedonia in Skopje on June 5, 2018, as the closing activity of the project “Network 23+”.
Ana spoke on a panel with the main topic of the fight against corruption, with a special emphasis on the establishment and work of preventive institutions in the anti-corruption system. In this regard, Ana spoke about the establishment and work of the Montenegrin Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, its capacities and legal regulation. She particularly stressed the public’s dissatisfaction with the work of this institution so far, whose primary task was to create a momentum for weak reforms in the area of preventive fight against corruption.
“Instead, the management of the Agency decided to start from scratch, abolish everything that happened before January 2016, when the Agency started working, and to establish new practices and law interpretations,” said Đurnić.
Ana stressed that the lack of results in the work of the Agency is clear for the citizens as well, and that they do not have great trust in this institution.
“According to a public opinion survey conducted in November 2017, one quarter of citizens have not heard about the Agency at all, while 38% of them believe that it treats ruling parties officials preferentially. Contribution of this institution to the fight against corruption is not recognized by 44% of Montenegrin citizens. If we do not count those citizens who have never heard of the Agency, as many as 57% of those who heard about the Agency do not consider it has contributed to tackling the corruption issue, “said Đurnić.
Ana talked about other problems in the work of the Agency as well, especially in the area of preventing conflict of interest and control of asset declarations of public officials.
“The two processes which are connected and complementary and are not placed “under the same roof” by chance, are artificially isolated from one another in the work of the Agency. The Agency does not use income and assets declarations of public officials and civil servants to proactively determine the existence of a possible conflict of interest and this presents a big issue” said Đurnić.
The need to deepen the reforms under Chapter 23 was highlighted during the conference, in order to promote the rule of law in the Republic of Macedonia. In this regard, the Government emphasized the need for cooperation with civil society organizations from Network 23.
The conference was opened by the director of the Institute for European Policy, Simonida Kačarska, the president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Gordan Kalajdziev and the High Public Officials of the Republic of Macedonia – Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister, Bujar Osmani, Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs, Renata Deskoska, Justice Minister and Saša Bogdanović, mayor of Municipality Centar.
The discussion announced following the initiative for dismissal of Director General of RTCG, Andrijana Kadija, is a confirmation of DPS’s intention to regain absolute control over RTCG and stop its transformation into public broadcaster, despite warnings from the European Union.
Photo: Vijesti
We remind that systemic, continuous and unprecedented attacks on RTCG began in December last year with unlawful dismissals of two members of the RTCG Council, Goran Đurović and Nikola Vukčević. Unlawful dismissals of the two Council members, implemented by the Administrative Committee and led by DPS MPs, Ljuiđ Škrelja and Marta Šćepanović, have clearly demonstrated that DPS will resort to any means in order to ‘cleanse’ the RTCG from those who are not to the party’s liking and to reclaim the media in question as a party bulletin. For this purpose, direct executors of government orders have been installed in the Council, who subsequently employed an obvious tactic of several months long undermining of the management authority, interfering in the RTCG functioning and ultimately voting for dismissal of the Director General.
New RTCG management, headed by Andrijana Kadija and Vladan Mićunović, remained dedicated to initiated reforms of the national broadcaster, despite the strong resistance they have experienced internally and external pressures. This does not work for DPS and the Government, because DPS and the Government only accept subordinate institutions, organisations and individuals without integrity, willing to undertake illegal activities for the benefit of the ruling party without any objections. Mimo Drašković, Council Member, belongs to this group and confirms his loyalty to DPS by attending party conventions as well. He finally tabled the initiative to dismiss the Director General, which was imminent for several months, thus fulfilling his role in this body.
In previous months, the work of RTCG has been actively obstructed by the Government of Montenegro as well, which has postponed the signing of the Public Broadcasting Services Agreement between the Government and the RTCG and the approval of the RTCG Collective Agreement, which was also noted with concern in the EC Report as part of political pressures on RTCG.
Dismissal of Andrijana Kadija would confirm that DPS and the Government will not allow establishment of institutions without party influence, that they are determined to directly derogate all institutions that make a step towards independence and that they do not leave space for persons with integrity to do their job in a managerial position, namely, that they knowingly undermine all pillars of a functional rule of law.
By dismissal of Kadija, the authorities would open up the space for the European Commission to seriously consider activating the balance clause, that is, to halt further provisional closing of chapters until substantial progress is achieved in the area of the rule of law, where freedom of media and freedom of expression are among crucial issues. The EC Report states, inter alia: ‘Initial positive developments on RTCG’s editorial independence and professionalism were challenged by instances of undue political interference and political pressure on its Council…’, with the overall assessment that Montenegro made no progress in the reporting period and expressed concern about the situation in RTCG. Therefore, dismissal of Kadija would represent a show of force and power at the expense of the rule of law, which calls for activation of balance clause more than the recommendation of four NGOs.
Ana Novaković, Executive Director, Center for Development of Non-Governmental Organisations (CDNGO) Daliborka Uljarević, Executive Director, Centre for Civic Education (CCE) Stevo Muk, President of MB, Institute Alternative (IA) Zlatko Vujović, President of MB, Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI)
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Some of the issues discussed during the show were: why is the Anti-Corruption Committee rushed to dismiss Ćalović-Marković instead of waiting for the decision of the Administrative Court, what kind of messages do such decisions of the Anti-Corruption Agency (APC) and parliament committees send, have Montenegrin institutions been in “fighting mode” against the Government critics for almost a full year, etc.
Ana stressed that the lack of results in the work of the Agency is clear for the citizens as well, and that they do not have great trust in this institution.
The need to deepen the reforms under Chapter 23 was highlighted during the conference, in order to promote the rule of law in the Republic of Macedonia. In this regard, the Government emphasized the need for cooperation with civil society organizations from Network 23.